Worshipping the Symbol - The NFL Controversy

Over the last few days a huge furor has arisen over a few football players' chosen form of peaceful protest. Throughout this mess all you hear is Trump and his supporters crying out for people to "respect the Flag," and it just reminds me how relevant even an old episode of Star Trek can be:

In "The Omega Glory" episode the crew of the Enterprise is trapped on a planet where two tribes, the Yangs and the Kohms are embroiled in a long-standing war. As the plot unfolds Kirk earns the scorn of a Yang leader for using the word "freedom" which he considers sacred, and later Kirk amazes the Yang tribe by reciting the Pledge of Allegience.

It turns out that for typically hand-wavy Star Trek reasons this tribe worships the US Constitution. The Yang leader was upset over Kirk using the word "freedom" because he believed an enemy should not speak of something so sacred.

It turns out that the tribe worshiped the US Constitution and the Flag, and even freedom but without actually understanding what they meant. The symbol was all that was important to them, to be repeated as a ritual and banded around.

This is what it feels like listening to Trump supporters these days, telling people to "respect the flag" even though their fight for justice is truly the essence of what America stands for.

As Kirk forcefully recites, the Preamble states:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,[note 1] promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The establishment of justice is what Kaepernic is kneeling for. He's doing the most patriotic thing of all: Fighting for the ideals of our country, rather than the symbol.