I was going through my inbox in my email which receives quite the flood of posts from Substack. I, naturally, don’t have the time to read them all but one headline did catch my attention. Rather than dismiss it out of hand, I decided to read it.
Also, naturally, I was unable to comment without paying. I could get into the reason why I don’t pay to sub to really anyone’s substack (I don’t charge for mine and it’s unfettered access to this, my notes and my chat) but that’s another article for another time.
Well, there is one thing I can do…I can write my own article.
The article in question was Why Standing For the National Anthem Is a Symbol of White Supremacy, I’m not kidding on that one either.
In fact, I took a bunch of screenshots and, Walter, I’m going to respond and not pay you a single red cent for it. Also, I’ve unsubbed from that account. I’m not sure how I came to be subbed to that one but that one was a dealbreaker for me.
Walter’s subtitle of “The threat of violence shouldn’t dictate how people choose to show respect” and okay, but I get the sense that Walt doesn’t believe this himself. I’ll illustrate why using his own words. Also, screenshots. I’m quoting verbatim in such a way that, even if he goes back to edit, they will be forever immortalized as they were.
Let’s start here…
With that dramatic opening, I could see where this one was heading. Walter seems to want to bury that lede right out of the gate, the problem is, there’s no burying it. Under threat of coercion, you will either stand for the flag during the National Anthem and be labelled a White Supremacist or you won’t so that Walter can approve of you. Threats of social ostracism? Walt, you don’t seem to understand something. I’ve been a social outcast for something like 30 years. The fact that I’m still loyal to the flag because, to me, it represents a set of core values in The Constitution and The Bill of Rights (a series of restrictions on government that those such as yourself have done your damnedest to erode if not eradicate over the last century or so) and I’m still proud and loyal to them.
The part about the self-designations of judge, jury and executioner, well, Walt many of us just wanted to go to work, pay our bills and be left alone. In fact, many of us where happy to do that but then you labelled all of us “fascists,” “Nazis,” and “white supremacists.” Walt, you and yours had the dominating narrative in media, movies, video games, comic books and even websites for well over a decade. You instituted and took advantage of policies where the slightest deviation, the first refusal to “say the line” or jump through another one of your extremist hoops would literally destroy someone’s life. You celebrated it. Now, you’re afraid. I think you’re leaving out some real reasons other than those imaginary boogeymen that you’re trying to make like that still works.
More of his dramatic and imaginary boogeymen but keep all of this in mind because it’s going to get really interesting later on.
Remember what I said about “Just say the line?” and it never being enough? Yep, here it is. So on top of delusion we have projection as well. Also, Walt, your own people have labelled me a “Nazi” over my own religion and over my skin color and sexual orientation which is none of your goddamn business…
Wait *Record Scratch Sound* hold on…What?!
This is your title, Walt. No one put a gun to your head and made you write that. You wrote it of your own volition. Don’t sit here and throw stones when you live in a glass house here.
Let’s talk about that “authoritarian theater” here, Walt because you just engaged in it. I’ve got the screenshots to prove it and your article is full evidence of it.
Here’s some Authoritarian Theater that you were talking about, Walt. Note that middle tweet “It Isn’t Enough to …” This is the exact kind of thing that I wrote about when I wrote this
It’s A Cult because it requires blind obedience and full indoctrination for anyone to be a part of lest they fall victim to this mob themselves. Not only that, your point about it never being enough? Yeah it shows. Your ever-moving goalposts are sure to trip someone up with your endless procession of purity tests. Purity tests that many of us see as pointless. You’d be happy if we all lived in the same anxiety that you do, your people have put us through it and now, we don’t care, Walt. We don’t. We never will. When nothing we ever did was good enough, we stopped doing anything and it’s your own damned fault.
Another fact from that previous statement of yours, Walt, you’re not interested in conversation…this gave it away…
I think you probably need more than just one example of your authoritatian theater and your disingenuous “desire” for conversation that you can control completely.
Threats of violence over games? Yeah, that sounds like a lovely bunch that “just want to have a meaningful conversation.”
This was from an article that, whether intentionally or not ruined the lives and careers of people in the tabletop gaming industry. You can check that out here…
In fact, I wrote an entire series on them, complete with references galore which you can go check out yourself so, how is that conversation supposed to go after something like that, Walt? I’m curious. See, the “side” you’ve chosen won’t tolerate so much as a little disagreement. Do you know the name Zak Smith? Well, you should really read up on that last article. Hell, read the series because when Zak proposed a reasoned approach to things, they destroyed him. Anyone who hired him? They were targeted too. That’s not imagination. That actually happened and there’s documented evidence of it. You don’t get to claim what never happened to you as something that did. It never happened, you’re not being targeted but you’ve made it clear you’ll target anyone who disagrees.
I dare to disagree and not allow your lie to go unchallenged.
Here’s the thing, Walt, the exiled now far outweigh those doing the exiling. That’s what has you sweating. Thing is, any discussion will have to start with you being honest, first and foremost.
