{"id":44397,"date":"2017-09-27T10:25:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T16:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44397"},"modified":"2017-09-27T15:06:55","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T21:06:55","slug":"wisdom-tyranny-freedom-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/wisdom-tyranny-freedom-speech.html","title":{"rendered":"Wisdom, Tyranny, and Freedom of Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"With<\/a>
The flag of the United States of America<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I suppose that I ought to comment on the NFL\u2019s \u201cnational anthem\u201d controversy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

First of all, I\u2019m disgusted by the behavior of certain football players. \u00a0That they would refuse to honor the flag of the United States \u2014 a non-partisan symbol that far transcends the Republican or Democratic parties, as well as Donald Trump and Trumpism \u2014 offends me mightily. \u00a0And it\u2019s especially galling that some of them chose to do it overseas, before a British audience.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Second, they absolutely have the First Amendment right to behave in this way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Third, NFL fans have the absolute First Amendment right to stay away from professional football games and to tune them out on television and the radio.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fourth, I\u2019m glad that my father \u2014 a veteran of General Patton\u2019s Third Army and one of the liberators of the Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen \u2014 never had to see this sort of thing. \u00a0As I write, I\u2019m sitting about ten feet away from the neatly folded American flag that draped Dad\u2019s\u00a0coffin fourteen years ago.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fifth, I wish that I had been a serious NFL fan, so that I could make my displeasure tangible by ceasing to be one.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are some interesting comments on the controversy from prominent conservative writers, and they\u2019re not all on exactly the same page about it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jay Nordlinger, \u00a0\u201cTrump, the Flag, and Us\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dennis Prager, \u00a0\u201cWho\u2019s Divisive \u2014 the President or the Players?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michelle Malkin, \u201cHow the NFL Feeds at the Taxpayer Trough: Claiming it\u2019s merely a \u2018private enterprise\u2019 is laughable.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ben Shapiro, \u201cWho Benefits from Trump\u2019s NFL Rant?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

David French: \u00a0\u201cI Understand Why They Knelt: President Trump\u2019s call for NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem to be fired was a troubling assault on free speech \u2014 and it put the league in an impossible position.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Hawkins, \u201cTrump is Right about the NFL Protests: A Response to David French\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The editors of National Review<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cTime Out\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I cite an article by Ben Shapiro<\/a> above. \u00a0Mr. Shapiro is scheduled to speak soon at the University of Utah. \u00a0He\u2019ll likely be permitted to do so, although there are voices that would like to prevent that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018HATE SPEECH:\u2019 University of Utah SDS Encourages Students To \u2018Shut Down Ben Shapiro\u2019: \u00a0Creepy fliers paper the campus ahead of Wednesday event.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I enjoyed\u00a0this piece by the wonderful Jonah Goldberg, though I regret the fact that he felt obliged to write it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes America Still Believe in the Right to Be Wrong? \u00a0The idea on which free societies are based seems more endangered than ever.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like me (and like Jonah Goldberg), Ben Shapiro is a never-Trump conservative. \u00a0Those who would deprive Mr. Shapiro of his right to speak would do the same to me. \u00a0I don\u2019t find that even remotely amusing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I suppose that I ought to comment on the NFL\u2019s \u201cnational anthem\u201d controversy. \u00a0 First of all, I\u2019m disgusted by the behavior of certain football players. \u00a0That they would refuse to honor the flag of the United States \u2014 a non-partisan symbol that far transcends the Republican or Democratic parties, as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":34839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWisdom, Tyranny, and Freedom of Speech<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I suppose that I ought to comment on the NFL's "national anthem" controversy.   First of all, I'm disgusted by the behavior of certain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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