I'm briefly crawling out from under my heap of books to voice my opinion on this kneeling for the anthem controversy. I am South African, but have been subjected to endless discussion on this matter for days now.
Mentioning my nationality is the point. Being South African means I am not American, not Australian, not Chinese, not Italian...blah blah blah... However, I have opinions about much of what goes on in many countries. These kind of opinions can originate from two places. I could be noting how my otherness, all that differentiates me from, well, other countries. Or I could be empathising with our common human experience, no matter where a person is living their human experience.
I don't particularly have a problem with people choosing to kneel for a national anthem. I do have a problem with national anthems. National anthems, borders, wars, cultural diversity, racism create an us vs them mentality. We are all humans, and we are choosing to have these arbitrary definitions of nationality/difference imposed on us.
Maybe it is time to widen that focus lens.
