This bleeds into the larger topic of mundane nationalism/patriotism seen at events or in our daily lives.
A few years ago, before Kapernick, the topic of Jerry Jones charging for "troop honoring" at Cowboys games came up while I was on a four day camping/kayak fishing trip. A few of the guys were enlisted vets and most of the rest are O & G guys in Houston, so despite being reasonable individuals otherwise there is definitely a "patriotic" lean to the group as a whole.
Of course, since I am from Austin, and prefer to hash out the where tos and why fors of such situations, I am generally labeled as a liberal hippy, all in good fun, of course. I do need to put in gentle reminders that despite being from Austin, I was raised catholic, am a CPA, own a construction company, and was educated at that bastion of liberal free thinking that is the Red 'racist" McCombs School of Business with not just a BBA but an MPA as well.
My thesis started out by positing that, when it came to honoring the troops, that we perhaps had become fatigued by the whole thing. After all, ever since 9/11 we have been on a non stop veneration of all things firefighter, first responder, cop, military, and victorious dead, what with our endless wars on terror, drugs, and such.
I went on further, stating that in my many years as a musician in HS marching band, HS concert band, HS jazz band, various all-region , all -city, All -state ensembles, Longhorn marching band, Longhorn jazz band, solo performances, and numerous professional gigs, that I had played the national anthem over a thousand times and that by the time I was in my mid 20's that I was thoroughly sick of it and it had become a trite experience whether performing or listening/singing.
Not stopping there, I went on to giving a brief history of how the Pledge of Allegiance came about in the 1950's and how it too had become a trite and wrote thing to be "gotten over with" during my school days. I also added that my children were now also subjected to an additional and almost identical pledge to Texas while at school, ....in Austin.
In conclusion, I stated that these customs had, at best, become a distraction from the acts real patriotism, like voting, becoming informed and involved, paying taxes, having a civics curriculum in school, thinking, and otherwise truly participating in the hard work in maintaining and improving our democracy such as it is.
I got a lot of nods and then we proceeded to change the subject and drink a lot more beer.