"Nobody should be forced to take a knee, however, it is a simple gesture so it shouldn't be a big deal. "

These words in a different context could be a little scary though and it kind of makes my point: "Hey, don't you care about Black People, then Bend the Knee and support the cause, it's only a 'small gesture' if you don't do it, people will question you'.

CNN doesn't just write 'a headline' - they write 'all of their headlines' to very aggressively promote the narratives that interest them. Much like some other news outlets, they are incredibly influential.

The F1 drivers who did not 'kneel' were forced to 'explain themselves' in a public statement.

FYI BLM's founders are Marxists, and I disagree quite a lot with Marxism, so that's for starters. BLM is demanding 'reparations', another thing I disagree with. [1] I disagree with the notion that 'police brutality' is mostly a racial issue, as the science seems to indicate that cops in the US are generally more aggressive across the board - and while it's slightly tilted worse for Black people, the 'racial' aspect to BLM makes us miss the 'bigger problem' which is that it's mostly a general issue.

I disagree deeply, and actually find offensive, Colin Kaps' statement that 'July 4th is a celebration of White Supremacy'.

A very 'big issue' with which I disagree, absent from their rhetoric is the fact that there is a lot violence within the Black community in the US, far in excess of anything else in any other group, or any other civilised country. The #1 cause of death for Black men up to the age of 44 is 'violence other Black men' [2] (this is from the CDC, remember the group we're trying to get more attention due to pandemic), about 8 000 black people are killed in violence every year. Case and point, 5 days after the police murdered Freddie Grey ... in Chicago there was >150 people involved in shootings, 105 shot, and 15 killed.[3] This is really sad and tragic, and yet, nobody seems to care. Essentially, people claim to care deeply about 'Black Lives' and yet are seemingly unconcerned about the actual, tangible and terrible things happening daily, while focusing on issue of policing which I believe is periphery to the situation to the point that if we could solve the problem of 'mass violence' and deplorable poverty in such communities (very hard to do!), then the issue of policing would mostly go away.

Some general things I do support are 'decarceration' and more investment in the community.

So I notionally support BLM, and wish there was a lot more effort on the issue towards the real things that materially matter, I actually believe the BLM movement specifically with respect to policing is a side-show, the ugly problems are more complicated.

By the way, I think this is the majority view. Have a look at this Pew data [4], it's really interesting and it shows that most ethnic groups (White/Black/Asian) are actually pretty similar and consistent in their support for direct intervention into the community, and a lot less so for 'protests' for example. Very few people seem to think that protests matter.

I would not participate in any BLM related activities after Colin Kap's statement about July 4th being a 'Celebration of White Supremacy' - I find that offensive and I would be wary of any organisation to which I belong, asking me to do so.

What's not quite mentioned in the article, or even evident in the 'Prisoner' series ... is that many things that these systems want to project (maybe civility, responsibility, getting along etc.) are not bad at all. They're quite good things, so it's easy for people promoting these systems to get caught up in the easy nature of the ideology.

And finally - to your point - nationalism is definitely a form of groupthink. I don't think for a second anyone should have to 'stand' for the national anthem. If someone wants to sit in the locker room, or 'not participate' this is 100% fine, and a perfect example of true non-conformity because it's not antagonistic either. And surely, Nationalism 'getting out of hand' is way more scary than any kind of BLM activity that I might disagree with.

[1] https://populardemocracy.org/news/publications/freedom-thriv...

[2] https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/lcod/men/2017/all-races-ori...

[3] https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2020/6/20/21297470/chicag...

[3] https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/06/12/amid-protests-maj...