Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Social Media Case

Today it is not unnatural for people to discuss various topics online via social media platforms. Donald Trump has chosen to bring up some important issues via twitter. A few NFL players have begun to kneel during the national anthem as a way to protest social injustice. The following tweet is what the president had to say about it.  

Based on comments about the tweet it seems that some people did not appreciate the president’s tweet. In fact, Trump’s twitter posts about both the NFL players who protest the national anthem and the NBA player Stephen Curry were denounced by many including the NFL itself.  Some feel the players are just practicing their 1st amendment right of freedom of speech, and others feel he should be more worried about nuclear war, disaster struck areas, and other more prominent issues going on in our world. However, others seemed to agree with trump saying that it is disrespecting those who fought for and even died for our country to not stand for the flag.
I don’t think it was wrong of Trump to take a stand and acknowledge that it is disrespectful. However, I do think he was very unprofessional about the way he did it and even caused some people to misunderstand his intentions. His comment seems rude and extreme. Those who kneel for the national anthem should be fired? What about educated? Maybe they do not fully understand what implications that accompany kneeling for the flag. The truth is that the filed is not the place to bring up politics. In any job you do not really have freedom of speech there is still a time and a place for certain things. Off the field any player has the right to say anything about politics he would like to. That being said I believe if the president had come out with a more professional written statement about the issue it likely would be more understood and more widely accepted. Twitter was not the right place nor the correct approach to deal with an issue like this.  Using harsh language and disrespect is not the way the leader and president of the United States should act toward his followers.
            When the president heard that the warriors were discussing whether or not to go to the white house he tweeted, "Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!” This is immature of our president to un-invite the warriors to the white House. Instead he should make it clear he would be honored to have them come and is looking forward to it when he hears they are thinking about declining rather than uninviting on grounds that they were considering not going. Doing something like that on social media for the world to see makes the president seem unprofessional.
As a businessman it is surprising that Trump would approach something like this in that manner. He should be more diplomatic in the way he handles things. The president should treat everyone with respect regardless if they treat him the same because in the long run it would be better for him, and others would begin to treat him with more respect too. If the president continues to bring up issues in a harsh manner via twitter or other social media platforms I think people will begin to question his professional character. People could possibly begin losing respect for him as Americas’ leader if he continues to lash out via twitter.



2 comments:

  1. I totally agree that I would like to see more tact from the president. I bet since this conduct is not new the people who have looked in to Trump a little more already question his professional character and have a sensitive respect for him if they respect him at all. Given his great influence I agree that he could be a greater force of positive change if he was "the bigger man" in these situations and shared respect with his opponents.

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  2. It does seem pretty obvious that if Trump was actually looking to get people to come around to his side who aren't already, then he should go about it in a different and more civil/professional manner. I think you make a good point there. How you say something is more important than what you say. I guess that's partly why I assume he's got some other motive.

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