I’ve seen this argument from conservatives make its way around the social media circus. It goes something like, “SJWs want to have their cake and eat it too. They cheer the banning of Alex Jones but cry about the treatment of athletes taking a knee. Can’t have it both ways LIBTARDS. #MAGA”
So. A couple things. For one – Alex Jones represents an actual danger to society. Put aside his outrageous conspiracy theories and typical tinfoil hat commentary for a moment. This is a man who legitimately promotes and incites violence and who not only fosters horrific “truther” theories about the murdered children of Sandy Hook, but actively encourages the harassment and abuse of their parents. As a result, he is facing appropriate public scrutiny as well as legal action. For those of you rightfully concerned with free speech issues generally, what do you make of the chilling of the speech of parents of dead children?
Let’s compare this to the vast majority of NFL players who are doing nothing more than taking a knee on the field. Some of them are taking their actions a step further by raising money for social justice causes and publicly speaking on issues that are important to them and the communities they come from. Many of them draw inspiration from the very notions conservatives claim they don’t respect: freedom. The freedom to speak against injustice. The freedom to call attention to those who would use their status in our society to unjustly do harm to others. The majority of the men and women who fought and died in America’s imperialist wars died because they believed they were fighting for that very freedom. What is supposed to make this country great is our ability to criticize it. If anything – the actions of those taking a knee honors their sacrifice even further.
Presumably, what these conservatives are attempting to do is draw parallels to other content-based speech restrictions in which the government decides what we can and cannot say based on the content of our speech and or the viewpoint from which that speech originates. Aside from triggering horrific first amendment exam memories, I don’t need to do this analysis because so many others already have and most already point out that private entities like Facebook and other platforms are not subject to the same limitations as the government. Jones has been banned for violating these private companies’ Terms of Service and contract agreements – most of which list hate speech and harassment as prohibited content. Jones faces banishment from digital platforms, while NFL athletes face loss of wages from their employer as well as public admonishment from the President of the United States of America.
This brings me back to the NFL. It too is a private company whose employees are subject to the terms and conditions of their employment. It is true that the NFL is (probably/maybe/likely god this feels like a memo and I DON’T HAVE A STRAIGHT ANSWER) well within its rights to prohibit players’ behavior it deems contrary to its business operations. This case however is not so clear – as many legal experts specializing in employment and labor law have hypothesized.
Regardless, conservatives who make this argument are missing the point. Whether the NFL is lawfully restricting the speech of its employees is not the focus. The focus is on the fact that they are restricting, lawfully or not, the speech of individuals protesting injustice. Most of us aren’t overly concerned with the legal status of the NFL’s decision-making (although it does appear to be on somewhat shaky ground). Ask yourself – were people conducting boycotts and sit-ins during the 50’s and 60’s because they didn’t know it was illegal? Do you think organizers were worried about the breaking the law? Much of the actions that took place during the Civil Rights era were taken precisely because they were illegal at the time. They intended to break the law – because the law was unjust. Large numbers of the American people didn’t like that either.
It doesn’t matter whether the NFL is legally permitted to discipline their players. Not really anyway. Who knows how a court might rule on such a case? Courts have often proven to be far from deliverers of justice throughout this country’s history and still today. What matters is that it is morally unacceptable to castigate and ostracize today’s athletes for pointing out systemic injustice in our society. Legality is not the focus here – justice is. Comparing the actions of our athletes today to the likes of Alex Jones is outrageous.
So. Next time you find yourself making this false equivalency, understand that you sound like this. Ring any bells.