Pentagon paid for patriotism at NFL games
by Jon Rappoport
September 28, 2017
If politics is the last refuge of scoundrels, as the old saying goes, then constant calls for Unity is the last refuge of politicians.
The hits keep coming in the farce called NFL football.
“We’re all in this together.”
That’s the latest jive coming out of NFL PR headquarters. Somehow, with a few owners stepping down out of their sky-high offices to join hands with their players on the field, and with players holding hands as well, and with this rich imagery piped into homes on network television, America is supposed to feel united.
About what?
Ahem…unclear.
United around Colin Kaepernick? That seems to be passe now—or at least the NFL wants us to think so. No, now it’s all about oatmeal Obama-type “togetherness”—generalized vapid fluff.
What’s next? A pre-game dance number featuring players and owners and fans and soldiers and cops and commercial sponsors at the 50-yard line, kneeling before a statue of Bono?
Last week, in keeping with the new unity theme, networks decided not to show angry fans booing and yelling in the stands, when players knelt and joined hands during the National Anthem. Mustn’t sow discord. Mustn’t annoy the sponsors.
“Let’s all pretend we’re One.”
The fans are okay with the players kneeling, the players are okay with the fans being okay, the NFL is okay with everyone being okay, and poof; problem solved. It’s a marshmallow world.
Now start the football game, boys. Go out on the field and hit somebody!
Of course, some of the pre-game and halftime “patriotism” you’ve seen at NFL games—patriotism which, presumably, the kneeling players believe is hiding dark truths about America—has been paid for by the US Department of Defense. Yes, that’s right.
So NFL teams have been raking in money for these government “ads.” They’re not genuine patriotism. They’re a series of commercials.
If NFL teams claim they’re proud to honor our soldiers, for example, you could translate the statement thusly: “Honor in this case is very much like Budweiser and Ford sponsorship.”
During a US Senate investigation of Department of Defense paid ads covering 2011-2014, Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain issued the following:
“…DOD paid for patriotic tributes at professional football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer games. These paid tributes included on-field color guard, enlistment and reenlistment ceremonies, performances of the national anthem, full-field flag details, ceremonial first pitches͕ and puck drops. The National Guard paid teams for the ‘opportunity’ to sponsor military appreciation nights and to recognize its birthday. It paid the Buffalo Bills to sponsor its Salute to the Service game. DOD even paid teams for the ‘opportunity’ to perform surprise welcome home promotions for troops returning from deployments and to recognize wounded warriors. While well intentioned, we wonder just how many of these displays included a disclaimer that these events were in fact sponsored by the DOD at taxpayer expense. Even with that disclosure, it is hard to understand how a team accepting taxpayer funds to sponsor a military appreciation game, or to recognize wounded warriors or returning troops, can be construed as anything other than paid patriotism.”
As an aside, I wonder how NFL teams would respond, if a person with deep pockets wanted to pay for a halftime on-field panorama depicting the unnecessary and massively life-destroying wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The NFL is all for unity, if you can pay for it and your content passes muster.
This whole business is a twisted mess. “We, the NFL, are happy our teams have taken the Pentagon’s money to stage patriotic commercials on the field. Now, if the players object to any part of that, directly or by implication, we’re sorry. In fact, we stand with the players and we stand for paid patriotism. How? By saying we do. It’s easy. We refer the matter to our PR departments, and they cook up the messages. For this awkward situation, we settled on Unity. That’s always a good one. A significant percentage of the gullible will buy it. We’re all about the money. Whatever works. We hope things will cool off by the weekend. We’ve huddled with the networks, and if all goes well, they won’t show angry fans in the stands. They’ll show smiling fans joining hands to express their solidarity with the players joining hands. Unity. Yes. It’s a simple theme for simpletons.”
Amen.
Peace be with you.
(To read about Jon’s collection, Power Outside The Matrix, click here.)
Jon Rappoport
The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED, EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free NoMoreFakeNews emails here or his free OutsideTheRealityMachine emails here.
