Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
As a sort of addendum to Paul Rahe's excellent posts below on Lazar Greenfield and the "truths you cannot utter," I blogged today on my reaction to the thought-policing of even those utterances of which I personally disapprove. In this case, it was b-ball superstar Kobe Bryant's homosexual slur, released in the heat of a game. He was fined 100K and the Lakers and NBA had to make all kinds of bows to GLAAD. My react:
In my humble opinion, the Lakers should’ve told GLAAD to go to hell. I would like to here go on record as being officially sick to death of professional busybodies and tiresome prigs like GLAAD and NOW and all the rest telling people what they can think and say. Who appointed GLAAD the official representatives of gay people? Even if they were, who gave gay people the right to be loved or even respected? If Kobe Bryant lets off steam in the heat of battle with a slur, who on earth really gives a damn or thinks it affects the state of gay people in America? Only GLAAD, whose sole purpose on earth is to take umbrage. Well, let them get on with it and to hell with them.
Bryant made all the usual apologies – but what if he hadn’t? What if he had said: “Hey, sorry, I just don’t like gay people?” What if he feels they’re sick or sinful or just kind of weird and icky? Whose business is that? Why does GLAAD or even the NBA have any right to force him to change his private opinions? If the NBA wants to fine him on grounds of language, okay, I guess, but surely bad language gets spoken on such occasions all the time. Why make a point of this except to kow-tow to the GLAAD bullies.
The whole rant - for which I have fined myself fifteen bucks - is here.
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Jun '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
From the Lakers’ press release:
"We appreciate the input we've received from GLAAD the past two days and will look forward to working with them on ways to help educate ourselves and our fans, and to keep language like this out of our game." [Feel free to gag].
So now it's the job of an NBA franchise to educate its fans? I'm missing something, Lakers. As I recall it's the fans who pay you grossly inflated ticket prices to watch your games: just how does this give the Lakers the moral authority to educate them? What did the fans do?
Furthermore, it’s all hypocrisy. Removing offensive words (and believe me, they're equal opportunity words designed to offend everyone) from competitive sports is about as likely to happen as the United States is to run budget surplus this year. Anyone who’s played any kind of face-to-face competitive sport knows it’s not going to change.
It’s all just PC eyewash.
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
What gets short-changed in the "right to say it" debate is the next level - the "let us judge what he said" debate.
Assume I concede Kobe's right to say it (I don't concede that he shouldn't be fined - conservatives know the sanctity of contract is in the Constitution).
Having conceded that, am I the "politically correct" misfeasor when I then judge his speech, or is the political correctness coming from the plaintiff sonance of those who wish to speak and not be judged themselves?
Some opiners and declarants see their words like children's soap bubbles to be admired as they float, and they act as children should their bubble be popped.
They should see their words like roosters in a cockfight - send your words to battle and they may be pecked and bloodied, but the better words will win.
Speak and be judged. To block the speech is political correctness. To block the criticism of speech is equally a bow to political correctness, only wimpier.
I insist on wordsmith in speech that is exceptional and sublime. Having failed to meet that, for being trashy and oafish, I too condemn Kobe.
Let him deal with it.
Jan '11
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
Ha! Brilliant, Andrew. I agree. A guy had an unguarded moment and said a bad word. Who really cares? I think it's good for the NBA to fine bad behavior for the sake of maintaining the image of the league and show zero tolerance for the thuggish behavior that had become part of the image of the league ten years ago. So I've no problem with a 10k or 25k fine and a warning about future suspension for using foul language or loudly berating an official from the bench. But ratcheting up the fine because of the word choice is ridiculous IMO.
What if Bryant had called the ref a dumb n*gger? What would the fine have been? Bryant would be innoculated against the charge of racism against black people, so what would Stern have done? I'm guessing the punishment would have been a lot less severe, but the word is still at least as ugly and hateful, probably more so.
In the end I just think we all need to go back to the idea, "Sticks and stones…" and get on with our lives. There is so much more important stuff to get outraged about.
Dec '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
Isn't this whole thing insulting to gays, saying that they can't handle a slur if it's not directed at them and has no real consequences? I agree with BThompson, there is certainly a punishment for this sort of thing and players get fined if they are caught on camera saying various taboo words, but dialing this thing up to 11 seems to me kind of insulting.
