By Kiel Majewski
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has started sitting during the national anthem before preseason NFL games. Folks are heated about it, and the underlying reason is because Kaepernick is sitting squarely in the divide between conservative and liberal moral perspectives.
I've previously written about moral foundations theory (here and here) as outlined by moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who suggests one's morality is based on five primary categories: fairness, compassion, loyalty, authority, and purity (or sanctity).
Typically, conservative folks highly value loyalty and authority. These people believe a "good American" shows respect to the flag and to men and women in uniform. People who prize loyalty and authority place very, very high value on symbols and rituals of authority such as the American flag and standing during the national anthem. In fact they place such high value on the symbols that they come to hold as much or more power as the things they stand for. Any deviation in the ritualistic treatment of those symbols is perceived as a deeply immoral act.
Liberal folks typically give little credence to loyalty and authority. They actually view loyalty and authority as dangerous to freedom and equality. Indeed, we've seen in totalitarian regimes how "patriotism" and loyalty to flag and country can be deeply immoral and has been used to compel regular people into perpetrating genocide.
People like Kaepernick believe that true patriotism is about holding one’s country accountable to achieve its highest ideals. That's been the mindset of every reformer who has worked to make America great, including and especially Christian folks who have been involved in social movements throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in American history.
If you watch this video, Kaepernick is not saying he hates America nor is he trying to disrespect the sacrifices made by US military personnel. To him, he's doing the opposite - i.e. honoring them by using his freedom of expression to challenge America to treat all of her citizens with fairness and compassion.
Conservative folks don’t have much tolerance for a discussion about this because loyalty and respect for authority are rooted in the emotional center. Seeing an act of disloyalty skips the rational part of the brain and goes straight to the gut. It just makes people angry.
The two moral categories valued highly by both liberal and conservative folks are fairness and compassion. This is the common ground for dialogue. The best vehicle for dialogue is personal narrative – listening to each other’s stories. I'm convinced that the more people share their stories with each other, the more understanding and harmony we will all enjoy. A good start would be for people who are hating on Kaepernick to spend five minutes listening to what he actually believes. Next, we need to expand our view of history.