ESPN Writer Explains Why He Was Upset With American Flags at Olympics and Why We Need to Be 'Humbled'

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

We’ve reported on some really bad takes on the American flag from folks in the leftist media.

One of the worst was from NY Times editorial board member Mara Gay, who described how disturbing it was to see “dozens” of American flags in Long Island, New York.

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But she’s not the only one suffering from this problem.

ESPN sportswriter William Rhoden explained on “CBS This Morning” why he had trouble enjoying the opening ceremonies at the Tokyo Olympics.

From Fox News:

“I love the opening ceremonies, march of countries. Then I realized, you know, man, particularly after these last four years, I had it wrong. Nationalism is not good. We’ve seen the rise of White nationalism. Nationalism is not good,” he said in a clip flagged by NewsBusters. “And also, this whole idea — I keep thinking back on the Capitol riots, and I saw a lot of, you know, U.S. flags.”

“So now when I see the flag and the flag raised, what — what America am I living in? You know, are the ones that don’t think, you know, we should be here?” he went on, referring to him and other African Americans.

Wow, can we count the way that this is so twisted and off? How do Olympians holding up the flag, proudly for their country, make anyone go there and attack the flag?

First, nationalism isn’t the same thing as white nationalism. He appears to conflate the two. Then he claims “nationalism” isn’t good. Now nationalism is a term that has a lot of different meanings to people, but is he really saying that having pride in your country — being for America — is not good? Because that’s what it sounds like. Then, of course, liberal media keeps wanting to bring up the Capitol riot. He seems to equate that with nationalism and white nationalism. He seems to be pushing the Democratic talking point without evidence that the riot was “white Nationalism.”

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But what kind of love do you have for your country if the sight of someone whom you oppose holding its flag makes you upset at that flag? What an odd thought that is, to begin with. Shouldn’t your love of our country and the flag be based on what you feel about it? Of course, you don’t generally see the flag at BLM/Antifa riots — unless they’re burning it. So what does Rhoden think about that? Does he believe, like the BLM, that waving the flag is bad for the country but burning it is good? I’m confused.

He even seems to be intimating that some of the Olympians might be racist because they’re holding the flag. How unfair or obnoxious is that?

But as he talks more, you can see the problem he has is really with America — that he thinks America needs to be “humbled” when he spoke about us losing in basketball to France. Across the board, we needed some humility, he said.

“I think we should be humbled. You know, I mean, this whole last year in this country — it’s about entitlement and privilege. Nobody epitomizes that more than basketball,” he said, adding he still felt the team would win gold.

He later said the Olympics “should be a time of soul searching and winning sometimes is antithetic to soul searching” and felt the Games should have been canceled because of a resurgence of coronavirus cases.

No, this whole last year was about radical leftists trying to push the country further left and pushing more division. It really has very little to do with trying to do anything to improve the lives of people of color. That’s just the excuse, like hating the rich and being against bailouts was the excuse with Occupy. And as far as being humbled, no country on the earth has done more for the betterment of humanity. It’s why people come from all over the world to be here — because we have been a beacon of liberty. It’s why people come from countries like Cuba that the BLM and folks on the left have praised — because here they can have the freedom they are denied elsewhere. So let’s not be dishonest as to what this is about.

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