My 17 year old son told me over 6 months ago that football is over. He said all of the guys he knows could care less about it. Computers and high tech are in, football is out. I was amazed, but the more I think about the fact that 99.999% of the football player brains submitted for examination after death show dementia due to playing football the more sense it makes. These teens are wise beyond their years and they have different ideas of what is important and how to spend their time.
I for one am not sorry to see football on the downward slide. When I was in high school the football players took steroids and were a nasty lot, they often were violent with their girlfriends, this continued at college where I witnessed the same thing. Lastly I have always found it ridiculous for these football players to be paid millions of dollars to toss a ball around. It looks like they are the low IQ sellouts I always knew they were. I say good riddance to the end of football in the USA. Hurray!
Hi James…maybe now I know where this saying came from: “all brawn and no brains.”
Reblogged this on Blue Dragon Journal and commented:
Everything you have ever been taught in this world is a lie, including “patriotism”.
This is where I wanted to post this video, not on your last article, Jon.
So here it is again:
Best video by a black man about NFL players taking a knee.
Brilliant! MUST WATCH:: It is said that he already has more than 45 millions views, so far.
Now I Have Had Enough – Brandon Tatum Destroys the NFL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEcYDa7r4-I
That was super! Wow-maturity for once. I love it!
This one is very good too. Very important message for everyone to hear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv_r1b_Gp30
Thank you for that, Brandon. It is very well said. Thank you for your courage and supporting our nation. Thank you for your law officer service to our nation, placing your life on the line in service (just like the brave men and women of our military services do), providing safety and security to all of us.
So that even the beautiful NFLers (and other whiners) are free to conduct themselves as spoiled, bantam-brained brats
They can shove that collective hivemind Al Jarreau we’re in this love together bravo sierra right where the sun doesn’t shine.
Selfish I got mine F you is the way in this country and everyone knows it.
The cure for insomnia aka Thursday Night Football games had every team standing.
Networks refuse to show angry fans in the stands.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see an almost empty stadium and networks warned to never show the stands.
Found one page that details some of the $7 billion taxpayer money the NFL has enjoyed the past 20 years:
https://www.watchdog.org/national/op-ed-nfl-teams-score-billion-in-taxpayer-subsidies-on/article_04014e6c-0012-5a36-8be4-1473879eaf5c.html
How about Kendall Jenner passes out free Pepsi to everyone in the stands at the next $500 for a family of four Sunday patriot fest?
Problem solved, world peace achieved.
Oh…the SJWs were offended by Pepsi trivializing their epic fight against the oppressive man as they crush capitalism on their iPhones at Starbucks?
Nevermind.
Wow. I had no idea. A squad of F-18 fighters flying formation over the stadium; Bruce Springsteen song playing; fireworks: all DOD-funded to impress and recruit few working-class children before the main event — a boring ball-game in which the audience is insulted further with $10 dollar beer and hotdogs which were probably extrusion-molded with a bit too-many beef tails and pig-snouts.
The decadent and depraved men in the clubhouse probably drink scotch while coordinating the actually gameplay for entertainment value and occasional prideboost — given to a team when it’s home city experiences misfortunes such as shootings, bombings, or conflagrations; although, NFL home-city team prideboost is occasionally-given after traumatic natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and forest fires. This is all done so both the stadium and home-viewer audience forgets about how little the authorities care, how much The Mayor seems to be acting, and whether or not said events could have been staged by such things as HAARP, crisis actors, and/or cloud-seeding.
Is you is or is you ain’t (my constituency)?
A demonstration of unity:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J581XFa9ec0
“Of course, some of the pre-game and halftime “patriotism” you’ve seen at NFL games—patriotism which, presumably, the kneeling players believe is hiding dark truths about America”
You mean America’s “Family Values” :
Domestic Violence, Pornography, and Substance Abuse?
And don’t forget the pre-game stadium fly-overs by jet fighters so football fans can puff out their chests and tune in to that Manly Vibe.
Last I heard, this symbolic maneuver costs taxpayers a very real $500,000 per fly-over …admittedly chump change in Pentagonese….but hey: IT’S FOOTBALL!!!
Here’s an example from a college game.
http://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/kamc-news/f-16-fighter-jets-fly-over-lubbock-in-preparation-for-tech-game/812254970