Last night someone sent me the following YouTube video titled: Police Abuse, Civil Rights Violation at Urbandale High School 10/14/16. This incident happened over the weekend.
The video shows the aftermath of a lone Iowa man, one Mr. Scott Greene, using both the United States flag and the Dixie Cross flag (Confederate battle flag) to protest those high school players and fans who were themselves taken part in the odious kneeling protest of the US National Anthem made famous by NFL player Colin Kapernick. Mr. Greene was arrested by local police for non-compliance when he refused to leave.
Now I only know that those were the details behind the video based on other news outlets. The video itself only shows the events that took place once Mr. Greene was escorted from the stadium.
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| Mr. Greene "protesting" National Anthem protesters -- and being a pain in the ass to everyone else. (Photo courtesy of YouTube) |
In his video Mr. Greene claims that his rights to protest were violated, that he had a right to be there and protest. That he was assaulted by the police because they took hold of him and escorted him from the stadium following his loud disturbing lone-wolf protest.
Apparently he also felt that waving the US and Dixie Cross banners during the National Anthem was an appropriate form of protesting against what he sees as an act of disrespect by "African-American people" using his own words.
Now allow me to explain, using good ole Southern Fried Common Sense, just why Mr. Greene is totally full of shit.
Let me begin by stating for the record that I do not support those sports players and fans who kneel in protest when the Star Spangled Banner is played before sporting events.
Do I think those who protest have legitimate grievances? To some small degree yes, I do. I am no supporter of police brutality, but I have seen no
significant evidence that police officers in the United States make a
point of targeting non-white Americans, or kill them in police shooting
in larger numbers than white Americans. Quite the contrary in fact based
on the actual numbers and statistics.
I am also no supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement because I believe that a number of those involved are not there to promote seeking justice, but rather to promote anarchy and disunity under the guise of social justice.
This blogger believes that every live matters and has equal worth. That every life deserve the same consideration regardless of race, class, or religious affiliation.
I also believe very strongly that the vast majority of police officers in America are good men and women who preform a wonderful and often thankless job of protecting and defending people from violent criminals. I support these outstanding men and women.
Sure there are those very few who abuse that authority and commit terrible acts of injustice against the people they are sworn to protect for whatever reason, but such people do not represent the whole of any American police force in any significant way.
Certainly not everyone would agree with that, and there certainly there are various reasons for such negative perceptions of the police in poor inner city neighborhoods. I also agree that those are things that need to be worked on with people of goodwill on both sides leading the way.
All of that being said, I do not agree that dropping to one knee and doing a "reverse Tebow" is the way to go about drawing positive attention to that cause.
Protesting the US National Anthem is a shameful act of disrespect to the men and women who serve and protect American lives, not just as police officers in uniform, but also as firefighters, first responders, and yes as US military veterans both active duty and otherwise.
I have read some pretty disgusting stories about football players, cheerleaders and students at various high schools and colleges actually dropping the knee and being disrespectful to US military veterans -- sometimes aged and disabled ones -- in disgusting acts of petulant entitlement.
That athletes would use their positions to promote such disrespect, even in the name of an allegedly worthy cause, is even more outrageous.
Certainly this is worth protesting, but not the way Mr. Greene did.
What he did was wave two honorable American banners -- the flag of our nation and a living Southern symbol -- in a loud, obnoxious protest to attack people, specifically Black Americans. This in spite of the fact that not all of the National Anthem protesters to date have been non-whites, far from it in point of fact.
The fact that he choose to use a Dixie Cross (battle flag) -- a Southern banner -- in Iowa, which is in fact a Northern State, as part of his protest is likewise suspicious. Meaning that his misuse of the Dixie Cross in his protest was likely designed to intimidate, or deliberately outrage black American high school students and family members present at the stadium for the game.
A small investigation on my part has also found that Mr. Greene is neither a member of a legitimate Confederate heritage organization, nor a transplanted Southerner. I suspected this would not be the case.
Mr. Greene is another example of a racial antagonist deliberately misusing the US and Southern banners as weapons to promote hatred -- all the while using the guise of outrage over the protesting of The Star Spangled Banner as justification for his actions.
Unlike the cases in Mississippi where students were arrested at Old Miss games for displaying the State Flag of Mississippi, which still bears the Dixie Cross symbol; the case in Iowa was not a matter of protesting a discriminatory policy designed to marginalize and discriminate against Southerners who honor that flag. It was an act of legitimate intimidation designed by a malcontent -- Mr Greene -- to deliberate target and attack a group of people who (rightly or wrongly) have the right to protest, even if one disagrees with the manner of said protest.
In this case the police were right to arrest Mr. Greene for his failure to comply. He was using the flags to intimidate and to create unnecessary malice reflected badly on the community as a whole, and committed more deliberate disruption in ways far worse than the protesters of the National Anthem ever could achieve.
I would also like to take the time to offer my apologies for those people who were subject to this outrageous act. If any of them are reading this, I pray they accept the word of this blogger that the actions of Mr. Greene and people like him do not reflect on millions of Southerners and Americans of Confederate descent of all races and creeds who honor the Dixie Cross banner in positive context as a living Southern symbol. I also pray they do not come away with a bad view of Old Glory because of the act of one malcontent.
