Its not a political agenda, people of all persuasions and political backgrounds have backed it. Also how is it racism?
As Rugby refuses to take the knee, is it time the Premier League stopped too?
- Thread starter Zexstream
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@Rado_N are you seeing this shit?
Well actually no. I havn’t seen politicians taking the knee. I only think the message is undermined when the act of taking the knee becomes an issue.
Sorry to inform everyone but NASA just called and confirmed that everything is political!
Do you know what defund the police is actually about though?
Plus, in my opinion, they aren’t taking the knee as support for a group, they’re taking the knee as support for the message of equality and the fact that black lives matter
Someone correct me if I’m wrong on that.
No Lives Matter, All of us Cnuts need to die to save the earth.
These threads never fail in outing people 
Gotta respect the passion these types have in highlighting problems in our society though, just need to find how to channel it away from stuff like footballers taking a knee for a few seconds to other things*
Gotta respect the passion these types have in highlighting problems in our society though, just need to find how to channel it away from stuff like footballers taking a knee for a few seconds to other things*
*like recognising that racism does exist
This pretty much sums up my opinion on it.
Taking a knee, pre game, won’t stop Alex99 on Twitter sending racial abuse to Rashford.
It sends the message of solidarity and reminds everyone that the world is watching.
It’s baby steps like this, then whatever follows next that will apply pressure to the social media platforms to do more and remove anonymity.
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Why does that need to be instead?
I have zero issues with players kneeling and the 'supporting a political movement' bullshit needs to stop. It only becomes a concern (and a major concern IMO) if players are being forced to do so, but that's an entirely different issue and it's never been the case as far as I know.
'the kids see it' is a fair point, but then kick racism out and its various forms has been around along time.
Somebody mentioned Les Ferdinand spoke of it becoming tokenistic. I couldnt find trace of the quote, but I think his pov would be interesting, as he's lived through various attempts by the fa/ british football to remove racism from the game.
Slow progress is made, taking the knee is the latest movement, it may make a change in the long run. But more is also needed to increase the rate of change.
Somebody mentioned Les Ferdinand spoke of it becoming tokenistic. I couldnt find trace of the quote, but I think his pov would be interesting, as he's lived through various attempts by the fa/ british football to remove racism from the game.
Slow progress is made, taking the knee is the latest movement, it may make a change in the long run. But more is also needed to increase the rate of change.
I would rip into this post but I honestly can't be bothered. You quite literally had a young Black kid who spends his free time advocating for food for the poor children in the UK, foodbanks with his mother who also happens to play for Manchester United, you might have heard of him his name is Marcus Rashford, racially abused on twitter along with Anthony Martial after a draw or a loss (I can't remember exactly). And you think this is a 'cringe' movement. You're living in a bubble and you have been your entire life and it shows. I'm not even black myself but it takes about 5 mins of thinking to realise things are not all dandy.At the weekend the Irish and Scottish Rugby teams refused to take the Knee for BLM.
Surely this cringe show should now end and the silliness of millionaire footballers taking the knee before an empty stadium every week should stop.
Whilst I have sympathies with the problems in the United States I fail to see how millionaire footballers bending the knee each week does anything to help those in the States and certainly is something we have to worry about in the UK.
No matter what your view, BLM is a political Movement, I much prefer we aim to make all lives better no matter, and one thing that Rashford has highlighted in the UK is the divide between the haves and have nots regardless of colour.
I honestly believe this Premier League Wokeness needs to stop, and I fully support the Rugby Teams in taking a stand on this.
https://www.irishpost.com/news/enti...e-before-six-nations-tie-against-wales-203307
So please f off with the 'all lives matter' retort and playing off a victim mentality. Just a stock standard retort synonymous with 'i don't see it, so it musn't be a big issue, what about me, my life matters too whilst failing to realise it has nothing to do with saying other people's lives matter but rather it's about recognising the black people have been discriminated against for centuries, at first at face value and then that was rooted out, then it was institutionalized which still persists.
This is quite possibly the shittest post I've ever seen on this forum in my time reading it even before I was a member. Tone deaf from start to finish, ignorance is bliss as they say OP
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Depressing to see so many proudly display their ignorance.
I can’t quite put my finger on why but I get the funny feeling that you might perhaps be White British?
I personally think ‘taking the knee’ has run its course and find the whole thing tokenistic now. I’d much rather people donated to charities that are doing things to fight racial inequality to actually educate and make a difference- not sure what it achieves now
I had a similar problem with happy clappers for the NHS etc too. People were just doing it to take the moral high ground (aren’t I great) then the next day inviting 6 mates over for a BBQ!
