It’s all about the knees
US right-wingers are rejoicing that the US women’s soccer team lost.
All because they kneeled (or knelt). The horror.
Tip Jar
US right-wingers are rejoicing that the US women’s soccer team lost.
All because they kneeled (or knelt). The horror.
“The American team exercised their freedom of speech to protest something that I wouldn’t protest, therefore I’m hoping Canada wins” – wut. Patriotism does weird things to people.
By taking a knee these athletes show a refusal to stand with America and all she stands for. Such as racist police forces shooting innocent, unarmed Black people without consequence.
To paraphrase JFK: “Ask not that your country stop killing its citizens. But ask why people who protest shouldn’t be put to death as well.”
Or something like that.
Lavern – I’m not sure that that means, but it sounds like vacant jingoism to get likes on Twitter.
“Knelt” is an interesting example of how irregular past tenses sometime come about in English. Usually the irregular (or “strong”) forms are older–they tend to reflect an obsolete pattern of past tense formation (“ablaut”–changing the stem vowel) which apparently stems from around the 5th Century CE–and occur with more commonly used verbs–think “sing”, “give”, etc., verbs which we encounter frequently enough to overcome our tendency towards regularization (most children go through a phase in their language acquisition where they produce forms like “singed” and “goed”.
“Knelt”, though, is a relatively new form of the past tense of “kneel”, formed on analogy with verbs like “feel/felt”. This doesn’t happen often, but it’s not unheard of–think “dive/dove”, or “plead/pled” (both of which also have regular past tense forms). What seems to happen is such cases is that relatively localized patterns overcome the more general pattern.
Oh, also, jingoism sucks.
“… fell flat on their faces.” They won a bronze medal at the Olympics. They lost 1-0 in the semis. Yes, they were favored to win, but things happen. I don’t think this qualifies as “falling flat on their faces”.
“… even though she’s ON Team America, she’s not FOR Team America.” I don’t quite know what this means, either, but it seems to view sporting events as proxy wars. It’s not the US Women’s National Team that’s playing, it’s the US, the Nation itself, and only people who are supportive of (some particular version of) the Nation are allowed to play sports on behalf of the Nation.
I have yet to find someone capable of explaining rationally why kneeling for the anthem is bad. Kneeling is a greater gesture of deference and respect than putting one’s hand over one’s heart. FFS, the penitent man kneels before God. So they’re left with:
a) kneeling is resting, therefore disrespectful.
b) kneeling is too respectful, which comes across as mocking, therefore disrespectful. Even dumber than the first. What? Are we to carefully modulate our displays of respect in order to fit nicely into the Goldilocks zone?
c) kneeling is something they do in Europe, not America. Except that, as mentioned, the same people who complain will be kneeling on Sunday morning.
Re #6
As I understand it, kneeling is simply not What We Do. People are supposed to stand and face the flag; some will insist on hand-over-heart, some won’t. Kneeling was a suggested compromise between standing and simply remaining seated, which was why Kaepernick adopted it, after remaining seated the first few times. (I think kneeling on one knee is now perceived, in these circumstances, as deliberate protest, rather than semi-deference, because remaining seated could just be ignorance or fatigue.) In any case, I don’t think it’s a fair comparison to wonder which gesture of deference is more, er, deferential, when there’s a clearly established protocol that is being violated.
People kneeling in church do not, as far as I know, do so on one knee, so I don’t think that’s a good comparison, either.
You kneel on one knee in multiple circumstances church, the most common being while receiving the Eucharist.
Kneeling was actually suggested to Kaepernick by a Green Beret as being more respectful than sitting. Soldiers will kneel on one knee before a comrade’s grave; athletes in many sports are taught to take a knee when a player is injured on the field.
I was raised Catholic, Catholic schools and church every Sunday, full masses with weddings and funerals. (Graduated high school in 1982. In Wisconsin)
When I was a kid, there were sections in the mass where you knelt. Pews had kneelers, which typically had a bit of padding. One was expected to kneel during those sections unless one had a medical reason (eg bad knees, a cast on because of a broken leg or foot). People kneeling to receive the Eucharist (or comminion) was not very common when I was a kid. In churches that did that, there was a special row at the front of the church for that. People filed in and knelt (on a kneeler), on both knees. The priest went down the row administering comminion. Then that group filed out, and the next group filed in. Much more common was people filing up to the front by the altar. So people would be standing when receiving communion. How people filed up to the altar and back to their seats depended on the layout of the church.
One went on one knee when one genuflected. The standard procedure was to go down on one knee while facing the alter, make the sign of the cross, and then get up. Us kids tended to start the sign of the cross while going down and then come back up right away, finishing the sign on the way up. One was supposed to do it when entering and leaving church. On entering, one did it in the aisle just before entering a pew. After mass, one did it just after exiting the pew. I recall a few times where people would go up to near the altar, genuflect there, and then go back to their pew. I don’t recall seeing anyone genuflect when exiting a pew to go up for communion. I wouldn’t be suprised if some had done that, though.
I don’t remember kneeling for First Communion. I do remember they had us kids walk in together during the beginning processional. And we sat in the first rows during the mass. And those communion dresses. Like kid versions of a wedding dress, with a veil (without the cover the face part, though). And the boys wore tuxedos or very nice suits. The tuxedos could be rented, but the dresses had to be bought (of course). And they were quite expensive. It was not uncommon for the dresses to be handed down through families, passed around among familes in the parish or in neighborhoods.
Obligatory: Tom Lehrer – The Vatican Rag.
I was not raised Catholic but I was raised amongst them. Several of my primary school teachers would have the local priest in for a chat in the classroom (as Gaeilge of course) semi-regularly and there were a few class excursions to the church. I think everybody else was practising Confession but I just contented myself by reading pamphlets on the lives of various saints.