Now I am not against the use of the Dixie Cross as a symbol of protest, though I do not agree that the first prinicple use of that flag should be for that purpose. As a symbol of Southern identity and Confederate heritage, its first use is as a memorial symbol for the Confederate dead. Its secondary use is as a symbol of Southern pride and the solidarity of Confederate descendants. Protesting acts of Confederaphobic hatred is the distant third.
To use either the US flag or the Dixie Cross as a symbol of deliberate intimidation -- in this case against non-white people -- is an act of hatred and evil. It is an abomination and disrespect to every modern-day Southerner, no matter their skin color. Particularly outrageous to those of us who have Confederate ancestry and condemn such actions.
And it is for the latter reason that the Yankee misappropriator of the Dixie Cross, Mr. Greene, earns the Dipshit of the Month Award.
If one wants to really protest athletes who want to disrespect our national anthem and, by extension, men and women in uniform; then I would suggest just walking out of the games. Not paying to see them. Not supporting them. Not supporting schools and organizations that permit such actions.
Certainly those actions are far more effective and speak far louder in expressing disappointment and disgust; far most so than waving flags, or even taking a knee and looking like a moron in the process.
All of that being said, I do not agree that dropping to one knee and doing a "reverse Tebow" is the way to go about drawing positive attention to that cause.
Protesting the US National Anthem is a shameful act of disrespect to the men and women who serve and protect American lives, not just as police officers in uniform, but also as firefighters, first responders, and yes as US military veterans both active duty and otherwise.
I have read some pretty disgusting stories about football players, cheerleaders and students at various high schools and colleges actually dropping the knee and being disrespectful to US military veterans -- sometimes aged and disabled ones -- in disgusting acts of petulant entitlement.
That athletes would use their positions to promote such disrespect, even in the name of an allegedly worthy cause, is even more outrageous.
Certainly this is worth protesting, but not the way Mr. Greene did.
What he did was wave two honorable American banners -- the flag of our nation and a living Southern symbol -- in a loud, obnoxious protest to attack people, specifically Black Americans. This in spite of the fact that not all of the National Anthem protesters to date have been non-whites, far from it in point of fact.
The fact that he choose to use a Dixie Cross (battle flag) -- a Southern banner -- in Iowa, which is in fact a Northern State, as part of his protest is likewise suspicious. Meaning that his misuse of the Dixie Cross in his protest was likely designed to intimidate, or deliberately outrage black American high school students and family members present at the stadium for the game.
A small investigation on my part has also found that Mr. Greene is neither a member of a legitimate Confederate heritage organization, nor a transplanted Southerner. I suspected this would not be the case.
Mr. Greene is another example of a racial antagonist deliberately misusing the US and Southern banners as weapons to promote hatred -- all the while using the guise of outrage over the protesting of The Star Spangled Banner as justification for his actions.
Unlike the cases in Mississippi where students were arrested at Old Miss games for displaying the State Flag of Mississippi, which still bears the Dixie Cross symbol; the case in Iowa was not a matter of protesting a discriminatory policy designed to marginalize and discriminate against Southerners who honor that flag. It was an act of legitimate intimidation designed by a malcontent -- Mr Greene -- to deliberate target and attack a group of people who (rightly or wrongly) have the right to protest, even if one disagrees with the manner of said protest.
In this case the police were right to arrest Mr. Greene for his failure to comply. He was using the flags to intimidate and to create unnecessary malice reflected badly on the community as a whole, and committed more deliberate disruption in ways far worse than the protesters of the National Anthem ever could achieve.
I would also like to take the time to offer my apologies for those people who were subject to this outrageous act. If any of them are reading this, I pray they accept the word of this blogger that the actions of Mr. Greene and people like him do not reflect on millions of Southerners and Americans of Confederate descent of all races and creeds who honor the Dixie Cross banner in positive context as a living Southern symbol. I also pray they do not come away with a bad view of Old Glory because of the act of one malcontent.
Now I am not against the use of the Dixie Cross as a symbol of protest, though I do not agree that the first prinicple use of that flag should be for that purpose. As a symbol of Southern identity and Confederate heritage, its first use is as a memorial symbol for the Confederate dead. Its secondary use is as a symbol of Southern pride and the solidarity of Confederate descendants. Protesting acts of Confederaphobic hatred is the distant third.
To use either the US flag or the Dixie Cross as a symbol of deliberate intimidation -- in this case against non-white people -- is an act of hatred and evil. It is an abomination and disrespect to every modern-day Southerner, no matter their skin color. Particularly outrageous to those of us who have Confederate ancestry and condemn such actions.
And it is for the latter reason that the Yankee misappropriator of the Dixie Cross, Mr. Greene, earns the Dipshit of the Month Award.
If one wants to really protest athletes who want to disrespect our national anthem and, by extension, men and women in uniform; then I would suggest just walking out of the games. Not paying to see them. Not supporting them. Not supporting schools and organizations that permit such actions.
Certainly those actions are far more effective and speak far louder in expressing disappointment and disgust; far most so than waving flags, or even taking a knee and looking like a moron in the process.
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