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Are there other quotes, or is this in reference to her response to not wanting the national anthem played at WNBA games as a protest in the wake of Breonna Taylor’s death?
I know some in conservative media made a meal of the above, certainly. But in line with being charitable when discussing things, is this “going off about how terrible the US is”, or are there some quotes I’m missing?
There has been a lot of discussion around Griner’s detention, and it’s served as a focal point of the culture war.
It’s paywalled, but Ethan Strauss had an excellent piece on how other, not-Griner, athletes — as well as people in the media — have been off-putting in their framing of the topic…
https://houseofstrauss.substack.com/p/how-athletes-repel-the-public-on
…where it becomes a proxy for a lack of respect for (lesbians/blacks/women) as opposed to framing it as disproportionate punishment handed out to a U.S. citizen. And also framing athletes as above the average citizen. Which, in my opinion, is all spot-on in terms of things that will cause much of the public to roll their eyes.
People who diss the US usually add disclaimers about how they're not really dissing the US. Remember everyone claiming "we support our troops"?
Opposing the national anthem is a blunt instrument that sends a message about the USA in general. And claiming that your message is not meant to communicate what, among everyone else, it would be meant to communicate, is just dishonest. Meanings aren't something you can rewrite on your own.
And I'm skeptical, anyway, that someone who sends a broad message and adds "I don't really mean this broad message" is sincere about it, rather than just going for plausible deniability.
Someone recommended this forum, but man is it a disappointment. Top of this thead is don’t put words in people’s mouths. You’re not a mind reader, and Griner was plain about her views of the country as a whole. Unless, again, there’s some other statement of hers, which I fully leave open the possibility.
Please don't do this. You're arguing with an individual on a forum specifically open to working out weird and often wrong theories. If the poster's theory is bad attack the theory, not the forum. There's no promise on the op that every argument you run into is a winner.
Don’t worry, this is my last post here. There’s little buy in to the terms, and it’s not just that poster.
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That’s rather tangential to Griner, but yes, I do.
And I also remember how things like being against undertaking a war of nation building in a mountainous, tribal backwater of a country already known as “the Graveyard of Empires” was spun to be an attack on the troops. Even if you thought the government should stop paying private contractors more than they pay the troops, increase troop pay, fix and adequately fund the VA, and demand politicians not make arrogant and stupid plans that get troops killed, while noting that the supermajority of our servicemen bore no blame in the military failures of the last 20 years. I one-hundred percent remember people trying to conflate criticism of politicians with criticism of the troops for very cynical reasons.
And I do remember the impulse to add a disclaimer that we do, in fact, support our troops, because of the above.
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