Outrageous Excuses 14: Taking the Knee

 

BRITISH FOOTBALL PLAYERS SHOULDN’T TAKE THE KNEE BECAUSE...

It's an alien import. Taking the knee is being forced on people. The players ought to welcome the booing. (Ian Leslie, paraphrased by @t0nyyates)

The act of protesting this gesture isn’t racist, even if some do it for racist reasons. (@mrianleslie)

The biggest opposition is because fans see something being forced on them. (@DPJHodges)

Black people “find gestures of performative solidarity offensive” says @TBuczkowska.

Taking to your knee is a gesture of submission. It shows you have surrendered to your opponent and is NOT a good look for a team in a major sporting event. It puts you in the wrong frame of mind and gives an immediate advantage to your opponents. Very silly. (@Mal_DuBois)

It’s got the point now where taking the knee and the ongoing debate is outweighing the message and the game of football we all wanna see. Also you can’t force beliefs on people, wrong or right. People who oppose it aren’t gonna change cus you’re trying to guilt them into it. (@YoungAd_5)

Email to Victoria Derbyshire: You’re missing the whole point about what taking the knee is doing. It’s causing rage among the traditional supporters. (This charmer went on to call Derbyshire abusive names and hope she got cancer again.)

Many players and many fans want some sort of anti-racism statement at the start of games. Many fans do not back taking a knee. So we simply need a new anti-racist symbol that people can unite behind. Not one imported from the States, but one everyone can have ownership of. (@DPJHodges)

Taking the knee is a national embarrassment and makes me ashamed of all those cringing snivelers [sic] who subscribe to it. (@Maxymack1st)

Priti Patel is right. It is gesture politics. Taking the knee has achieved exactly what said it would. It has caused division, it is divisive and scary . Knee has put race relations back 20 years. (@reg_rover)

Taking the knee means England will “exit Euro 2021 early”, says “Prison Planet”. “Divides the fans, demoralises the players”, he adds.

Be interesting to see what England’s performance and results are like. Southgate could be heading for a fall. Taking the knee is just so wrong. (@reg_rover)

And so on and depressingly on.

For some reason @reg_rover thinks “knee” has an apostrophe behind it as if it was short for something.

More here, and links to the rest.