I didn’t realise people were booing to highlight the issues in Qatar.
So reasons for Sunderland booing the taking of the knee - clearly these are not just racist bigots - now include socialism/ Marxism, protection of statues, something about Saudi Arabia, and the World Cup in Qatar.
Two things that are very noticeable on these threads:
a. Lots of people come along to say they don't boo themselves but understand people who do. Nobody ever comes along and owns it and says 'yes, I boo'. Such conviction.
b. The people who support / justify booing can never agree why:
- Sometimes it's because they are defending freedom of speech - but they will never agree that they would support people's right to boo on Remembrance Sunday or the minute's silence when the Queen dies.
- Sometimes it's because they claim they don't like the distraction from the football - but nobody ever boos any of the other distractions from the game.
- Sometimes it's because of whataboutery and because they are so concerned about other issues - they never make clear what they are doing about those issues, or when people raising those issues are booed.
- Sometimes it's because of obscure links that are made between footballers taking a knee and ideological issues relating to some group or other - even though taking the knee predates any of those groups, footballers aren't there on behalf of any of those groups, footballers aren't promoting any of those groups, footballers aren't promoting the overthrow of capitalisam. Yet despite what they have read on right wing social media, they seem to think they know the motivations of the players better than they do.
It's almost as if the really obvious reason why someone would boo someone silently protesting racism for 5 seconds may be the real reason all along.
At least the Chelsea fans who don't let black people on trains, while singing 'We're racist, and that's the way we like it' own their views, more than the snide racist ***** who boo it at the SoL.