Apparently, gratitude is as obsolete as the truth on a network newscast.  We have another example from the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, where U.S. fencer Race Imboden took a knee while the "Star-Spangled Banner" played for the gold medals won by Imboden and teammates Gerek Meinhardt and Nick Itkin (who both stood for the anthem).

"Every athlete competing at the 2019 Pan American Games commits to terms of eligibility, including to refrain from demonstrations that are political in nature.  In this case, Race didn't adhere to the commitment he made to the organizing committee and the USOPC," Mark Jones, vice president of communications, USOPC (United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee), said in a statement on Saturday.  Although Jones's statement appears that the team leadership are not pleased with Imboden's actions, it remains to be seen what, if any, action will be taken.

After the incident, Imboden released a typically leftist statement decrying racism in America, along with his dislike for Donald Trump and mistreatment of immigrants.  Apparently, free health care and in-state tuition constitute "mistreatment" in his mind.  His statement conveniently ignores the fact that the immigrants to whom he refers break our laws by coming uninvited across our border, and that in the vast majority of countries around, the world such lawbreakers are summarily jailed until they are returned home.

Athletes should realize the difference between representing their country and representing themselves.  Standing on the medal podium in uniform while the national anthem plays is not the time or place.  By protesting in the way he did, Imboden presumes to speak for the whole country.  He does not speak for this writer and, I believe, not for the majority of Americans.  Instead, he could write a blog, a letter to the editor, go on a sympathetic television or radio station, call a press conference, create his own web page, etc.  No one in America would deny him the right to do any of those things.

Western, that is to say Judeo-Christian, civilization teaches that one should be grateful for what one has.  Leftism can't abide this because when one is grateful, one is generally happy.  Leftists require constant turmoil and never-ending crisis, manufactured if necessary, so they can come to our rescue.  That their "fixes" would also strip all of our freedoms and take all our hard-earned money in the process is just collateral damage to them.  I offer three words as an example: "Green New Deal."

Imboden is a classic example of a person who should be grateful, not angry.  According to U.S. Fencing, he was educated in private schools — the Dwight School in New York, base tuition $48,620 a year for grades 1–12, and St. John's University, base undergrad tuition $41,900.  Add in the thousands of dollars for training and fencing coaches, and we have a portrait of what many would call a privileged young man.

Like Colin Kaepernick before him, who made millions of dollars for throwing and running with a football, not exactly up there with curing cancer on the value-to-society scale, Imboden has no gratitude.  In a way, Imboden is a victim.  But he isn't a victim of oppression or some mythical "man," or any of the leftist boogeymen that he might name.  He is a victim of a coordinated effort by the left to indoctrinate, to make America the villain at every turn, to literally rewrite history.

Acknowledging the value of freedom and supporting our rights under the Constitution used to be the norm in America.  Kids in elementary school held Flag Day celebrations, and we learned that our rights come from God and are to be protected by our government, they are not granted by government and therefore subject to repeal on a whim.  It seems as if patriotism is not allowed in higher education anymore.  That's remarkable, since universities have traditionally been places where unpopular speech was welcomed if not encouraged.  Apparently, it depends on who is speaking.

It's been going on for at least a half-century now, and it's amazing that it hasn't consumed more of the population.  Conservatives should be grateful for the rise of the internet and conservative media, especially talk radio.  No one knew how far left Walter Cronkite was when there was no one to compare him to.  Today, you would have to be blind not to recognize the insanity that comes from leftists in the media.  Think "insanity" is too strong?  Who knew that if the president raised flags from half-staff on the eighth of August, he was actually saying "Heil Hitler"?

The truth about the United States, its history, and its president is out there if one is willing to look past the New York Times and the network news.  Imboden is therefore a willing victim, and that makes a person a fool.  "Useful Idiot" is another term that would apply — as W.S. Gilbert put it in The Mikado, "the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone, All centuries but this, and every country but his own."

Bruce Buckfelder has been writing on a variety of topics since 1993.  He writes from the Atlanta, Ga. area. 

Image credit: Twitter screen shot.