Many liberals believe that people should be insulated from the consequences of their own conscious decisions.  Spike Lee's recent outburst about Colin Kaepernick is a perfect example of this attitude, and it needs to be examined. 

But first, for those who don't follow the NFL, Kaepernick is the former San Francisco quarterback.  He refused to stand during pre-game performances of the National Anthem.  He knelt to protest the claimed disproportionate police use of lethal force against African-Americans. 

Many of us looking at the most recent studies reject this claim.  But even people who continue to believe the accusation question the appropriateness of this protest.  It injects politics into sports.  The tragedy is that sports is one of the few areas where people who disagree about virtually everything else can enjoy shared experiences.  Steven Hayward has a clear and concise elaboration on this point. 

Kaepernick is unemployed.  San Francisco did not offer a new contract to him, and no other NFL team is expressing  interest.  His past behavior is a distraction, and it is offensive to many fans, who pay for the NFL through ticket sales and TV ratings.  Even if Colin had exceptional skills, he would be a liability for an NFL team, but he is mediocre at best.  Both points are aggressively made by Stephen A. Smith at ESPN.  

That's the background.  What is more interesting is the attitude of many liberals, and specifically of Spike Lee, that Kaepernick's behavior should not matter.  "The New York J-E-T-S Need A Quarterback," says Lee.  He adds that it "Smells MAD Fishy To Me, Stinks To The High Heavens" that Kaepernick still doesn't have a job.

Lee couldn't be more clear: it doesn't matter what decision the young man made; he should not be judged on that decision.  That means that no other parties have the right to make their own decisions on the matter.  What the fans decide and what the team owners decide is irrelevant.

What sort of person thinks like that?  Let me suggest that there's a specific type of liberal who never really makes big decisions.  Such people are so locked into a rigid orthodoxy that they simply follow its dictates without considering alternatives or consequences.  This is the ultimate risk-adverse behavior.  It is carried to its logical extreme in the safe-space trigger-warning world of American universities, where there is an intentional insulation from consequences and protection from alternatives.  It becomes quite natural for people schooled in this environment to believe that anyone anywhere who follows the liberal rules should enjoy the same dispensations.  If one follows the rules, good things should just happen.  Kaepernick was just following the liberal rules, so he should not be judged.  

Spike Lee is a pioneer in this approach to life.  He followed a pattern for his life's major decisions.  That becomes readily apparent with a listing of the important markers in his life.  Stay with me if you like surprises.

He has a deep identification with New York City.  He loves Manhattan, but there is also a special appreciation for Brooklyn.  His principal occupation is making movies, which often explore the relationship of his ethnic community with greater New York.  Our filmmaker regularly appears in his own movies, and he's famous for breaking the fourth wall by speaking directly to the audience.  His films are high-decibel.  Speech is rarely sustained at a normal  conversational volume.  Our filmmaker is diminutive. He adopts a phallic nickname and makes a point of associating with famous athletes.  He is as much a fixture at N.Y. Knicks games as Jack Nicholson is at Lakers games.

That appears to be a creative, original biography.  It is if the name on it is Woody Allen.  When the name is Spike Lee, it becomes a giant step beyond cultural appropriation.  How it is that Spike missed playing the clarinet is beyond me.  

It is a very needy person with powerful fear of criticism who so diligently walks such a well worn path.  Kaepernick is the same kind of person, as he walked a liberal path.  In  a peculiar way, both men were just following orders.  That is never an acceptable excuse.