Kaepernick Strikes Again
America’s chief winer and malcontent is at it again. It seems that Nike’s human mascot, Colin Kaepernick, is aggrieved yet again. This time the source of his discomfiture is nothing less that the Betsy Ross flag! Why? The colonial flag is racist, you see. How so? Well it was created back when slavery existed in America. So, as a symbol of the country he so obviously despises, Kaepernick is “offended” by it. He appears to be completely unaware that the United States was just the THE THIRD COUNTRY ON EARTH TO FORMALLY ABOLISH SLAVERY in 1863 (after Britain in 1833 and France in 1848). He also appears to be unaware that the countries of Africa (the land with which he most closely “identifies”) held on to the presence of slavery for the longest time. In fact, we know that the last country on earth to statutorily abolish slavery was the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in NINETEEN EIGHTY SEVEN! (And, according to Amnesty International, despite Mauritania’s anti slavery law, slavery is still widely practiced in many areas of the country). Amazingly, despite his ignorance of American and world history, and despite his narcissistic and obnoxious personality, he never fails to catch the ear of the “progressives” at Nike. And Nike, despite having lost millions in revenue due to backlash against Kaepernick’s previous anti American diatribes, dutifully recalled MILLIONS of sneakers with the colonial flag emblazoned on the back. If Nike was smart they would have checked with the Anti Defamation League first. The ADL’s expert on extremism, Mark Pitcavage, is on record that he has NO problem with the colonial flag, saying: “we view it as an essentially innocuous historical flag.” Now, what WILL Nike DO with all those sneakers?
And, while we are on the subject of Kaepernick, there’s something else that’s worth mentioning. In February he had quite the payday. In that month Kaepernick reached an settlement with the NFL pursuant to his discrimination and conspiracy lawsuit against the league. In that suit, he claimed that NFL owners conspired to punish him for his National Anthem protests by not hiring him after HE HIMSELF opted out of his contract with the 49ers. The exact details of the settlement are “sealed” but it was recently leaked that his “take” was around FIVE MILLION DOLLARS, less legal fees. Apparently, the poor dear was SO traumatized by discrimination that he required millions of dollars to assuage his pain.
Although the amount awarded was much less that the EIGHTY MILLION he had initially demanded, in my opinion, it’s a shame that he was awarded anything at all. And I say this not because I was offended by his Anthem protests (which I was) but, rather, because the allegations of discrimination and/or conspiracy were simply not true.
Recognizing a “bad apple” that would adversely effect team morale as well as the team’s public image, is not discrimination – it is simply a realistic assessment of a player’s character. And character assessment of a potential hire is something that any owner of a mega million dollar franchise would be expected to do before that player is hired. Had the owners not assessed Kapernick as a potential troublemaker, they would likely have faced “due diligence” backlash from shareholders and fans. Furthermore, the fact that all of the owners came to the same conclusion is not, of and by itself, evidence of conspiracy or collusion. It reflects, instead, the fact that Kapernick’s behavior and attitude were so “in your face” and so egregious that the nature of his character was plain for all to see. In addition to “taking a knee” during the National Anthem, he wore socks showing pigs dressed as policemen and he made numerous public comments denigrating law enforcement, as well as the society and country that had been so very good to him. Would you hire such a malcontent?… I didn’t think so.
But, the reason an infuriating settlement like this one was reached was the fact that adjudication of Karpernick’s suit was mandated into arbitration by contractual stipulations. Arbitration invariably provides some “relief” for all of the participants, regardless of whether the grievance has merit or who is right or wrong. Had it gone into a civil suit pathway, I am certain that it would have been shown in court that neither the claimed discrimination nor conspiracy charges were valid, and that would have been the end of the matter and Kaepernick would have been paid the princely sum of NOTHING. But the arbitration requirement made conventional civil litigation impossible and the ~$5M arbitration settlement was the result. Even though $5M is MUCH less than he expected, if truth be told, he deserved not a penny, as his allegations were false. But, in contemporary America, ladies and gentlemen, it pays to play the victim.