Smogonthethames
Active member
John Humphries writes for the silent majority.
"But there will be many in that stadium who will not boo. Nor will they applaud.
They will have been as horrified as the rest of us at the slow, agonising murder of a black man at the hands of a white policeman in the United States a year ago.
They will have perfectly good relationships with people who have skin of a different colour. Some will marry them. Some will neither notice the colour difference nor care about it. They believe that we are all the same under the skin.
So why won't they applaud the knee-takers?
I suspect that many resent being forced to prove that they are decent human beings who don't have a racist bone in their bodies. They resent having to answer the 'are you with us or against us?' challenge. And why should they?
Quite simply because they believe the way they lead their lives answers that question for them. They want to be judged by their deeds and not their words.
There's something else, too.
They suspect that taking the knee is more about showing support for the organisation behind the gesture than it is about showing respect for people with black skin.
They do not want to support BLM, a movement with its roots in America whose founders have admitted they want to destroy capitalism and defund the police.
They reject the idea that racism is the only legitimate prism through which we should see the world. They don't like seeing statues being pulled down, buildings renamed, heroes shamed and feeling they should apologise for having a white skin.
They don't like being told: if you're with us you should applaud those who take the knee. If you're not with us you are a racist. They're pretty good at spotting virtue signalling when they see it and it makes them very uneasy.
So they don't applaud and they don't boo. Instead, they just try to get on with their lives. What makes them uneasy is what they see as extremism.
They don't want to be foot soldiers in the woke war."
full article below
www.dailymail.co.uk
"But there will be many in that stadium who will not boo. Nor will they applaud.
They will have been as horrified as the rest of us at the slow, agonising murder of a black man at the hands of a white policeman in the United States a year ago.
They will have perfectly good relationships with people who have skin of a different colour. Some will marry them. Some will neither notice the colour difference nor care about it. They believe that we are all the same under the skin.
So why won't they applaud the knee-takers?
I suspect that many resent being forced to prove that they are decent human beings who don't have a racist bone in their bodies. They resent having to answer the 'are you with us or against us?' challenge. And why should they?
Quite simply because they believe the way they lead their lives answers that question for them. They want to be judged by their deeds and not their words.
There's something else, too.
They suspect that taking the knee is more about showing support for the organisation behind the gesture than it is about showing respect for people with black skin.
They do not want to support BLM, a movement with its roots in America whose founders have admitted they want to destroy capitalism and defund the police.
They reject the idea that racism is the only legitimate prism through which we should see the world. They don't like seeing statues being pulled down, buildings renamed, heroes shamed and feeling they should apologise for having a white skin.
They don't like being told: if you're with us you should applaud those who take the knee. If you're not with us you are a racist. They're pretty good at spotting virtue signalling when they see it and it makes them very uneasy.
So they don't applaud and they don't boo. Instead, they just try to get on with their lives. What makes them uneasy is what they see as extremism.
They don't want to be foot soldiers in the woke war."
full article below
I won't be a foot soldier in the woke war
JOHN HUMPHRYS: Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write. I have a prediction for England's first game in the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship tomorrow.
