College basketball player turns back on flag.

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BamBam-31

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Toni Smith of Manhattanville College turns her back on the flag during the singing of the national anthem. It is her way of protesting.

According to the LA Times, "[T]o her, the flag currently represents a power-hungry country that is mistakenly focusing on Iraq instead of problems closer to home. 'A lot of people blindly salute the flag, but I feel that blindly facing the flag hurts more people,' she said. 'There are a lot of inequities in this country, and these are issues that needed to be acknowledged. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and our priorities are elsewhere.'" The article goes on to support Smith's protest as a courageous exercise of freedom of speech.

Quite frankly, I can't stand her misguided attempts at protest. I don't deny that she has the right. Flag burners have their rights. KKK marchers have their rights. But it still doesn't make it right.

If our policy was to wait until all was right within our own country before we looked outward, we would never have gotten involved in WWII. I wasn't there, but I heard the economy wasn't all to great in the '40's either.

Small minded girl. :fire: :banghead: :cuss:
 
As I understand it is,she has the right to turn her back on the
flag,national anthem,but the school (or anyone else for that matter) doesn't have to provide a platform
to exercise that right.
If the school didn't like it,they could tell her"You can go do what you want,just not here!".
But I doubt it :rolleyes:

QuickDraw
 
Reminds me of the 400 meter sprinter that held his fist up with bowed head, during, I think the 1968 Olympics.

Still, freedom of expression is part of what makes America special.

I think it was Thomas Payne, or was it Descartes, maybe Alfred E. Neuman, well anyway somebody wiser than I, that said "I may disagree vehemently with what you have said, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Good words.
 
She has the right to make her statement any way she sees fit. Just the same as we have the right to deride her for it. What gets me steamed every time is when you do take someone who makes a statement like this to task for it, you are inevitably accused of trying to interfere with their right to free expression. It's the same thing as when someone lays out their diatribe and then puts the shields up "I'm entitled to my opinion!"

No kidding.

You're also entitled to be called a moron.

- Gabe
 
Maybe it's just that I work with a bunch of foreigners, but the loudest and most frequent complaints I have heard of Bush (and Americans in general) is that he ignores foreign issues and focuses on domestic issues. So this gal thinks it's not enough?

I guess we could feed a lot of hungry people in the US if we pulled some of the billions directed toward Turkey... :(
 
And this has what to do with guns? If they can lock my thread down for being non gun related, lock this one down as well. No double standards.
 
Freedom of speech means being free to say unpopular things -- and being safe when you do so.

Turning her back on the flag is her right as an American and as a human being.

pax

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. -- Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 1907 (many times wrongfully attributed to Voltaire)
 
She has a constitutional right to express herself, but there is no constitutional right to play college basketball.


Tommy Smith and John Carlos at least bowed their heads and faced the flag. They did catch all hell for their protest, though.

Bad-Dad, it was Jean Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire, as Blackhawk pointed out, of whom you were thinking. Candide is a good read. Leibniz, to whom the book is directed, seems as misguided then as this college girl is now, if but 180 degrees in outlook.
 
CZ-75,

No, it wasn't. See the sig on my previous post.

pax

Quoting: the act of repeating erroneously the words of another. -- Ambrose Bierce
 
It may as well be; at least most folks know who Voltaire is.



Hall herself claimed later that she had been paraphrasing Voltaire's words in his Essay on Tolerance: "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too."
 
CZ-75,

Where'd that tidbit come from? Got a source for me?

:) thanks,

pax

Famous remarks are very seldom quoted correctly. -- Simeon Strunsky
 
Re-read the post.

Never said she didn't have the right. Just said that she's wrong. And misguided. And small-minded.

Enough. I thought posting about it would be cathartic. On second thought, it's just giving her more of a platform.

Girlfriend should work harder on her game, maybe make the WNBA and some $$. Then donate it all to the poor and poorer. Put her money where her mouth is, instead of her mouth where everyone else's money is.
 
Saw her interviewed.

She said something to the effect that teammates would support her because they're a team and should do so, while failing to realize she's probably not supporting them. He acted as though it was a one-way street.
 
Was this the same instance when a Vietnam vet went down and yelled at her? Or is a completely different one?

Didn't someone also say that it is possible to love your country and hate your politicians? I think that is what it comes down to. She is upset with our leaders not our country and needs to be sure of what she is doing.

Edited because I assumed something without looking it up.
 
I think it was Thomas Payne, or was it Descartes, maybe Alfred E. Neuman, well anyway somebody wiser than I, that said "I may disagree vehemently with what you have said, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Good words.
Click to expand...
I did a search because I wanted to get more info on that quote and the first thing google came up with was this:

http://www.theonion.com/onion3211/acludefends.html

You gotta love The Onion! :D Man, I can't stop laughing.
 
pax...

"Freedom of speech means being free to say unpopular things -- and being safe when you do so.

Turning her back on the flag is her right as an American and as a human being."

I agree with your first statement but disagree with your second, to a certain extent.

I hope that the reverse also applies. This is, that we are free to tell her what we think of her...protest.
 
A silly, spoiled little girl who is feeling guilt for her silver spoon upbringing.

Hey, T Dawg or whatever, if America is so bad, why don't you better it by quitting basketball and volunteering at an AIDS hospice or go scrub the floors at a soup kitchen?

That flag allows you to play your silly little game. If you do not agree, fine, but at least behave yourself.
 
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