Standing tall on both feet isn’t sinister, it’s courageous.

Words matter, misconstruing words can matter more, using words to raise emotions while empowering another agenda is deceptive, but for those who do not see through such deceptions for a lack of trying, is both foolish and dangerous.

Which brings me to professional sportspeople, politicians and celebrities.

Throughout 2020 we have had to endure many things, but one of the most grating things to witness is people  who should know better taking a knee over something they don’t fully understand. This year, three simple words, “Black Lives Matter” have seen people who never should lose any ability for cognitive reasoning. Either that or they bow to pressure from certain groups for fear of being labelled a racist and if that is the case it’s worst than a lack of cognitive ability, it a lack of intestinal fortitude and moral courage.

A recent tactic of the left is to come up with a two or three-word slogan to imply something noble that is instead a Trojan horse for something far more sinister while at the same allowing attacks on any individual or organisation brave enough to speak out against it.

When Tony Abbott used three-word slogans the media attacked him for treating the voting public as simpletons, when the radical left use them to silence those they oppose the Main Stream Media is oblivious to it.

An example of this occurred last weekend when an article on the channel seven news website described the Melbourne Star’s Ben Dunk’s decision to remain standing while others took a knee in support of BLM.

Whoever wrote that article described Ben Dunk’s actions in the following way, “While he has not revealed the reasons for his stand, many cricket fans have criticised Dunk and assumed sinister motives behind his decision.” This is an outrageous slur on an individual exercising his right to his own opinion. The author of this quote implies anybody who refuses to take a knee has sinister motives, which is code for them being a racist or even worse, a white supremacist.

 The real truth is that Black Lives Matter is an organisation that is full of contradictions which should make it obvious to any person who can utilise reason that its message and goals should be rejected in its entirety. Their message is that racism against blacks needs to be called out, while other racism against anybody else is not important. They also believe Capitalism is evil but at the same time BLM will accept its contributions in the billions of dollars from corporate companies, they believe the nuclear family needs to be destroyed, despite evidence showing a nuclear family could resolve much of the issues facing the black community, especially young black men.

Finally, their goal to defund the police, demolish the judiciary and do away with prisons will introduce anarchy to the streets where only those rich enough to live in gated communities will be able to enjoy any peace and security. Those gated communities are predominately populated by wealthier white communities as opposed to poorer black ones.

The BLM hypocrisy is borne out when they ignore a black police office being murdered by BLM rioters when he tries to defend other peoples property, it is exposed when black on black crime ends up in the death of countless black people in cities such as Chicago, even when the victims are black children and toddlers being killed by other black men. Those black lives don’t seem to matter as you won’t hear anything from BLM about them. It’s too inconvenient to their agenda, for BLM the loss of black life only matters at the hands of  law enforcement or a non-black person and heaven help you if you have the temerity to say “All Lives Matter” which is as it should be.

Despite BLM’s stated goal of replacing Capitalism with Marxism where property and assets are owned by the  state as opposed to the individual, we have seen the biggest beneficiaries of capitalism, in professional sports people, embrace the BLM platform entirely. Across several sports, they continuously take a knee before their respective competitions in a pointless woke effort for what they foolishly believe is a stand against racism. Instead, they are giving credibility to an organisation that is anything but anti-racist.

Does anybody expect privileged sportspeople such as mega-rich NBA players to support the notion of giving up their collection of expensive toys and assets to the state? Not for a moment, yet there they are taking a knee before games and are wearing BLM t-shirts and insignia on their uniforms.

The hypocrisy is mind-numbing.

In the minds of those that support BLM, racism against any people that are not black is deemed appropriate, they even tolerate racism against fellow blacks who are in police uniform or worse reject BLM for what is. They are derided as sell-outs and Uncle Tom’s.

An example of this reverse racism from some within the black community was former America’s got talent host, Nick Cannon who not only believes, but publicly stated these beliefs. According to Nick if your skin tone or melanin isn’t a dark enough shade then that means you lack compassion, that you are closer to an animal than human and that you are a true savage. No racism in any of that is there? Now just imagine if that was a white man saying that about people of colour? Yet people take a knee to this attitude? They support this organisation?

Recently, the impact that the coverage of BLM through the media and the support for them through our various celebrity groups was having on our younger generations hit closer to home when two young men whom I greatly respect and who are intelligent people, strongly expressed to me their support for BLM. I had suspicions privately about the impact that all of this was having on our youth, but I was still taken aback by being exposed to it. As it was in a public place I did not want to make an issue of this with them in front of others as any discussion around BLM has the potential to become emotive.

Instead, I arranged a zoom meeting with them to discuss other matters But I was also keen to discover why they were so transfixed by this organisation. Did they know its goals? Were they aware of its philosophical agenda and policy platforms? Had they researched the organisation?

In preparation for this discussion, I had to decide on how I would approach it. The public expression of support for BLM was an oxymoron representation of the way they were living their lives. Unlike many of my age and vintage, I don’t despair at our future generations to the same extent that many at my age do. Instead, I see much in them in much the same way that I did of my peers when we were growing up. They have the same desires to improve themselves, to have a better life, to meet the right person and to have a family. They are young and optimistic enough to believe that they can build a better future as life hasn’t beaten that out of them as it has for so many of us.