Jul '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
I'm gonna go with GLAAD on this one. Like them or not, they're a civil-rights group whose charter includes discouraging overt acts of discrimination or disparagement against gay people - just as the NAACP has long been active in denouncing the use of offensive epithets against blacks. GLAAD is simply doing what, by the lights of their constituents, they're supposed to do.
Personally, I think it's a good thing when society's consensus evolves to the view that the use of intentionally-hurtful epithets should be discouraged. But that doesn't happen organically; someone has to speak up.
Like it or not, America's children - and especially America's black children - model their expression and behavior on the examples of figures like Kobe Bryant. If they learn from this incident that hurling hateful words at people unlike themselves is no longer acceptable, that's a good thing.
You know, as conservatives, we often denounce coarse, hateful and uncivil speech on the Left. What Kobe Bryant said was coarse, hateful and uncivil. Let's be consistent.
Edited on Apr 18, 2011 at 11:25amRe: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
I agree with Kenneth.
Those who wish to stop Kobe from speaking are as politically correct as those who wish to stop others from complaining about what Kobe said.
Both groups are cut from the same censorship cloth.
Let the two sides fight it out. The marketplace of ideas will allow the best words to win.
Apr '11
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
I don't think the issue is about GLAAD's right to criticize Kobe, but the capitulation of Kobe, the NBA and the Lakers organization. You don't have the right to not be offended and if the league would have ignored it, it would have gone away. Now, it's yet another step toward conformity that the Left desires so much. We must all be the same and we cannot refer to people based on their differences. Any statement regarding sexual orientation, weight, ethnicity or financial standing must be taken as a pejorative and the offending person must be forced to apologize and be made example of.
It's clear that Kobe didn't think the referee was a homosexual, and that's all he should have to say in response. Referring to other men as feminine or gay will always be a way for men (and sometime women) to voice their displeasure at other men.
The problem today is that organizations like GLAAD are given to much attention. They don't represent anything close to the majority opinion and I doubt they represent the majority opinion of gays on may issues.
Jul '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
SunDevil:
Referring to other men as feminine or gay will always be a way for men (and sometime women) to voice their displeasure at other men.
I devoutly hope you're wrong, Whitey.
Sep '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
Tommy De Seno: ... those who wish to stop others from complaining about what Kobe said.
Both groups are cut from the same censorship cloth.
Which part of Klavan's post leads you to believe that he wants to "stop" or "censor" this group?
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
Mark Belling Fan
Tommy De Seno: ... those who wish to stop others from complaining about what Kobe said.
Both groups are cut from the same censorship cloth.
Which part of Klavan's post leads you to believe that he wants to "stop" or "censor" this group? · Apr 18 at 11:57am
"Drop dead" might cause a sudden inability to communicate.
Nov '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
So we're supposed to be against epithets entirely? If Kobe had called the ref a reproductive organ (either gender) would that be just as bad? Would it be permissible to resort to imaginary words as epithets? Could he call the ref a "fuzwarble" without raising protests and condemnation?
Ugh, I'd greatly dislike a world in which one may not even hurl an insult when one is filled with ire.
Jun '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
Only certain offensive words that are particularly offensive to certain special groups matter.
Was the word an ugly one? Yes. Kobe, the Lakers and the NBA had every right to capitulate to GLAAD, but, like Andrew, I think their action was so selective and obsequious as to be gag-inducing.
No one thinks twice about calling devoted Christians "wingnuts" or worse. (See Bill Maher's greatest hits). The Gay community said some pretty nasty things about my religion (Mormon) after Proposition 8 failed. Did we see them falling all over themselves apologizing? No. Why? Because Mormons, Catholics, and a few other Christian denominations are fair game ("fundamentalist bigots"). Did they say much bad about the black churches, who also opposed Proposition 8? No. Why? Can't offend a group defined by race.
But, in addition to its cringe-inducing apology, the Lakers then assume the moral highground: they're now going to educate their fans.
My problem is the hypocrisy.
Jan '11
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
When my mother would get frustrated at me for not eating vegetables, she'd threaten me: "You'll eat it, and you'll like it!" I always thought, "You can make me eat it, but you can't make me like it." In the same way, society has the right to influence (and at times control) behavior. But I deny that society has the right to control attitudes.
I'll make a confession. I'm a heterosexual. Shhhh! The fact is, I find the idea of sex between men to be completely repulsive.
At the same time, I oppose discrimination. If you're a citizen, you deserve to be treated like any other citizen. But if you expect me to suddenly enjoy and celebrate homosexual sex, forget it. I don't like it, and I deny society's "right" to control my feelings.
