FanPost

My Mixed Feelings on Kluwe

A few things about myself. I'm a gamer, Vikings fan, socially liberal (economically conservative), agnostic/atheist/don't care, and find Kluwe to be intelligent and hilarious. His appearances on KFAN and The Nerdist podcast in particular are brilliant. I wish Kluwe was my friend so we could hang out, talk games, and make fun of stuff while getting drunk and kicking stuff really far. He seems like a genuine and awesome dude.

So given all of that, you'd think I'd be pissed about him leaving or you'd think that I support all of his off field activities. But in fact the opposite is true.

First off, I really don't think Kluwe's performance matches his pay. He was 23rd in the NFL last year in punting and yet was one of the highest paid punters. If they use the $1 million in cap savings to better the team elsewhere, and Locke is at least 23rd in the NFL in net, then I think this move makes the team better and is worth the 5th rounder it took. So from a football standpoint I think the move is reasonable.

Second, I generally don't like when people use attacks and belittle their opposition to advance a political agenda. So even though I more or less agree with Kluwe on policy, I reject his point of view because it paints individuals that don't share our belief as immoral or oppressive and then uses vulgar and obscene language to mock them. I hate these straw man arguments that people construct. "why shouldn't everyone be allowed to marry and love and have a good life". Hell I've been to 2 gay marriages in Minnesota. Totally legal to have a gay marriage and love and dedicate yourself to your partner, just don't expect the state to legally recognize it just yet.

I don't know maybe I'm just too tolerant and laid back to have a strong opinion on something like this. But I really think that tolerance works both ways and you get back what you put out. So if people who represent gay rights are bashing and mocking their "opposition" then they should basically expect the same in return. Really we should be pushing for civil unions at this point as a compromise or stepping stone and we should be pushing for this not by ridiculing opposition but by stating our case and expressing how much it would mean for people. Stuff like what Kluwe puts out there will get activists to whoop and holler but in no way does this put us closer to a society in which gays simply blend in as normal people, which should be the ultimate goal.

I mean, the true goal should be a society in which race, gender, or sexual orientation should basically be a nonfactor on an individual level, and flame wars just ain't gonna get us there.

And as a side note, it annoys me that the Vikings would even be accused of cutting him for his "personal beliefs". Using obscene language publicly and violating NFL dress code and basically being a clown is normally acceptable grounds for getting cut and it seems like a strange double standard that Kluwe should get a pass because he supports one mainstream progressive political view. So basically even if the VIkings did cut him partially due to him being a distraction, I don't see why that would be any worse than what they did with Harvin, even if Kluwe's comments weren't directly related to the team.

But yes with all of that said I do think it takes courage to do what Kluwe has done and I can respect that, but I don't think it really helps the problem and also think it is okay to cut a guy for it. I mean, how can it be courageous if there is no personal sacrifice being made?

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.