I had a similar problem with happy clappers for the NHS etc too. People were just doing it to take the moral high ground (aren’t I great) then the next day inviting 6 mates over for a BBQ!
Players taking the knee before games? Why is there even a thread about it?
Iv filed it under the couldn't care less weather they do or dont months ago, it has raised awareness for the ongoing battle of racism not just in football but in all walks of life and that can only be good but like all campaigns it has a shelf life and at some point it will stop I would imagine. As and when that happens it doesn't mean that racism is over and no longer a problem it just means that particular message doesn't have the same relevance it once did and there will probably be a different more relevant way of conveying the message.
Racism still exists it's more subtle than it once was and much more socially unacceptable, but it's still there it lives now in the form of racist discrimination and social media abuse mostly so it is quite easy to not see it if your not looking for it, but its definitely there and the battle is ongoing, but it's quite a positive thing IMO that plenty of people say that they dont see it in there every day lives because I would imagine that wasnt the case 10-15 years ago and it shows it's getting pushed further into the shadow.
Iv filed it under the couldn't care less weather they do or dont months ago, it has raised awareness for the ongoing battle of racism not just in football but in all walks of life and that can only be good but like all campaigns it has a shelf life and at some point it will stop I would imagine. As and when that happens it doesn't mean that racism is over and no longer a problem it just means that particular message doesn't have the same relevance it once did and there will probably be a different more relevant way of conveying the message.
Racism still exists it's more subtle than it once was and much more socially unacceptable, but it's still there it lives now in the form of racist discrimination and social media abuse mostly so it is quite easy to not see it if your not looking for it, but its definitely there and the battle is ongoing, but it's quite a positive thing IMO that plenty of people say that they dont see it in there every day lives because I would imagine that wasnt the case 10-15 years ago and it shows it's getting pushed further into the shadow.
Charities don't stop the problem either.
I don't think NHS clapping is the same as taking the knee. I think taking the knee also reminds players that they are empowered - as little as 3-4 seasons ago it would have been harder for a player racially abused by the crowd to walk off whereas now I think they can and be supported. I think taking the knee reminds social media firms of their obligation too albeit in a more covert manner. There is a whole new generation of kids watching the TV show that are constantly reminded that racism is not OK when their role models take a knee, and that can have an effect on them growing up in their outlook.
Of course the real change comes from pressuring social media companies to have stricter measures, education and so on. But I've noticed that since this "take a knee" concept has come about, players have spoken up more, and that's prompted further conversation on how to tackle the issue. I think if you scrap taking the knee because it's "cringe", racists will misconstrue it and just think they can continue as they were. Even if just 1% of racists did that, I'd much rather take the cringe 5 seconds before Kick Off.
I have to say that from a purely semiotic point of view, it’s a bit of a weird gesture. Kaepernick taking a knee was brilliant — it took place during an American anthem, it was sharp, relevant and provoking (in a good way). Hence why it caused such a big reaction.
The thing that happens before football games seems like a bit of a pointless gesture — why exactly are they taking a knee? Who is it they are supposedly kneeling in front of? What does it mean?
It doesn’t bother me all that much, but I certainly would prefer if they were to create a unique, powerful and universal gesture — that also speaks for itself (I doubt that anyone without some prior knowledge on the matter would understand what all this kneeling is about). Easier said than done, obviously.
The thing that happens before football games seems like a bit of a pointless gesture — why exactly are they taking a knee? Who is it they are supposedly kneeling in front of? What does it mean?
It doesn’t bother me all that much, but I certainly would prefer if they were to create a unique, powerful and universal gesture — that also speaks for itself (I doubt that anyone without some prior knowledge on the matter would understand what all this kneeling is about). Easier said than done, obviously.
Racist abuse has got worse since it started. On social media anyway. I’m not looking forward to how this pans out in front of crowds.
This part is absolutely baseless. It's been quite the contrary, with racist attacks increasing on social media, a lot of the time amongst young people. Doing it because they know it triggers a reaction.
Now granted this is a problem that the police need to deal with and often does so but I feel like the token action of taking the knee has run its course a bit and perhaps after this season it's time to find new meaningful ways of tackling and taking a stand against racism in other ways both on and off the pitch.
It's playing the long game, we need to keep on doing it until we tire out the other side and they give up.
This thread is a perfect example of how taking the knee is having an effect, people are talking about the issues because of things like this.
Yes I am aware of how BLM defines “defund the police”, in fact this is from their Twitter in response to Stammer...
