Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Donald Sterling's Bigotry
Imagine if Donald Sterling's famous candid talk to his girlfriend sounded like this:
"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with Christians," Sterling is heard saying. "Do you have to?"
I think the fact that you admire a Christian -- I've known them well, and they should be admired," Sterling replies. "And I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire Christians privately. And during your ENTIRE F**KING LIFE, your whole life, admire them -- bring them here, feed them, f**k them, I don't care. You can do anything.
But don't put Christians on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don't bring them to my games. OK?"
How would our friends on the right react to that if say, Donald Sterling was a left-winger saying the above?
Or this:
"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with Jews," Sterling is heard saying. "Do you have to?"
I think the fact that you admire Jews-- I've known them well, and they should be admired," Sterling replies. "And I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire Jews privately. And during your ENTIRE F**KING LIFE, your whole life, admire them -- bring them here, feed them, f**k them, I don't care. You can do anything.
But don't put Jews on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don't bring them to my games. OK?"
Or this:
"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with Italians," Sterling is heard saying. "Do you have to?"
I think the fact that you admire Italians -- I've known them well, and they should be admired," Sterling replies. "And I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire Italians privately. And during your ENTIRE F**KING LIFE, your whole life, admire them -- bring them here, feed them, f**k them, I don't care. You can do anything.
But don't put Italians on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don't bring them to my games. OK?"
I'm wondering why the rightwingers who are howling about how unfair it is that a man who said those things in private and that now those things are now publicly known should suffer the consequences, would those same people feel this is an injustice if Sterling said the same thing about Christians, Jews, or Italians?
So why are people so angry that Sterling was disciplined by the NBA for saying these things, that became public, about African-Americans?
Anyone?
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7 comments:
They would probably not even realize the similarity of the cases. They are abjectly hypocritical about such things, always.
The same people who are outraged about the retaliation against Donald Sterling and Brendan Eich supported protesting and boycotting JC Penney because it employed Ellen Degeneres, who had not even shown any bigotry toward anyone, but was condemned just for her orientation. The same people oppose laws protecting employees from being fired for being gay.
I don't think their minds are sophisticated enough to grasp the concept of different people in analogous situations being treated the same. All they can think is "we're right and we should always get our way".
It's worth remembering, by the way, that Sterling, like Eich, has not had his freedom of expression threatened at all. No one is telling Sterling he cannot continue to say what he thinks about black people whenever he feels like it. They are just exercising their right to refuse to associate with a person whose statements they find repugnant.
Those who are philosophically consistent and honest would respond precisely the same way.
And to be philosophically honest and consistent you would respond precisely as you have with respect to Sterling.
Radical RedneckApril 29, 2014 at 9:59:00 AM EDT
"In the aftermath of comments made by racist LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, the NBA is investigating the situation and looking for a way to get him out of the league.
But there is a easy and faster way to get him out, Just have Shaw Kenawe start a Protest and a Boycott."
Alternative punishment - Sterling strapped to the backboard, players get to take penalty shots with bowling ball...
I wonder how loud they would yell if he said that about conservatives?
In regards to the comment by "Shaw You're Famous!", the comment by Radical Redneck on Lisa's blog can be found here. Looking around a bit I also found that Cliven Bundy's full remarks (beginning edited out) mitigate what he said later. He was actually defending minorities. Also, in the 70's things were good and racism was all but dead.
Blame Liberals for bringing it back - as well as people like Al Sharpton and Eric Holder. Because, as Conservatives know, Blacks are the real racists.
Dervish, it matters not what Sterling said prior to making his racist remarks. If you can go back and find some preface remarks Hitler made prior to killing 6 million Jews, I guess we'd have to forgive and forget that, too.
And I'm not comparing Sterling to Hitler, for Christ's sake, just saying you can't undo what he said by finding something soothing he might have uttered earlier.
Personally, I don't understand why there's been such a fuss of a billionaire acting like a bigoted asshole. Hard to find one who doesn't. He's not murdering anyone, isn't actively poisoning the planet and paying others to deny the science behind their accusations (ala Koch Bros). He's just an old bigot with a big mouth.
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