OT: Jason Whitlock disgrace

[YankeeCollector]

Originally Posted by Rickyy

I stopped listening to East Coast SPN long ago...since they don't acknowledge existence of anything out here west of the Missisippi (except for the Lakers)...juvenile incidents like this only adds to my disdain for that channel.

Ricky Y

I guess Tim Tebow and Denver play their home games east of the Mississippi!

[Wite3]

To me this is just like the steroid argument. Steroids are a form of cheating but who is it hurting? My answer is the kids who are growing up watching these men slowly kill themselves with drugs. The kids do not have the maturity or impulse control or reasoning skills to realize this and they try different things that can be VERY harmful to them to try to get an edge.

Same thing with this kind of hate speech. It is nothing more than that. The statistics on the "harmless" jokes are staggering. I urge people to visit websites like "Teaching Tolerance" and the Southern Poverty Law Center if you want to see some of the stats on how harmful this kind of speech is.

I personally had an example of this just this week and have been dying to get here to post it...I have students come into my class (4th grade) and repeat the dumb and disgusting all the time. Friday, a student in my class who idolizes Kobe Bryant said to me he "can't wait for Kobe to play the Knicks and drop the bomb on Lin!" I asked him what he meant...he told me just like the A-bomb on Hiroshima. I told him that Lin was from Taiwan and not Japan and that his comment was out of line. Thousands of people died that day and it is not a joke. He just could not understand, being 10 years old, that what he said was bad. When I asked him where he heard that joke, he said his older brother heard it from his father. I emailed the father and he emailed back saying it was harmless. I then asked him if it would have been harmless had the japanese girl in my class said that "Lin was going to enslave Kobe next time they met on the court." That drove the point home. The family I spoke to was black. They immediately apologized and were horrified when I turned it around. They also assured me that they would be more mindful about what they say in front of the kids.

People need to understand they are not alone in this world and often there are young ears either watching the channels, reading the web, or just looking over your shoulders. These comments are neither harmless nor appropriate at any time.

Joshua

[celoknob]

...........

[celoknob]

Originally Posted by Wite3

To me this is just like the steroid argument. Steroids are a form of cheating but who is it hurting? My answer is the kids who are growing up watching these men slowly kill themselves with drugs. The kids do not have the maturity or impulse control or reasoning skills to realize this and they try different things that can be VERY harmful to them to try to get an edge.

Same thing with this kind of hate speech. It is nothing more than that. The statistics on the "harmless" jokes are staggering. I urge people to visit websites like "Teaching Tolerance" and the Southern Poverty Law Center if you want to see some of the stats on how harmful this kind of speech is.

I personally had an example of this just this week and have been dying to get here to post it...I have students come into my class (4th grade) and repeat the dumb and disgusting all the time. Friday, a student in my class who idolizes Kobe Bryant said to me he "can't wait for Kobe to play the Knicks and drop the bomb on Lin!" I asked him what he meant...he told me just like the A-bomb on Hiroshima. I told him that Lin was from Taiwan and not Japan and that his comment was out of line. Thousands of people died that day and it is not a joke. He just could not understand, being 10 years old, that what he said was bad. When I asked him where he heard that joke, he said his older brother heard it from his father. I emailed the father and he emailed back saying it was harmless. I then asked him if it would have been harmless had the japanese girl in my class said that "Lin was going to enslave Kobe next time they met on the court." That drove the point home. The family I spoke to was black. They immediately apologized and were horrified when I turned it around. They also assured me that they would be more mindful about what they say in front of the kids.

People need to understand they are not alone in this world and often there are young ears either watching the channels, reading the web, or just looking over your shoulders. These comments are neither harmless nor appropriate at any time.

Joshua

I've been mostly ignoring this thread as it does not belong in a baseball card forum but I'm glad I read this post. Nice to see some critical thinking, lack of emotional lashing out and providing specific examples of real lives and children. Thanks.

[ChiefBenderForever]

As tough as it is to be shocked these days the screen shot tbob put up is unbelievable , is that espn website? Unreal

[Rickyy]

Originally Posted by YankeeCollector

I guess Tim Tebow and Denver play their home games east of the Mississippi!

Really? I stand corrected then...if they are no longer talking Brett Farve man crush I may just tune in again sometime! :-)

[Peter_Spaeth]

Are you sure it was Whitlock that wrote the latest headline? The stories covering it do not say that. Even I object to that one.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Are you sure it was Whitlock that wrote the latest headline? The stories covering it do not say that. Even I object to that one.

I think that Whitlock is Fox Sports, this was an ESPN web page I thought.

[Peter_Spaeth]

There is no way Whitlock would have written that under the circumstances. Whoever did should be summarily dismissed, world of difference between some stupid sophomoric humor (Whitlock) and this (racial/ethnic slur).