Letter to the Editor: What’s the Big Deal?

So what if players take a knee or sit through the anthem? Vice President Pence left a football game because the player protest “disrespects our soldiers, our flag and our National Anthem.” I repeat, so what? Countless soldiers have died defending our freedoms, one of which is the freedom of speech, which is what all the players are doing: exercising that right.

It is well established that “offensive” or “outrageous” are not standards that can be used to suppress free speech. Remember the Baptist minister a few years ago showing up at soldiers’ funerals with signs like “Thank God for dead soldiers?” Talk about disrespect, offensive and outrageous! He was sued and the Supreme Court upheld his right to freedom of speech.

Earlier this year in another case the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a band’s right to freedom of speech saying:  “It offends a bedrock First Amendment principle: speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend.”

I’m going to guess that most of the people who are offended were not around in the 1960s when protesters were burning the flag and worse. What’s going on today is mild and harmless and is totally blown out of proportion because a person in Washington fanned the flames. While people have the right to be offended, the players have the right to freedom of speech.

So, what’s the big deal?

John Fletcher

Ellison Bay, Wis.