OK.

“We’re going to have to make some changes in society, hopefully quickly, because there’s too many situations like this where we send our thoughts and prayers to these victims, and unfortunately [it] keeps happening and [we] stand up here and talk about it some more,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers chose his words carefully and spoke with emotion, noting a personal connection.

“It’s scary,” he said. “It’s very scary. I woke up at 6 that morning and immediately saw the news, like most of us do, we check our news sites or Twitter, and you’re just heartbroken for those people. I have some ties and connections to Vegas, and I had some friends who were at the venue. It’s unthinkable that this would continue to happen in our country. You obviously send your prayers and thoughts to the people who are affected. A friend of mine lost their best friend of 20 years. Just — it’s something unfortunately we’re still having to deal with.”

Rodgers would not share the name of his friend or the deceased.

Culturally, we get very upset when people operate out of the box in which they normally operate. Rodgers is a football player and people will get grumpy about him opining on political or cultural issues. We like our football players to play football, and that’s it. The same works in reverse. We get grumpy when our politicians share their opinions about sports. We like to compartmentalize people and get frustrated when they try to operate in multiple compartments at a time.

I don’t have a problem with Rodgers using his platform to share his views about things going on in the world. As long as he isn’t disrespecting our flag or something, he’s certainly free to share his thoughts. At the same time, when he decides to weigh in on issues, he does so without any pretense of expertise or authority. He’s just a dude talking about stuff… like me.

So let’s evaluate what he said. In reading the quote above, he didn’t really say anything. He basically said, “we should do something” without offering any prescription. It’s not even clear to me if he’s talking about some legislative response or a general cultural response. He said, “We’re going to have to make some changes in society.” I think we all agree on that. It gets more contentious when we begin to talk about what those changes should be.