Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the National Anthem before a preseason game on Friday night had/has all the makings of one of those things that people angrily debate scream at each other over for about a week or two before finding something else to blow out of proportion.
For example, here's a 49ers fan who chose to burn the quarterback's jersey while playing the National Anthem in a show of...I don't know, man. Some sort of stunt:
Jay Cutler (and probably some other quarterbacks) knows the feeling.
However, lame or not, the jersey burning has gone viral and has racked up an astounding 5.6+ million views on Facebook as of the moment I type this sentence. If nothing else, it certainly seems like an expensive way to use the NFL to make your moral judgments, though maybe he managed to snag the jersey during that period when it was on the clearance rack.
In case you forgot, Kaepernick didn't stand during the anthem against the Packers on Friday evening, later explaining his decision by saying:
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
Kaepernick had also sat down during the team's first two preseason contests, though nobody seemed to notice/care.
