In America, you're supposedly free to say what you want. It's "just words." As the great Judge Wapner (of "The Peoples Court" TV show) used to say, "words are not assault. They are not battery."
The fuckhead Mariners benched a catcher for the rest of the season. Kind of arbitrary, isn't it? Not a week? Not two? Oh, right, the season is almost over anyway.
What the guy said may have been ridiculous and stupidly phrased, but I don't think it was racist. And even if it was, people say racist things all the time (don't they, Roger Waters) and it's excused as opinion.
Unless it's hate speech (and again, Roger, YOU get away with it) it's hard to justify sanctions. (Except, Roger, YOU want sanctions against Israel).
The back story here is that a pinhead football jerk began taking a knee and refusing to acknowledge our fabulous National Anthem (you know, the British drinking song with fresh lyrics).
What happened? Most everyone, including his white team mates, think he's entitled to do what he wants. It's "Freedom of Speech." Their spin is that even if he's disrespecting his country, he's ENTITLED to his OPINION, and to make a protest drawing attention to a grievance.
People are entitled to think he's a jerk and NOT watch his team play. If they feel like it, they can carry a sign and wave it at the game. They can wonder why a millionaire football player thinks White America is so awful when HE is doing very well.
Fact is, the "Black Lives Matter" slogan is condescending. It's sulky. It's almost always used in the context of defending an obnoxious thug with a criminal record. It never takes into account that cops have every reason to be wary when a gigantic black man is in front of them. "Aw, he was unarmed," the blacks whine. Yeah? You point a gun at someone and do you know how FAST you can be overpowered? Some black guy weighing a hundred pounds more than you do, and only a foot away, can easily grab your gun away. Even a cop can have his gun taken away. And POW. In most cases, the black thug was on drugs, or resisting arrest, or making a move that was dangerous.
This will never change. No cop will EVER think, "Oh, I'm better off letting a drugged up career criminal take my weapon and shoot me." PS, that applies to ANY color or type of criminal. Black cops have shot blacks. Black cops have shot whites.
The Black protests get scorn because it's ONLY about THEM. They're playing the race card, and the weary, weary SLAVE card. They don't acknowledge that some Latino might get beaten up too, or a fag, or a Muslim or a Jew. They act like that never happens.
Meanwhile Native Americans are sitting in poverty on reservations and they lost all their land, and if any group has a reason to be pissed off, it's THEM. Blacks can go back to Africa. The Native Americans can't go back to THEIR land, because WHITES are on it. And BLACKS. And Latinos.
Doesn't just about every group have a reason to feel sorry for themselves? There's no shortage of marching and whining. It just seems there's only one group that's always rioting, and only one group that is carrying out jihad. Why's that?
What the Seattle Mariners should've done is state, "This redneck's views do not reflect the team's views." End of problem.
Let this idiot deal with any angry black fans who come to the game, or any angry blacks on his team. Most baseball teams are half black, so this guy is pretty brave raving on social media like that. Let him pay for his stupidity by losing a few teeth in the locker room. What you DON'T do, is fuck with "Freedom of Speech."
"Freedom of Speech" is one of the most precious things that makes America great. The National Anthem is just a song. You don't feel like standing for it? Fuck you. Don't. Risk people thinking you're an ingrate. Your FREEDOM is to do what the fuck you want. That includes stating how you feel about an issue. That's FREEDOM.
It's been rightly said that "Freedom of Speech" is not shouting "FIRE!" in a crowded movie theater.
Other than that, you fight words with words. You explain why you think the others side is wrong. You don't censor them and deny them or fire them.
Most colleges and universities have racist professors who gleefully tell their students that Israel should be wiped off the map. THAT is ok. The excuse is freedom of speech, and that these professors simply have opinions and theories, and others are free to disagree.
There are racists leading the KKK and Nazi parties, who are free to give speeches of the most odious kind. THAT is ok.
Some redneck nitwit saying he doesn't like the "Black Lives Matter" slogan? He should be able to say it. He didn't use "the N word," and he didn't say blacks shouldn't be on his team. There's a line here. It goes back to a famous quote: "I disagree with what you say, but I defend to the death, your right to say it."
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