KO brought further clarity to the issues of speech rights and property rights yesterday with his opening piece on his ESPN show:
As representing courageous individuals as suggested later on the program and as brave as anyone who takes a vanguard position referencing the 1968 Tommy Smith / John Carlos raised fists on the podium at the Mexico City Olympics, ultimately it will reveal the RW ideological landscape not simply of the St Louis NFL franchise, rumored to be going (back) to LA, but in the Heartland. So much bad PR, so many bad actors. Ultimately it always will be about who owns the means of (free) speech production (see ALEC). And in the case of one, two, many more Fergusons, the larger structural issues need to be addressed regarding police militarization, the PIC, and institutional racism.
twits tweeting on Twitter
And as KO commented on the World's Worst segment, reactionary fallout was soon to spread with unintended consequences:
St. Louis sports bar stops happy hour for Rams' games in wake of players' 'hands up' Ferguson gesture
The Time Out Sports Bar & Grill announced Monday that it will no longer have happy hour during Rams' games after five St. Louis players did their 'hands up' gesture prior to Sunday's home game against the Raiders. Rams players Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Jared Cook and Chris Givens — all black — stood with their arms raised prior to the Rams' 52-0 blowout of the hapless Raiders....
In addition, the bar said it will now support the Chiefs, even though Kansas City is 250 miles away from St. Louis....
"If I could give them zero stars, I would," wrote one Yelp user. "This is a hole in the wall bar run by racists that act like children when people say things they don't like."
"They support freedom of speech — unless they don't agree with it," wrote another Yelp user. "They support peaceful demonstrations — unless they don't agree with it. They don't take sides in the Ferguson tragedy — unless the(y) don't agree with your side."