Drew Brees and a Cautionary Tale | Eastern NC Now

Kyle Smith of National Review Online assesses a star NFL quarterback’s recent controversy.

ENCNow
Publisher's note: The author of this post is Mitch Kokai for the John Locke Foundation.

    Kyle Smith of National Review Online assesses a star NFL quarterback's recent controversy.

  • After the actual riots, the metaphorical ones. Reputations get burned down. Careers get their windows smashed in. Character gets assassinated.
  • Much of this has been nearly as senseless, emotion-driven, and inane as the actual burning, looting, and destroying of urban neighborhoods. Attacking Drew Brees for expressing widely held patriotic beliefs was about as rational as setting fire to a gas station. Brees should have realized this, taken a deep breath, and reacted in the following way: by doing nothing. Brees should have let his original statement stand. "I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America," was what he said, adding that thinking about the flag and the national anthem "brings me to tears thinking about all that's been sacrificed. Not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the '60s and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point." Brees said paying respect to the flag "shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better, and that we are all part of the solution."
  • Stirring words, and nothing inflammatory about them. Tony Dungy chimed in, "Drew Brees can't be afraid to say that and we can't be afraid to say 'Okay, I don't agree with you but let's talk about this.' We can't just say anytime something happens we don't agree with, 'Hey I'm done with that and this person.' That doesn't make sense."
  • Brees made his situation worse by apologizing for these remarks, which only turned up the outrage. The quarterback's ritual groveling simply made his detractors more powerful. They demanded further groveling, and he complied. Now he has stamped himself forever as an antagonist to both sides of the culture war.

Go Back

HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

“Not getting that large sum of money ... was just the final death blow to the company.”
illegal alien "asylum seeker" migrants are a crime wave on both sides of the Atlantic

HbAD1

fortunately this travesty has not yet come to Beaufort County, but it has in Virginia
now Fauci should be indicted for his previous lies under oath to Congress
Queen Garris has made a post on the Beaufort County GOP site that you should read. It is disloyal to conservative candiates key in the following: https://www.Facebook.Com/beaufortcountygop
another reason we need the SAVE America Act that Democrat politicians fear

HbAD2

Throughout the evening, the fireworks and other program events competed with uncooperative weather.
spending spree came from deceptively named "Inflation Reduction Act"
follows up on mass anti-immigration riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland

HbAD3

 
 
Back to Top