Cancel Culture in Tennessee Sports

[downnola]

Cancel culture is coming to a head in America and we've ignored it for far too long.

https://wpln.org/post/tennessee-gop-...-etsu-protest/

Tennessee GOP Lawmakers Want To Ban Student-Athletes From Kneeling Following ETSU Protest

Republican state senators want university athletes to be punished for protesting while at sporting events.

Every GOP member of the Tennessee Senate has signed a letter after the men’s basketball team at East Tennessee State University knelt during the national anthem.

State Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, is one of the signees. During a hearing Monday, he said he supports the right of student athletes to protest, as long as it is during their free time.

“Most of us are thinking that when you are in that uniform and you are acting as an ambassador for the university and the state, there possibly is a line there that differentiates that freedom of speech,” Crowe said.

So, he, and the rest of the Republican delegation in the state Senate, are asking university leaders to implement policy that would ban athletes from protesting. Another legislator, state Sen. Paul Bailey of Sparta, shared a copy of the letter on Twitter.


The letter comes a week after the men’s basketball team at East Tennessee State University decided to kneel during the national anthem. Republican lawmakers quickly criticized the demonstration.

But, ETSU Coach Jason Shay has defended his team, saying the players didn’t mean to disrespect veterans or others who have defended the interests of the United States.

“No one knows the sacrifice, the fear, the pain, the anxiety, the loss that they’ve experienced fighting for our country’s freedom and rights,” Shay told the Johnson City Press. “But many of us don’t know the same sacrifice, fear, pain and loss the people of color have had to endure over 400 years.”

He said his team “is a daily reminder to me that some things are just bigger than basketball.”

The response of GOP lawmakers is their latest move to shut down peaceful racial justice demonstrations.

Last year they passed a bill that makes camping on state property a felony. This came after activists protesting police brutality and racism spent weeks on the plaza in front of the Tennessee State Capitol.

Absolutely chilling that these GOP lawmakers would come together to stifle free expression and cancel students. /s

To the shock of absolutely no one, Republicans project their totalitarianism on to everyone else while punishing people for peacefully protesting in a very non-intrusive way during a song. This raises another question: why do we perform the national anthem before sporting events between two American teams? Are Americans that insecure that they need athletes and fans to pledge fealty to the flag before every game in the fucking calendar year? I get it during the Olympics but my god could American nationalists be any more puritan and pathetic.

[Breccia]

"Republican state senators want university athletes to be punished for protesting while at sporting events."

This is going to be tricky.

A public university is effectively the government and this would immediately be a black-and-white (get it?) First Amendment case.

A private university (who does not receive state money) could do this I suppose, but if there's a signed contract (i.e. the student has already enrolled) it seems pretty questionable.

In addition, there's the public view of a school stopping a peaceful protest from its own students. Perhaps that will be features on the campus tour?

[Milchshake]

Remember, its the same state government that honors the KKK with Nathan Bedford Forrest day.


They didnt deserve the Championship that Tee Martin led them too.

[Grimbold21]

Talk about pearl clutching mixed in with ignorance of your own body of legislation

[s_bushido]

People still somehow try to make this sort of demonstration about "disrespecting our military/veterans?" Wild. But I guess that's literally all they've got, after they spent months pretending that they "don't have any problem with peaceful protests, honest!"

[downnola]

Talk about pearl clutching mixed in with ignorance of your own body of legislation

My post is dripping in sarcasm and mockery. There isn't a single pearl clutched.

How am I ignorant of my own "body of legislation" exactly? Are GOP state senators not pressuring university policy makers to ban protesting during the anthem?

Unless your post is directed at the Tennessee republicans, in which case, ignore the above.

[bladeXcrasher]

#AmericaUncanceled LOL

[Blur4stuff]

Republicans aren't capable of solving any real problems, so I imagine this kind of stuff is all we have to look forward to from them.

[Adam Jensen]

Kneel during the national anthem? Republican outrage
Bring a Confederate Flag into the Capital building during an insurrection? Republican silence.

Loud Republican silence.

[Diaphin]

Cancel culture is coming to a head in America and we've ignored it for far too long.

https://wpln.org/post/tennessee-gop-...-etsu-protest/



Absolutely chilling that these GOP lawmakers would come together to stifle free expression and cancel students. /s

To the shock of absolutely no one, Republicans project their totalitarianism on to everyone else while punishing people for peacefully protesting in a very non-intrusive way during a song. This raises another question: why do we perform the national anthem before sporting events between two American teams? Are Americans that insecure that they need athletes and fans to pledge fealty to the flag before every game in the fucking calendar year? I get it during the Olympics but my god could American nationalists be any more puritan and pathetic.

