WHY IS THE NBA BEING HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD?

​If you are upset about the NBA’s response and you applaud lawmakers in Congress for challenging the NBA to stand up to China, I ask you, how upset are you with the NFL?  Are you just as upset that Kaepernick does not have a job in the NFL or do you feel he does not deserve to play in the NFL for disrespecting the flag?  Better yet, are you furious that our own country encourages freedom of speech outside the country but frowns upon it inside its own borders?

Before I start…I want to first make a disclaimer.  This post will not discuss or justify whether the NBA was wrong or right with how they handled Daryl Morey’s response.  The focus is much bigger than that. 
 
The focus is how our congressmen and the president have contradicted themselves and for that matter anyone else who has supported the NFL’s stance on kneeling and is criticizing the NBA.
 
Imagine congressmen standing up to the NFL when they forced their players to stand.  Imagine Congress giving suggestions to the NFL with how to handle kneeling while supporting players first amendment rights.
 
 Yea that’s right we are left to only imagine. 
 
A talking point made by our politicians have been that the NBA is cowering to the Chinese.  Whether it is a fair response or not, their point justifies questioning Congress and asking did Congress cower to the NFL?  If democracy and freedom of speech are so sacred, why didn’t Congress challenge and criticize the NFL just like they questioning the NBA’s response?
 
Eight congressmen wrote a letter to Adam Silver and asked him to take a stand (while offering suggestions) in another country to defend democracy and freedom of speech when those very same ideals are not being valued in the United States of America. 
 
When the players of the NFL silently protested, Ted Cruz loudly pronounced his views that players were being disrespectful.  Standing should be the standard.  Instead of supporting players who were using freedom of speech, players were being called unamerican.  The NFL who was worried about their bottom line, forced players to stand in 2018.  There was no letter written to the NFL about being repressive or being authoritative.  There was no letter about the sanctity of democracy or how players shouldn’t be silenced.   
 
Regardless of how you feel about the NBA, you should understand that China and the rest of the world is laughing at the United States.  How can our country be so passionate about the ideals of democracy and we don’t protect them within our own borders or outside of them when it is not in our favor?  Our very own congressmen asked the NBA to lose money because China’s political system is repressive.  What would you call some of the actions of the Saudi Arabian government or the NFL?  Although the United States government is different from the Chinese government both countries support censorship of speech.  The US government has decided to look the other way after understanding that Jamal Khashoggi (who was a journalist) was brutally murdered by the Saudi government and when the NFL censors its very own players.  The United State chooses when freedom of speech should and should not be supported. 
 
I am sure the Chinese government found the letter hilarious and condescending just as Adam Silver probably did when he read the letter.
 
 
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