Okay, hold on. What Colin Kaepernick did was outright disrespectful. Protected under the First Amendment as is Jehovah’s Witnesses doing their thing.
Here’s the problem.
Colin’s explanation has absolute zero to do with religion. Don’t believe me, here are his own words…
Kaepernick went to college, from there he went on to play in the NFL. I have no issue with him speaking up about police brutality, there is certainly evidence of that but, on company time, his only objective is to play football and, he could do any number of things with his own time and money to help that situation without acting like a complete jackass.
What he’s doing isn’t religious unless you’re willing to admit that it’s actually a cult. Which is it, Walter?
The NFL even stated that players were encouraged but not required to stand for the anthem, not the flag. That’s in the same article, you can check that out yourself. This is a comparison of apples to oranges.
Walter, mental gymnastics is not an Olympic event, there was no reason to put your tryout out there like this for everyone to see. Let’s have a look at the entire thing, shall we? I mean there’s no reason to hide right?
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - "In God is our trust,"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
These are hardly the oppressive or the horrid lyrics you make them out to be. At this point, why not join your friends on the Hill from the 1980s and side with them on this particular dissection of lyrics?
The OK Hand Gesture was a 4Chan prank that you’ve obviously fallen for and that’s been proven on more than one occasion.
If you’re saying coercion is wrong, then I agree but no one is threatening you for not standing. If anything your entire post thus far is searching the room for those dreaded “white supremacists” which you’re showing means anyone that doesn’t agree with you. I don’t care where you stand on our military. I don’t care where you stand on police or anything else but The Constitution is what restricts government from breaking down your door, seizing everything you own, making you disappear in the middle of the night, ensures your right to self-defense, speech (I mean that is an article you posted free of consequence, even if it is completely chock full of stretching at best and lies at worst) and ensures you have a fair trial, judged by a jury of your peers and you don’t go to prison or face execution without due process of our laws…which the Constitution is the Supreme Law of The Land in the U.S. Disrespect that, if you must but I’m free to think and even write that you’re a complete flatscan for doing it because, and this is key, Walter, if you do eradicate those protections of rights, it also includes yours. You’ll be at the whim of government every second of every day and, believe me, those goalposts will absolutely move until you’re in the crosshairs and there won’t be a single human rights violation from which you will be insulated.
So coercion? No. Absolutely not. You’re the one, demonstrably, fighting in favor of coercion.
It’s interesting because you’re not supposed to “say” or “do” anything. You’re free to just keep moving. Also, I do enjoy conspiracy theories but yours aren’t supported by anything but the constant stream of delusion you continue to spout.
Kneel if you want to. I support your right to kneel, stand, sit, do a handstand, whatever you want, I really don’t care. I even support your right to outright lie, though, not unopposed.
By the way, only dogs hear a dog whistle…I’ll just leave that there.
These “white supremacists” of which you speak, Walter, are they in the room with you right now?
You’re right, we can’t have any meaningful and open discussion, especially with you, because you’re completely zero-sum on this issue. If I had to condense and summarize your article, my suggestion would be to just leave the title as is and then in the body, simply type “Either I’m right or you’re wrong.”
That’s it, that’s all that you’ve left us.
We know what coercion is. No jab, no job. Those who say they just want “good games” are racists. We’ve been belittled, dismissed, condescended to, outright ignored, had actual violence visited upon us, told that if a woman accuses us of rape, we should just plead guilty, check our privilege and other such nonsense over the last ten years. That is something for which I will not stand. I won’t be quiet about it either.
You made it clear that you don’t care what my reasons are for standing when that anthem plays or even America, The Beautiful but I think you’ve failed to prepare your article for one thing.
We don’t care what you think of our reasons either.
Yes, we love our Constitution. We love that it’s a clear statement to government that it does not grant rights, it restrains them from ever violating them. At present, there should be very severe and swift punishments for those in government, local, state and federal for those that violate those rights. Severe penalties that would preclude them from ever holding so much as the office of dog catcher. Penalties that would preclude them from employment for so much as sanitation worker. At present, I also believe that none of them should ever come out millionaires, much less multimillionaires for jobs that are essentially employees of The American People and even further, term limits across all elected positions. At present, though our government is bloated more than the guy from Monty Python And The Meaning of Life, I stand because that Constitution means that I’m able to type this piece, my pieces on role-playing games, practice my religion, choose my job within reason and defend and protect the property I own and have worked for as it’s the fruits of my labor. It’s not much, but it is mine and that is not in any way, shape or form, negotiable. There are also opportunities that I can either take advantage of and possibly become wealthy or skip and miss out on and I have missed out on a great many in hindsight. At present, since you bring up Kaepernick, I don’t have his money and I certainly didn’t get the education he did but that doesn’t mean I won’t go out and bust ass until I find something or die trying and that’s the kind of freedom that everyone enjoys here and to say anything to the contrary is flat bullshit but I defend your right to say it. Again, it simply won’t be unopposed.
…and I also like to know where the shitheads are.
God Bless America.
Doesn't have quite the kick of "America, fuck yeah!" But wonderful all the same.