Colin Kaepernick to be face of new Nike ad campaign - Sensationalist Headlines

lol, that's like the NAzis employing a Jew to be their mascot

At my unit - I could hazard to say even, the entire military base - nobody could give less of a shit that kneeling football man became a Nike spokesman. Surprise surprise , most of the people who bitch about this shit are so disenfranchised from real life that being mad about something as small as this makes sense to them. Here's my unwarranted two American cents: it's completely within your goddamn rights to protest something, and arguably, one of the most American things you can do. Go ahead and kneel, go ahead and hate the police, the government, the troops, whatever. It's disrespectful, but until it (hopefully) isn't, it's completely legal, and in fact, it's your 1st Amendment.

For such a "businessman" he really is oblivious

I agree with your post and don't want to quibble over minor details but, is it though? He is quietly taking a knee during the anthem. He actually started out sitting, but after talking to a veteran decided kneeling would be better. I think it's pretty respectful, even if I disagree with his reasons for doing it.

It's only disrespectful because people made it so. People made the national anthem "about the troops," instead of about the country. People made the flag about the troops, instead of about the country. And it's a load of horseshit because it's basically taking every symbol of America and saying "nuh-uh, it's symbolic of the troops! Why can't you appreciate their bravery, HUH?!" You could probably as explicitly as possible "I'm very upset with America and what it has come to represent and how it, systematically, treats me and my people" and then some conservative would stop what they're doing, look them in the eye and say "So... You hate veterans, then, do you?" It's pretty obviously propaganda-y. The only people it really disrespects is racists, and the people who stand with the racists. People who can't come to terms that there's something wrong with their version of their country.

I've never taken an economics class in my life and even I can see pretty plainly how much of a marketing opportunity Nike had with this.

He did it as tastefully as he could. But any act of noncompliance, especially when it comes to time honored customs and ceremonies is always going to be blasphemous to some people. It's seen as disrespectful for a lot of reasons, probably the most poignant reason being that standing for the national anthem is almost unanimously recognized as a show of respect for our country's fallen. I say it's disrespectful mostly because I'm a service member myself, and the importance of customs and courtesies (respecting superiors, rendering honors, etc.) is pretty big in my life. It's mostly a knee jerk reaction after having it drilled in my head for so long, I'll admit, but I can't not see it as disrespectful. But it's just that - y'know, kinda disrespectful - but that's about it. Minimal effect on me and the rest of the base. You'd be surprised how insular the military is when it comes to not giving a shit, most of the salty people who've been talking mad shit about this are unaffected old white people, and shitty vets with complexes. Speaking completely anecdotally, I had just stepped out of the engine room covered in motor oil and sweat, looking like a the victim of a robot gangrape when I saw the news of this. Trust me, any disdain I may have felt was purely out of jealousy that he gets paid more than I do in an day than an entire year, and that he can kneel during the national anthem and not get crucified by the long dick of the Universal Code of Military Justice afterwards.