So that’s where I started. I asked them some simple questions, why were they at University? Did they have career goals? Did they want to save and provide for a future family? Did they have desires for the good things in life? A house, a car, a big-screen television?

I soon discovered these young men were no different from any other generation. They wanted good careers, to find the perfect partner, to have children, to save and build wealth to enjoy in their life and to afford themselves the luxuries we are all entitled to enjoy in life’s journeys.

 The most controversial point of discussion was any effort at defunding police and we all agreed that rather than defunding the police, the implementation of proper oversight on police actions was required to ensure every civilian was treated appropriately when in police custody. If this was all Black Lives Matter was about then there would be a rapturous global agreement from all corners of society. Bizarrely we were already at this point across the globe for a day or two after the George Floyd incident, when universally police actions were called out. That was before Black Lives Matter entered the fray and the wheels feel off on any goodwill when people witnessed BLM supporters rioting, looting, committing assault and even murder. What an opportunity for real reform was lost when all of that occurred.

We also agreed that the issues surrounding police actions were dramatically different here in Australia as opposed to the ones facing police departments in the United States. We all wanted an ethical police force and legal institutions that ensured there was no descent into anarchy.

I then simply asked whether the boys were aware that Black Lives matter ware actually opposed to everything they were building towards in their lives. To my surprise they were not, they had not even looked up the BLM platform and agenda from BLM’s very own website, which until recently proclaimed that full agenda and was freely available for all to see. To their credit BLM are open with their agenda and goals for society which is something for which I am very grateful as it allows us to reject it out of hand with a serious discussion and exchange of ideas. Interestingly after a drop in public support after the rioting and looting took place, these goals and their agenda was taken down. It doesn’t take much research to find them though.

These young men had been involved in basketball with me as their coach and upon completion of this  discussion, I do not doubt that their position had been affected by the NBA’s embracement and support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Through my involvement in basketball, I meet with many young people who eat, live and breathe the game. They follow the individual stars, their stats and their media and they are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about everything these basketball superstars say and support because to put it simply, they are good at basketball. Multiply that by young people who think Hollywood celebrities, Main Stream Media personalities and people like Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Dorsey represent all that’s noble and trustworthy in the world and we have a problem.

Life hasn’t taught them yet the lessons they desperately need to learn. One of those is that seeing a person n your big screen, doesn’t automatically make them noble, ethical nor smart.

From our conversation I brought to their attention things about BLM that they were certainly unaware of, I am also confident that I gave these young men some food for thought to contemplate. One thing I have discovered in life’s journey is that you cannot underestimate the impact that your thoughts, beliefs or words expressing them can have on a young person. We all need to become far more pro-active about communicating with our younger generations because if we don’t, the long arms of the radical left will embrace them and impact their thinking.

At the end of the day, Black Lives Matter want to change society as we know it and not for the better and that change to society will impact the future of our younger generations more than any other.

 So to now witness a number of the BBL cricketers take a knee before their matches in support of BLM it just makes you wonder about two things. Has anybody in the management staff at these BBL clubs talked their players through the issues and facts that lie behind the Black Lives Matter organisation or are they also too naïve and ignorant to understand the issues BLM presents as it seems that so many are within our community?

If this is the case, then how can any group or organisation justify its members or employees making a public stand to support an organisation they know nothing about? As I pointed out at the start of this article if these players and their organisations think they are taking a stand against racism then they are useful tools easily manipulated by the Trojan Horse that is BLM.

There are many ways you can take a stand against racism that doesn’t indicate support for an organisation that embraces it and worse. The most effective way to fight racism is by the way you live your day to day life. It is the greatest stand you can ever take against any prejudice in the world.

If you as a person respect the rights of others, respect the property of others, if you don’t engage in things such as assault, theft, violence, looting, rioting and even murder and you accept every individual no matter their skin tone or culture for the unique person that they are and the unique potential they possess, then you have empowered our human race in a mighty fashion.

Taking a knee means nothing, living an ethical respectful and noble life is the only thing that counts in building  better societies for future generations. The radical left just loves to discover and point out all the faults of our nation whether they are real or just imagined in their small little minds. They ignore the nation our forefathers have built and how most of them lived the lives I spoke about. Their preference is to ignore their example, to destroy what they built and fought for and to throw it all away.

How does any celebrity, politician, ridiculously well-paid sports person or for that matter any citizen support that?

For me, I can proudly stand tall on two feet while rightly claiming I have taken a legitimate stand against all racism and supporting all my human brothers and sisters simply because of the way I have gone about my life. I am sure there are millions more like me who can make that same claim without the need to take a knee.

If you agree with this sentiment, then do one more thing, research BLM, research it’s founders, research Marxism and for god’s sake engage with our young people. You may be rejected, but don’t underestimate the seed you could plant and how it could sprout. Our younger generations deserve your input and efforts to mentor them in a more positive direction, so be courageous and don’t kneel but take a stand of your own.