The latest kerfuffle from the Trump House is over the audacity of black football players taking a knee during the national anthem at a National Football League game. Fire the SOBs and haul them off the field if they won't stand for the flag and the Star Spangled Banner, dictator Donald demands.
It's just more bullying politics from the Oval Office oaf, of course. Force rational individuals on both sides of the political aisle to take the nuanced view that people can love the military, love the flag and respect the anthem but also stage a silent, respectful protest by taking a knee, all at the same time. Make it about respect to veterans and ignore what the protest was actually about - police brutality, racism and social justice. Make it about patriotism and brand anyone less than a patriot as a traitor.
Ironically, there is no mention of patriots or patriotism in the Star Spangled Banner but "true patriot love" is front and centre in O Canada.
It's a perfect phrase, really, because it doesn't seek an unconditional patriotic love for Canada but one based on truth. True love in our everyday relationships with partners, family and friends is based on honesty. Even when we disagree, even when we make mistakes, when we do or say things that are wrong or shameful, we love each other enough to try to make our communities and our country better together.
Seen that way, a true patriot love means always wanting what's best for Canada, even if we don't agree on what is best or how that should happen. Furthermore, there is no true patriotism without that tolerant, forgiving love of both Canada and Canadians.
Longtime NBC broadcaster Bob Costas touched on this idea when reacting to the Trump/NFL situation. Costas delicately pointed out that the Americans in uniform do not own the mantle of patriotism or some elite patriot status in American society. While their work as soldiers, as police officers and as firefighters must be revered and respected, doctors, nurses and teachers are as equally patriotic American citizens. Why aren't they and other ordinary patriotic citizens brought out for praise before the start of NFL games?
That's because the American military pays the NFL for it.
As Scott Gilmore pointed out in an excellent explanatory piece in Macleans, the Pentagon has spent $53 million since 2009 in marketing at sports events. After a huge boost in recruitment after 9/11, the endless conflict and the mounting death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly from 2005 through 2008, scared away many Americans considering military service. So the American military gave NFL teams money in exchange for buying the anthem and turning the singing of the Star Spangled Banner into a recruitment ad.
Before 2009, most NFL teams didn't come out before the anthem and most networks aired commercials during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. After that, the NFL passed a league-wide policy that all teams had to be on the field for the anthem and the networks had to air the recruitment ad, disguised as the anthem, as part of the show.
That's not true patriot love, that's 21st century covert marketing at its finest. Standing for the anthem and the flag at an NFL game is about recruitment and revenue, not patriotism and love of country.
Many NFL players and coaches chose not to take a knee during the weekend games but put their hands on the shoulders of their kneeling teammates in support. This is true patriot love in action. This is how mature adults can disagree with a teammate, hear their views and then show that the disagreement over how to protest does nothing to change their loyalty or respect for that person.
That is how sports mirror politics. Players unite under a team banner and compete but after the game is over, what unifies all of the players is the sport, not the team they are on. In Canada and the United States, residents join certain political parties and compete for power and political office but after the campaign is over, what unifies everyone is the country, not the political party.
That is true patriot love. Sadly, Trump seems ignorant of the concept and how to live by and uphold all three of those words.
