Source: Michael Sam saga might keep other gay NFL hopefuls from coming out, former exec says | NFL | Sporting News
I’m puzzled by the significance of this ‘story’. Considering all that’s going on in the world, it’s odd that anyone gives a hill of beans about whether prospective pro football players are in angst about coming out about their sexual orientation.
Pro football and pro hockey are arguably two of the most macho and physical sports in which athletes can participate. It’s not like basketball which is notionally a non contact sport, or baseball with the majority of the time spent standing around doing nothing. Or heaven forbid, golf in which people aren’t even allowed to breathe loudly while the players are addressing the ball. In football, the players participate in what has been characterized as a car crash on every play, with plenty of opportunity for serious bodily harm. How would being gay (or not) have any bearing on play?
I’m unconvinced that outing yourself as being gay has any relevance at all in the very competitive world of pro football. Is this issue more relevant here than in any other sport? Or for that matter, any other profession? How is it that the sporting world hums merrily along without people heroically jumping out of closets? Are we to believe that there are no gays in other sports? More likely, it’s because it’s just no one else’s business, no more relevant than if they preferred tea to coffee.
The stark reality is, this public outing of one’s sexual persuasion is no longer the brave thing it was a decade ago. Times have changed. The constant lobbying, pride parades and media tsk tsking has worked. Nowadays, to announce one’s gayness is less risky than to admit that you have gingivitis. Heck, now we assume everyone’s gay. The only reason to make any public proclamation is for publicity value if you’re in a high profile job. But the novelty of that has worn off too.
One of the basic demands of any identifiable group is that they be treated no differently than anyone else. The corollary of this should be that identity with a group should not confer any special treatment either. It can’t be a crutch or a free pass to the front of the line when other comparative aspects are lacking. Once we create affirmative action for all subsets of society, there’ll be no one to complain to. If you really want to be brave these days, try telling people that you like Trump. It may be that Sam is gay, but given all of the moaning, I think he’s more of a drama queen.
Source: Harvard Study Reveals Huge Extent of Anti-Trump Media Bias | Heat Street
The cacophony of shrill voices baying at any and all alleged transgressions by Donald Trump appears to be reaching a final crescendo. The frenzied media are like crows at a picnic as they caw and shriek over every speck of food that appears, no matter how inconsequential. As the linked story reveals, it’s not the imagination of those of us that try to consume news. It should be abundantly clear that the offerings of news from the mainstream outlets are about as unbiased as doting parents at their children’s soccer games.
And speaking of children, the political and media voices that invoke Russia and impeachment like they are hyphenated words are reminiscent of children who have lost an argument but keep repeating their whine as if it will make a difference. The political zeitgeist of the United States has moved strongly from comedy to farce, since now, the loudest and most publicized voices are those of ‘comics’ and entertainers. Think about that. People who are paid to juggle, sing and tell jokes for a living are the go to voices for political opinion. Stephen Colbert as a political savant. Really? That this is the case is simultaneously comical and tragic. Can we imagine the direction of any other nation state being influenced by cultural gadflies?
It’s bad enough that the western system of democracy allows for the election of representatives of truly dubious intellectual capacity but whom nevertheless have risen to the top of their particular constituency. Al Franken’s election was supposedly an aberration, but now, I dunno. Maxine Waters aka Muddy Waters, Raging Waters or Shallow Waters, anything but Deep Waters, sets new low water marks every time she says anything. Barring any outrageously stupid remark from these people, the general public would never hear of them. But because of today’s ubiquity of ‘news’ conduits, both online and mainstream, not to mention airport TV screens, the obtuse and shrill views of a very small few are magnified many times beyond their deserved influence.
The linked article is definitive proof that any objective news reporting by most of the large media concerns has been jettisoned in favor of breathless mean girls style of tabloid coverage. The convergence of objective news and paid for entertainment comedy is on full display. It’s not even news now. It’s all performance art.