When we say 'Defund the police' we mean 'Invest in programmes that actually keep us safe like youth services, mental health and social care, education, jobs and housing. Key services to support the most vulnerable before they come into contact with the criminal justice system'.
I agree that these services should have heavy investment however defunding the police (or even using that term) is not appropriate or helpful to their cause, investing in services to help young people in need is of course a good thing.
I already mentioned that the players are taking the knee in solidarity however some people conflate BLM as a movement with the organisation, I’m not one of those people but I would say the fact that many people are confused about that shows that the message isn’t as strong as it could have been if that association didn’t exist.
'Taking the knee has become a measure of racism.'
Fecking hell!
Fecking hell!
It's not worse at all, people are talking about it more, bringing it to the wider population's attention, so you're seeing more about it, but it's not made the problem increase. It's utter nonsense that it's worse.
You can't have both. That's just greedy.
Racists really seem to get upset over it.Wow. Do footballers bending the knee for about 5 seconds before the start of a match, to raise awareness of an important issue, really upset some people so much?
I agree with that. While the sentiment is positive, the gesture is awkward because as you say there is no target, no anthem, it doesn't really disturb the protocol.
You have an interesting view; perhaps i can answer it with a question, do we have second rate protected characteristics in legislation? If not, why do you seem to want one protected characteristics to be visible over others? Like i said, i support action against racism, football could take simple steps to visibly support other protected characteristics; inclusive documents, inclusive websites etc etc. Where is the discussion?
Threads like these are always good in showing them up as well. Silver linings I guess.
What are you on about? At which point did I suggest that one cause was above the others? I simply said that a group of people defending a particular cause doesn't reduce their right to defend that cause and it doesn't prevent other people to defend other causes they are more familiar with.
How you end up with your interpretation is a mystery.
There's been recent evidence and news articles, depicting racism against players in our own damn team. "all lives matter" yes, thats exactly what BLM stands for. If ALL lives mattered, we wouldnt have to take a knee in the name of black lives matter. I don't understand how that is hard to get. If ALL lives mattered there wouldnt be any LGBTQ, BLM, Feminist etc movements. As they wouldnt be necessary.
There are only two reasons why someone would have a problem with this gesture:
A) They are racist
B) They don't like having a reminder that racism exists and is very much prominent in our society. As we've seen in this thread and all over this site, as well as on social media and other places, there are more than a few people who believe that racism is a thing of the past, and just force themselves into denial.
If you have a problem with this gesture, then you need to take a deep hard look at yourself and figure out which one of these two categories you fall into. I await the pseudo-intellectual, but actually really stupid replies, to explain why you aren't one of these two.
A) They are racist
B) They don't like having a reminder that racism exists and is very much prominent in our society. As we've seen in this thread and all over this site, as well as on social media and other places, there are more than a few people who believe that racism is a thing of the past, and just force themselves into denial.
If you have a problem with this gesture, then you need to take a deep hard look at yourself and figure out which one of these two categories you fall into. I await the pseudo-intellectual, but actually really stupid replies, to explain why you aren't one of these two.
You are literally being this person
In a way it's good @Zexstream has outed himself so publicly. There are a lot of afraid and confused people who think they are being attacked by an unseen element and they want it to stop. I'm not yet convinced they are (fully) racist but they will lean towards the side of racism to feel less disturbed. It's been an eye opening experience for me with ex work colleagues on FB or watsapp.
I have tried helping with explaining the nuances of the knee and some get it. While others are still too afraid to fully let go but respect me enough to agree with it in my presence. Hopefully to those the true meaning will rub off on them eventually. And that is exactly what continuing to take the knee is all about.
I have tried helping with explaining the nuances of the knee and some get it. While others are still too afraid to fully let go but respect me enough to agree with it in my presence. Hopefully to those the true meaning will rub off on them eventually. And that is exactly what continuing to take the knee is all about.
Or they just want the bleedin' game to start.
Then get rid of the pre match handshakes and the line ups before the match, which are both less functional than this.
Its not baseless, you won't know the impact that additional TV time makes towards anti-racism campaign has for a few years yet.
And there hasn't been any increased racism on social media - there has been increased calling out of racism on social media platforms. And that's because I believe personalities are more empowered today to call it out than they were a few years ago.
20% of players don't want to do it (according to FA survey) but they do it anyway because (i guess) they don't want to have problems by not doing it.
My question is; as i understand many have issues because it is related with BLM movement which adds political connotations in this cause. Why not clear dilemma and use "kneel against racism" or something like that?
My question is; as i understand many have issues because it is related with BLM movement which adds political connotations in this cause. Why not clear dilemma and use "kneel against racism" or something like that?
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