U.S. women's soccer team star Megan Rapinoe holds the championship...

U.S. women's soccer team star Megan Rapinoe holds the championship trophy at City Hall after a ticker tape parade on Wednesday in New York. Credit: Newsday / Alejandra Villa Loarca

U.S. women’s soccer team co-captain Megan Rapinoe is quite the role model.

She used profanity in referring to the White House, and several days later, she used a variation of the same foul word while speaking on the steps of New York’s City Hall [“Party at Heroines’ Canyon,” News, July 11].

It seems as if she has gotten a free pass in many quarters for her vulgar language and her refusal to put her hand over her heart and sing our national anthem at the World Cup. Why? It seems like political correctness run amok.

Sabato Bonavita,

  Rockville Centre

I am not a soccer fan and have never watched a World Cup match. In fact, before the recent news, I had never heard of Megan Rapinoe. Nevertheless, it’s clear that her actions — or her lack of action in respect to the flag — has generated considerable dispute among fans and others with little interest in the sport.

I understand the strong feelings expressed by many Americans about Rapinoe’s decision not to put her hand over her heart or sing during the national anthem. We can all be certain, though, that she didn’t make that symbolic gesture casually, nor on a spur of the moment. Nor should she be accused of hostility toward this great nation. If that were the case, she’d surely not have devoted so much time and effort to represent the United States on the world stage.

It can be assumed that her gesture was neither directed against America nor one of disrespect for its flag, but rather to bring to public attention her belief that some aspects of society fall short of our widely shared ideals.

I believe it would generate more light and less heat if we were to give more thought to her perception of those problems and how to solve them, while paying less attention to how she expressed it.

Robert I. Adler,

  Port Washington

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