"Breaking News ..."

This only matters if we allow it to

"Kaepernick sits during the national anthem."

"Russell Wilson among others disagreed with his form of protest."

"Rapinoe kneels during the national anthem."

"49ers' Eric Reid kneels with Kaepernick during anthem."

"Seattle Seahawks may sit during anthem at their season opener ... oh wait, it's 9/11 might be too hardcore."

This should be about all the coverage these acts should be getting, in the sports section of the news, maybe ESPN News?

Is this what the news really deem important, that the american public should focus on? There are two reasons why this makes the news. One reason is, they are lazy. They see anything and make it a story. They are too lazy to report, to find a real story that has any meaning, find out the reasoning behind it, and even less to expand on any repercussions it may have. Instead they've resorted to this. Something trivial happens, create a story around it, spread it, catches on and then suddenly that's all people talk about. The second reason is probably that the media is doing it on purpose. This creates a smoke screen and it keeps people from really seeing the true stories, stories that affect us. Same results, different motive. To keep the general public ignorant about true situations and focused on trivial issues.

Yep, I was there somewhere

Let's set one thing straight, Kaepernick claims to be standing up about issues of racial divide, but then wear pig cops socks for practice, antagonizing the same cops that protect him and his teammates at games from fans and haters alike. Rapinoe kneels during the anthem, before a flag that has been painted time and time again with the colors of the gay flag, representing a country where the slogan "Make America Gay Again" gets a thunderous applause by so many members of the so-called "mainstream" society, not just the LGBT community. I was living in Orlando during the Pulse night club shooting, and the entire city of Orlando, every city landmark, had the gay flag draped or projected on it. A few days after at the Orlando City soccer match, a big majority of the stadium coordinated colors to make each section a color of the rainbow all around the stadium, and the team raised way over $300k that night to help the victims of the shooting. Churches and places of worship all over the city came together to pray for the victims, and help financially and with volunteers for those same victims. Orlando, FL. Not New York City, not San Francisco, California. It was Orlando, a town in the middle of "ass-backwards-close-minded-insensitive-racist" Florida, that's how the rest of the country considers us, right? So where is the oppression of "your people," Rapinoe?

I keep thinking about the bumper sticker that says "Stop Making Stupid People Famous". I have one for you, "Stop Listening to Factless Arguments". Every sports athlete with an agenda, or thinks that has an agenda to push is now "plotting" what they're going to do or not do during the national anthem because we give them the attention they seek, but if we care about any of this we are missing the point completely.

We are missing how an actual criminal keeps lying in front of us on national television and she's still considered by the media to be "the most qualified candidate". We are missing how peaceful protestors in North Dakota get maced and attacked by guard dogs for protesting the construction of a crude oil conduit. We are missing how the popular rise of a 3rd party candidate and his running mate, being by definition the most qualified to run for president and vice president, is being ignored and allowed to simmer down by actively denying them coverage. We are missing our dignity because we let them, they consider us sheep and we haven't proven them wrong. Turn off the TV, stop scrolling and do the country of favor and use your brain for a minute. Stop and think. Stop. And think, don't let them tell you what to think.