Sports and statues

I read the conservative publication, admittedly one that wad set up to oppose the Iraq War but nonetheless planted its flag on some cultural matters that will at least lend to some protest of the protest — decry the “cancel culture” that lead the Dixie Chicks to drop the first half of the name. I will go ahead and cry out that the group has marched into absurbism –and I guess the culture which prompted this — while mocking the double dip hypocrisy.

Other conservative publication fails to note … Not all statue dumplings are the same. It is not Theodore Roosevelt that the descendents of Roosevelt consented to a removal — it is that particular Theodore Roosevelt. Though I do not know what ought be done on the groveling freemen before Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas’s political words for a political speech (trying to reproach the Republican Party to live up to some faded ideals) do not exonerate a flawed monument. Most of the rest of the vandalism seems Jacobin jackassey… Yeah, 13th century kings must be… Deposed? The local alt weekly published ten comments left to their internet postings on the lobbing og Jefferson and Washington, with (sigh) eight of ten in favor. The one I find fascinating was “beyond the righteousness of toppling racists” and the politics they are “ugly” “has anyone’s day been brightened” by this ” opposite of art”? Answer: Anecdotally, I have seen classrooms of school children run up and past yelling playing and irreveranrly “we love you, Theodore Roosevelt!”, So… As a matter of fact, yes.

IMG_20200624_133906Ever want to hear from Peter Norman, the Silver medalist here?  Apparently, according to wikipedia, and I suppose all coverage of the historic event he was wearing a badge of support, but I am imagining an alternate universe where whitey isn’t in on it.  So we get the experience where he sees in his peripheral vision the big salute and has to make a split second decision… Hey!  Maybe I should join in!

Oh boy.

I see the ny times features an interview with the gold medalist (I assume the gold medalist, I didn’t do much more than glance at it) from this famous photograph, and he touches base on Colin Kaepernick. Interesting to note an article at yahoo quoting the president who — is essentially right this time around but wrong in details on Kaepernick. It is the emphasis on his playing falling off dramatically and the “sure, a team that can use him should sign him”, apart from the emphasis the political activists will draw him on. THe yahoo article nitpicks the precise details — he did not really play his rookie year, as the president mis-spoke in setting up his rise, and he played with a reasonable qb rating his last year, in limited play — but that may not be what thw president wad referring to. As it were, in the current moment I see comments that such and such a team should sign him to “right an injustice” and wrong, but no one seems to throw one team out there… The team that dropped him in the first place, the 49ers.

Today we are Curt Schilling getting blasted for tweeting about the twist and turn on the noose on a black Nascar driver’s garage, which turns out an innocent mistake.  Nooses are used for all types of uses, after all, not simply a reminder for the ugliest use of them all.  A little bit of moral panic time, find a different way to hang things?… I guess the beef on Schilling is to bring up Jussie Smollett, which I guess applies only in how you define the terms. Both cases did not quite smell right, and my immediate thought was an “85 percent chance” it isn’t what it rorts as. Smollett falls apart as comparison with the “nascar noose” in that we have every reason to believe it is a mistake from the driver, who rightly and wrongly has the issue of racism front and center on his mind. So oddly enough, the shadowing of Confederate flags and the “deplorable” nature of the fan base lended me to suspect a narrative creation, not — as that article linked suggests — why I needed to buy it.

Y’know…

 

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