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Darvish’s Excellent Response to Racism
America has become an outrage machine. Tolerance is in the past. The media has become an unending tantrum of “social justice.” Professional sports is the most prominent stage of late to become mired in this junk. Thankfully a foreign baseball player, Yu Darvish, was able to stand above Yuli Gurriel’s offensive gesture and teach us all how to respond to insensitivity. Here are three things we can learn from his example after Game Three of the World Series.
1. We are all human
This includes racists. Gurriel is probably no more racist than Brian Gumble. But let’s say his unfortunate gesture is evidence that he’s secretly a member of the Cuban chapter of the KKK (they’ve been excommunicated by the Bama Chapter … for, ya know, being Cuban and Communist). I know this is hard to believe for some people but membership in the KKK does not get you excluded from membership in the club of humanity. The bar for membership in that club is really low. It starts with conception and there really isn’t anything you can do to get kicked out.
So Gurriel doesn’t deserve to be treated like a piece of trash. The quality of society is determined by how we treat those who wrong us. That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be consequences for horrible behavior; it’s equally undignified to treat sin as if it isn’t sin. But Darvish modeled maturity in a country that currently celebrates outrage culture over even the slightest hint of impropriety. During the post-Game Three interview, Darvish said via translator:
“Nobody’s perfect and everybody is different and then … we just … have to learn from it,” he said. “And then he made a mistake and then we’re just going to learn from it. We are all human beings. That’s what I’m saying, so just learn from it and we’ve got to go forward, move forward.”
Unfortunately, even Fox managed to misinterpret that statement as further condemnation of Gurriel rather than an attempt at offering an olive branch. Their immediate post-game coverage centered almost entirely on making sure everyone knows that racism is not okay and so they co-opted Darvish’s point about the brotherhood of fallible humanity as more damnation of Gurriel’s offensive gesture.
What Darvish actually meant was the exact opposite. He was trying to say that because Gurriel is human and all humans make mistakes that it shouldn’t define him. It was a mistake that we can all learn from and move on. And the best thing we can learn from all this comes from Darvish’s example. Especially considering that he was almost solely responsible for the Dodgers’ loss giving up four home runs in the third inning. But he chose the path of dignity and looked at Gurriel’s humanity when he easily could have made a huge deal over the incident to try to take the attention away from his poor pitching. He decided to keep it humble rather than “keep it real.”
2. The best response to “racism” is humor
Actual racism is not funny at all. It has produced the greatest evils in human history. But this doesn’t really qualify as that sort of racism. This sort of thing is really more like rudeness than racism. It is a display of impropriety and not equivalent to Jim Crow or Japanese internment camps. Those are examples of actual racism. The Daily Stormer, KKK, and The Nation of Islam are actual forms of racism. This was a guy using the distinctive appearance of a certain Asian gene pool as a form of insult. That’s rude. It’s racial rudeness. It’s also very stupid and pointless.
But if Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Richard Pryor, and “South Park” have taught us anything (and they certainly have) even actual racism is best dealt with by ridicule and satire. But in the case of Gurriel, no satire is needed. He made himself into a clown and only ended up highlighting Darvish’s nobility. It is very telling that the LA Times’ clip of Darvish’s post-game interview cuts off right before he makes a joke about the incident.
Darvish via Translator: “Of course like Houston has like Asian fans and Japanese fans and Asians are like all over the place and now with Yuli acting like that … disrespecting all the people around the world. To the Houston organization that’s just not okay.”
That is where the Times’ clip of the video ends. And its very telling of our current media culture that the very next question was “Isn’t he mad about that though?” The tone of leading expectation is obvious in the reporter’s voice. He expected Darvish to be upset. They were all hoping for a little bit of the outrage machine to make an appearance. But Darvish gave them something else entirely.
Via translation Darvish replies: “Yes, I’m very angry.”
