Leftist liberal Democrats, with their social justice activism, are ruining the National Football League, Rush Limbaugh said on Thursday's Excellence in Broadcasting radio program. The NFL will never be what it once was, said America's truth detector.
It is leftist liberal Democrats, they’re the ones that are trying to politicize everything, and in the process they end up corrupting everything, or much of what they touch. You can see it happening. You could see this coming three years ago in the NFL.
Rush commented at length on a small group of social justice warriors who have asked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to spend the month of November talking about issues of race. The group consists of -- no surprise -- the Seattle "SeaActivists'" Michael Bennett, Malcolm Jenkins and Torrey Smith of the Eagles and recently retired wide receiver Anquan Boldin. In a 10-page letter, they asked the NFL to participate in a campaign for racial equality and criminal justice reform. They are asking the league for an investment in education, political involvement, finances and other commitments. Here's more of the SJWs' request:
We need support, collaboration and partnerships to achieve our goal of strengthening the community. There are a variety of ways for you to get involved. Similar to the model we have in place for players to get involved, there are three tiers of engagement based on your comfort level. To start, we appreciate your agreement on making this an immediate priority. In your words, from Protest to Progress, we need action.
Rush says it's not clear how many players are on board with this, but he thinks it will be "significant" and adds that it's a direct offshoot of the protest started last year by Colin Kaepernick. Taking a knee during the anthem or sitting on the bench during the anthem is no longer enough.
The players want to do more, and they want the league’s support in doing more. In other words, social justice warriors want recognition and permission to call attention to their cause and be permitted whatever behavior they ask on NFL games, Sunday and Monday and Thursday nights.
The protest has now moved on to the field as well. Bennett celebrates sacks with the black power salute -- a defiant raised fist.
Speculating on what would happen if the league goes along with this, Rush said the players don't stand to lose anything. But since pro football is no longer an "oasis" where fans can escape from the political, people are already "turning the NFL off" without sticking a league-sanctioned PC campaign in people's faces. Furthermore, Rush said:
For all practical matters, the NFL is never gonna be what it was. Social activism has taken over. It’s infected. The media, being liberal social activists, have participated in this whether they know it or not.
What all of this has caused, I don’t care, folks, whether you like football or not, all of this stuff, when you politicize things, it’s the left that does it, and when the left politicizes something, I guarantee you that they’re gonna destroy it. It happens in everything they politicize. Look at everything in life you’re cynical about and I’ll guarantee you liberal politics dominates it. Guarantee you. There’s exceptions in everything, of course, but liberal politics has overtaken the NFL. Every aspect of liberalism, the presumption of guilt on the part of the wealthy owners just because they’re wealthy and they’re white and the players are black, 75 percent, that’s not good.
Rush made an interesting point that this SJW movement is actually "a voter registration drive" designed to rally anti-cop and anti-establishment forces to get them active politically.
What we're seeing and what this small group is seeking from the NFL is, as Rush puts it a, "direct contravention of why people watch":
This is the kind of stuff people want to escape when they invest their time in sports. The simple fact is you can’t invest total passion in your team without consequence. There is consequence.
Your team will do all kinds of crazy things to tick you off and disappoint you and players playing the game will do it too. So it’s not as free and clear and pure and fun as it used to be, and it will not be so long as sports, all of it, continues to be politicized. And as I said, who does the politicizing? It’s not a bunch of conservatives trying to take over the NFL.
If the NFL acquiesces to these radical few (just three active players), it threatens to further cut its own throat with an already restless fan base. So far the league has declined comment.
