Kneeling Feeling

                Bishop Talbert W. Swan II, a left-wing black pastor, scolded “white women” who kneel during the National Anthem to protest “rape culture” by tweeting that they are “highjacking a movement” they “took no risks for.” He added the following in another tweet shortly thereafter: “You didn’t kneel in solidarity to protest the murder of black people, don’t co opt & make it about your victimization. That’s white supremacy in the name of feminism.”

                In other words, your victimization pales before my victimization! What is the correct hierarchy of victimization? (Talbert W. Swan II sounds like the name of someone of privilege, not of the mean streets. It calls to mind someone very familiar with tennis courts and frat houses, not ghettos). Does “rap culture” trump “rape culture?”

               Are women not allowed their own protest? Are only black people truly victimized?

   Hell, I should be taking a knee. Conservatives are getting chased out of public places and cornered in elevators. They are seeing their property confiscated or damaged. They have been mocked, spat on, shot and made the subject of death threats. Why doesn’t everyone in the wealthiest and freest country the world has ever known protest?

  Progressives think white, heterosexual males have it easy. Hmm. We make less money on average than our gay friends and don’t live as long as women. Christians have always been privileged, right? Well, maybe not when the Romans were throwing them to the lions, or during times—such as today—when they’ve been mass-murdered in places like the Middle East or parts of Africa. Even now, in the U.S., Christians are mocked and threatened with fines and/or jail time if they refuse to bake an effing cake for someone who has different views on the sanctity of marriage.

 And what about the countless millions of innocent souls who have literally been deprived of life? Who will take a knee for the babies, from all walks of life, that have been aborted over the years?

Should people of any or all religions be banned from kneeling if they are not doing so “in solidarity to protest the murder of black people?” Should a white male be prevented from taking a knee to propose to his love interest?

Furthermore, should a white quarterback be allowed to take a knee to kill time at the end of a game in which his team is ahead? Victory formation for whom, precisely?

When everyone is protesting, no one is protesting.

We all doth protest too much. The spoiled, entitled, rich athletes who do so on the playing field should have to spend a few weeks in some of the world’s hellholes, examining their “legal systems,” medical care, standard of living, race relations, and systems of government.

Perhaps then, instead of protesting the flag, they’d pledge allegiance to it.

And we could all pledge allegiance to each other.