The translator immediately looks back to Darvish with a wry grin. And then the pitcher shakes his head smiling and says “Nah.” But that does not fit the cultural narrative that the LA Times wants to promulgate. To them this is horrendous and potentially unforgivable. Racial impropriety has become the equivalent of actual racism. But not for Darvish. He said that it was disrespectful to a lot of people. He didn’t say it was evil. He said it was rude. He kept it within a very level-headed context. And ultimately laughed it off. Because why wouldn’t you laugh it off? Gurriel’s gesture doesn’t actually effect Darvish in any way, unless he allows it to. He acted like a mature adult and then let it go.
3. The Progressive worldview does not care about the perspective of the offended party
The LA Times proved this point by its clip editing. Darvish tried to frame this event with respect and humor but the progressive elite said no. Darvish clearly isn’t from here. He’s a foreigner who is so foreign that he is translator-dependent for public communication. He is also divorced with two children born out of wedlock from two different celebrity women. In other words he’s exactly the sort of person that the elites are supposed to love. But they still wouldn’t let him frame this controversy.
The fact that he didn’t become petulant and outraged over the whole thing is actual news. Because almost every one else loses their minds over this stuff. News is supposed to be about what is actually important and truly interesting. His response is both. But instead they tried to add it to the identity politics smorgasbord. I guess that’s because racism sells but dignity does not.
But the truly disturbing thing is that the left refuses to let the objects of injustices decide how to interpret them. Because being woke has nothing to do with people. It has to do with transcendental feelings. It is a kind of special gnosis that is disconnected from stuff like facts, logic, or practicality. Because those things are just products of the white male West anyway, right? Wokeness goes beyond truth and reality. And the woke ones know what is actually best for you.
Clearly Darvish was not woke enough for his actual opinions to matter. And that is remarkably insulting.
Published in Sports
Yes, if fewer people took the bait, this would be over. I sure hope more do.
Amen
A. C., this is an awfully good essay.
How come our side is so reasonable and the other side isn’t? That’s a serious question. The Left is kind of loony these days. It’s hard to see why anyone would take their side. Do you think they’re slitting their own throats?
Kent
A.C.,
As usual, the left is ready to pile on trivial incidents which amount to a minor gesture against racism. Meanwhile, the fact that Asian students must score 400 points higher on the SATs than Blacks to get into a major university in the USA is of no interest to the left. To even admit that this issue exists the left would be required to examine their whole absurd ideology.
It’s so much easier to overreact to the trivial. Darvish reacted as a rational adult. Something the left has forgotten entirely.
Regards,
Jim
Looking at it from the other point of view: It seems (to the best of them) that when we don’t react (loudly!) all these [racist] people spreading their awfulness around, we are either indifferent to the suffering of others, or in agreement with the awfulness.
Then we can have a long discussion about what’s wrong with that point of view … and it never ends.
Which, of course, it doesn’t. People are constantly stumbling. The best we can hope for is a bit of empathy and grace and forgiveness.
According to Fox’s Ken Rosenthal, Gurriel has been receiving “counseling” from Carlos Beltran.
In the old days Gurriel would have gotten a 98 mph fastball to the ribs during his next trip to the plate – and that would have been it.
Thank you. The Federalist declines it. I must say that whichever moderator edited it did a great job. It was pretty bare bones when I published it. I also appreciate everyone who liked it.
I don’t know man. I know there are level headed leftists…I work with lots of them. But they don’t make the news nor are they in charge of anything I guess. Our side freaks out about stuff sometimes but not in the same way ya know?
I agree completely. Discrimination against Asians is disgusting. But none of us can control discrimination or impropriety except in ourselves. That’s what being a rational adult is all about.
That’s a good point. It’s sorta like that joke:
“In order to make our public schools better I’m gonna light a private school on fire!”
“I don’t think burning down a private school will make publics any better off?”
”why do you want our children to have terrible education?”
”whattttttt?!?”
leftists intend to intend well…
Men should be able to deal with their differences like that from time to time.
In the pantheon of first world problems, being unaware that you are not supposed to notice that Japanese guys have epicanthal folds is a pretty big deal. In Cuba, Gurriel would be more aware of third world problems, like starvation or having the state police arrest a family member, never to be seen again. This must be just a little confusing for the immigrant Cuban. He’s probably the only guy in America who Trump could deport without a scream of rage from the left.
That comment was more condescending and racist than Gurriel was. Especially since he played in Japan!