In Ann Arbor, MI -- one of the most educated and elite of the state's college towns and which hosts the "public Ivy" University of Michigan -- four city council members recently took a knee upon the council's routine recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Over in West Virginia, coal miners sing the national anthem before the start of their shift, prior to descending down into the depths, there to engage in one of the most occupationally dangerous jobs in the U.S.
To be clear, I have no problem with either activity -- though I think the former is kind of dumb, coming from a group of people who live in a town where even the so-called "microaggressions" are even more microscopically small than elsewhere in the U.S. It's my educated guess, as well, that the people taking a knee in a town that's rich in both monetary and intellectual capital have never experienced a scintilla of the issues and problems they seemingly have no problem indicting the entire nation over.
Contrast that with the coal miners in Appalachia, one of the poorest regions of the country, who no doubt have felt the lash of grinding hardship and economic exploitation. They also no doubt know this. Yet there they are, gladly singing the anthem of this country, one that's failed them far more often than it's failed the people kneeling over there in Ann Arbor. The miners (maddeningly, the Orange-Haired Wonder would call them "our miners," using the first-person plural) apparently aren't giving up on us, it seems to me.
Members of Ann Arbor city council kneel for Pledge of Allegiance - YouTube
WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINER SINGS NATIONAL ANTHEM PRIOR TO HIS SHIFT - YouTube
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
To be clear, I have no problem with either activity -- though I think the former is kind of dumb, coming from a group of people who live in a town where even the so-called "microaggressions" are even more microscopically small than elsewhere in the U.S. It's my educated guess, as well, that the people taking a knee in a town that's rich in both monetary and intellectual capital have never experienced a scintilla of the issues and problems they seemingly have no problem indicting the entire nation over.
Contrast that with the coal miners in Appalachia, one of the poorest regions of the country, who no doubt have felt the lash of grinding hardship and economic exploitation. They also no doubt know this. Yet there they are, gladly singing the anthem of this country, one that's failed them far more often than it's failed the people kneeling over there in Ann Arbor. The miners (maddeningly, the Orange-Haired Wonder would call them "our miners," using the first-person plural) apparently aren't giving up on us, it seems to me.
Members of Ann Arbor city council kneel for Pledge of Allegiance - YouTube
WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINER SINGS NATIONAL ANTHEM PRIOR TO HIS SHIFT - YouTube
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."