Because Kobe Bryant is an employee of a business, the business has a right to discipline his behavior. Fine him on the grounds that certain behavior is expected. But no business or government has the right to discipline attitudes. That's why "hate speech" legislation is simply fascist. Government has no right to control attitudes.
Sep '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
Tommy De Seno
Mark Belling Fan
Tommy De Seno: ... those who wish to stop others from complaining about what Kobe said.
Both groups are cut from the same censorship cloth.
Which part of Klavan's post leads you to believe that he wants to "stop" or "censor" this group? · Apr 18 at 11:57am
"Drop dead" might cause a sudden inability to communicate. · Apr 18 at 12:19pm
So if I choose not to engage my lunatic lefty friend in a debate about why we need to tax the rich, but instead merely tell him to go pound sand, am I censoring him? Or am I just making a judgement call about how to spend my time and energy in the most productive manner?
Jul '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
Why shouldn't we be? What civil purpose is served by spitting epithets at others?
I'm glad no one any longer uses those terms for the Irish, the Italians, the blacks, the Mexicans, the Jews. It's coarse and it demeans us.
Yes, GLAAD's agenda and its methods may alienate some of you. But that doesn't mean they're automatically wrong when they object to bigoted, hateful speech. We'll all be better off when people who engage in such speech have been shamed into displaying better manners.
Edited on Apr 18, 2011 at 2:01pmAug '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
I'm "gay" and live my life exactly as I want, in a country that has come light years in "acceptance" during my lifetime. Accepting protection from an arbitrary judging committee (GLAAD) is not something that would enter my head. We have learned not to fight our own battles, to hide under the shroud of factions. The world is an unsafe place, full of potential potholes. The "ism" fighting groups seek to round all the corners, soften the bumps -- the world must be "safe" for all at all times. How sad. How unadventurous!
Jan '11
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
Kenneth
Why shouldn't we be? What civil purpose is served by spitting epithets at others?
Kenneth, I disagree here, not with your goal, but with your method.
The whole purpose of an epithet is to hurt someone else. So if you make the epithet into a scary taboo, all you're really doing is magnifying the damage that the word inflicts. Calling a black person "the N word" used to be bad enough. Now, having turned the word into a crime worse than death, all you've done is empowered the word to do more damage.
There was a time when calling an Irishman a "mick" or a "harp" would have been considered an insult. Nobody cares anymore. Those insults have been completely neutralized. I'd like to see the same happen to the N-word, so that it doesn't cause any damage.
Aug '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
I'm confused - why is everybody getting mad at Kobe Bryant for calling the ref a bundle of sticks?
Edited on Apr 18, 2011 at 2:41pmRe: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
KC Mulville
Kenneth
Why shouldn't we be? What civil purpose is served by spitting epithets at others?
Kenneth, I disagree here, not with your goal, but with your method.
The whole purpose of an epithet is to hurt someone else. So if you make the epithet into a scary taboo, all you're really doing is magnifying the damage that the word inflicts. Calling a black person "the N word" used to be bad enough. Now, having turned the word into a crime worse than death, all you've done is empowered the word to do more damage.
There was a time when calling an Irishman a "mick" or a "harp" would have been considered an insult. Nobody cares anymore. Those insults have been completely neutralized. I'd like to see the same happen to the N-word, so that it doesn't cause any damage. · Apr 18 at 2:20pm
That's a very interesting perspective. I don't see the case against it. Nice job.
Jul '10
Re: Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead
KC Mulville
Kenneth
Kenneth, I disagree here, not with your goal, but with your method.
The whole purpose of an epithet is to hurt someone else. So if you make the epithet into a scary taboo, all you're really doing is magnifying the damage that the word inflicts. Calling a black person "the N word" used to be bad enough. Now, having turned the word into a crime worse than death, all you've done is empowered the word to do more damage.
There was a time when calling an Irishman a "mick" or a "harp" would have been considered an insult. Nobody cares anymore. Those insults have been completely neutralized. I'd like to see the same happen to the N-word, so that it doesn't cause any damage. · Apr 18 at 2:20pm
Do you seriously believe that the "N" word is more hurtful now than it was when the word was routinely used to order blacks to the back of a bus? I'm sorry, but that's mere sophistry.
I am just stunned that you traditional values folks don't understand that courtesy and concern for others is the glue which binds civil societies.