What do you expect from a country where a far-right party which crossed into fascism during the last years is considered moderate conservatives while a liberal centrism is considered the same as ussr style far-left stalinism?

[Drutt]

I still don't understand when kneeling became an insult.

Someone better tell Queen Liz that she's getting sassed when people kneel to get knighted.

[cubby]

Another story about the GOP fucking people's rights because of feels. When will this party die off again?

[PC2]

Cancel culture isn't real though and anyone who thinks it is real should be fired immediately.

[Endus]

Necessary statement that cancel culture doesn't exist (I know you knew that, OP), and that this is just a naked assault on freedom of speech. Players protesting does not affect their performance.

I still don't understand when kneeling became an insult.

When a black man dared to kneel in protest of the legalized murder of other black men.

Because the opposition here is just naked white supremacy.

[Felya]

I still don't understand when kneeling became an insult.

Someone better tell Queen Liz that she's getting sassed when people kneel to get knighted.

I want to see women crying when their boyfriend drops to one knee... ‘You disrespectful son of a bitch! You want me to marry you after this level of disrespect?!?! You hide that ring in a cup cake, like the respect it deserves!!!’...

[akris15]

Republicans aren't capable of solving any real problems, so I imagine this kind of stuff is all we have to look forward to from them.

Well that's why the GOP was obsessed with getting as many partisan judges, who can't be voted out, as they can onto federal/state benches. The GOP right now believes in no government outside of tax cuts for rich/corporations, and when shit hits the fan like right now, that's not a very popular position when people are suffering.

[downnola]

Republicans aren't capable of solving any real problems, so I imagine this kind of stuff is all we have to look forward to from them.

The policies they push for are extremely unpopular. The only way they can maintain a base is to peddle in cultural war nonsense and grievance politics. The War on Starbucks' War on Christmas is peak Republicanism.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Cancel culture isn't real though and anyone who thinks it is real should be fired immediately.

A brief history: For many decades during the latter half of the 20th century, conservatives were the main stream culture. They made a set of rules of etiquette and morals, mostly decreed by a fictitious version of the Christian bible. If you did not ascribe to these morals, if you were not "normal" then you were shunned as an outcast. Effectively, you were canceled. Conservative culture represents the kings and queens of cancel culture.

So These people, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, blacks, independent strong women, were labeled as outcasts by the "normal" culture for many decades. Enter the 21st century, these people banded together through various means, mostly involving the internet, and began to spread the belief that anyone of any creed, any skin color, any gender, any sexual identity, any sexuality, was worth something. Which ran counter to the conservative ideals. When conservatives began being excluded from this new culture because they were bigots, sexists, or otherwise just terrible people trying to enforce their "old guard" ideology, yes, they were shoved out of this new polite society.

What we are in now is effectively a culture war against the old school "proper morals" as defined by Pentecostals and Baptists, versus the counter-culture that formed from those who were cast out of polite society, who accept everyone as long as they are willing to accept others.

So in short, the kings and queens of cancel culture are crying about cancel culture while they cancel their own for laughable reasons.

[Elegiac]

A brief history: For many decades during the latter half of the 20th century, conservatives were the main stream culture. They made a set of rules of etiquette and morals, mostly decreed by a fictitious version of the Christian bible. If you did not ascribe to these morals, if you were not "normal" then you were shunned as an outcast. Effectively, you were canceled. Conservative culture represents the kings and queens of cancel culture.

So These people, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, blacks, independent strong women, were labeled as outcasts by the "normal" culture for many decades. Enter the 21st century, these people banded together through various means, mostly involving the internet, and began to spread the belief that anyone of any creed, any skin color, any gender, any sexual identity, any sexuality, was worth something. Which ran counter to the conservative ideals. When conservatives began being excluded from this new culture because they were bigots, sexists, or otherwise just terrible people trying to enforce their "old guard" ideology, yes, they were shoved out of this new polite society.

What we are in now is effectively a culture war against the old school "proper morals" as defined by Pentecostals and Baptists, versus the counter-culture that formed from those who were cast out of polite society, who accept everyone as long as they are willing to accept others.

So in short, the kings and queens of cancel culture are crying about cancel culture while they cancel their own for laughable reasons.

I'll also point out that during the period you describe, conservatives labored intensely to undermine workers rights and institute at-will employment as the default which is the thing that makes 'cancelling someone by getting them fired over social media' possible. Something something Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

There's no cancel culture. It's half at-will employment, half "you're annoyed people can reply to your social media posts with a picture of a pig crapping on its balls without repercussions".

[Rennadrel]

Here's a thought. Fuck your nationalism and get rid of anthems at games, problem solved.