Just recently Representative Pat Garofalo (R-Minn.) shared this tweet regarding NBA players and street crime:
"Let's be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in street crime."
Now there are a few ways one could look at this. The way I first saw it was that Garofalo was saying that street crime would go up if fans of the teams that folded no longer had games to go see. That was in the context of this particular tweet. But as more information became available, I understood how others saw it differently. In defense of his tweet, Garofalo went on to say this:
"I was talking about the NBA’s high arrest rate and that they are the only major pro league in which testing positive for marijuana is not a substance abuse violation. No intent beyond that. The culture among many pro athletes that they are above the law is the problem, not people pointing that problem out."
Facts later revealed, apparently not withstanding for Rep. Garofalo, made his tweet look highly misinformed and ignorant. He later apologized, saying:
"In the last 24 hours, I've had the opportunity to re-learn one of life's lessons: whenever any of us are offering opinions, it is best to refer to people as individuals as opposed to groups. Last night, I publicly commented on the NBA and I sincerely apologized to those who I unfairly categorized. The NBA has many examples of players and owners who are role models for our communities and for our country. Those individuals did not deserve that criticism and I apologize. In addition, it's been brought to my attention that I was mistaken and the NBA policy on drug enforcement is stronger than I previously believed. Again, I offer my sincerest apologies for my comments,"
No harm done, right? Ignorant white lawmaker inadvertently tweets out of his ass, gets fact checked and chin checked, apologizes for being an ignoramus and moves on to making tweets about Sbarro pizza not being qualified to be classified as pizza.
Not so fast.
Maybe 20 years ago this is something that gets brushed under the rug or not even said or mentioned at all. But in today's world of Twitter, facebook, blogging and numerous other ways to let opinions fly through social media, things like this get massive amounts of attention. Famous white celebrity drops the N-bomb? The whole world hears about it seconds after it happens. Someone uses a gay or racial slur? The news networks' bottom screen ticker blasts it out while you watch a report on 'Being Black in America'. Anything anyone says or does becomes instant news if it is sexy enough and we all hear about it, discuss it at work or at the bar or at home. The word 'racist' gets thrown out there and it becomes a hot topic. The question is, are we too sensitive these days or too honest?
The question could be asked, were the comments Pat Garofalo made actually racist? It's hard to argue that they weren't when over 70% of the NBA consists of Black men. When his comments were put into context with actual statistics, his argument was quickly shot down and he acknowledged that he was wrong to state his opinion without knowing the facts. So, his motive behind tweeting what he did had to be racist, right? He obviously hates Black people, right? Pat Garofalo might just be an ignorant idiot who just speaks or tweets whatever he wants without putting much thought to it. And though his comments do have a ring of racism in them, I wouldn't go as far as to label him a racist. I would, however label him stupid, misinformed, ignorant, etc. There is a difference between this situation and, say, the Paula Dean situation. Paula Dean could easily, and correctly, be seen as a racist based upon her language and response to the the question of whether she ever used the word 'nigger' in reference to Black people. So to answer the question of whether or not our society has become too sensitive or too honest I say you can never be too sensitive to even the slightest of hateful or racist remarks.
Why? Consider this.
During the last six years, history has been made with the election and re-election of this country's first Black President. In those six years, we've seen extremely racist views put on display like no other time in our history since the Civil Rights Movement era. Just yesterday I listened as one of my co-workers railed against Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, not commenting on political or policy issues, but on their looks (saying that the first lady reminded him of Chewbacca from 'Star Wars' and referring to the president as Curious George, a fictional monkey). Many pundits criticize Obama's intelligence, forgetting that this man attended two of the nations most respected institutions of education, Columbia University and Harvard Law. There have been insults hurled at the Obama's daughters and rumors of the Obama's excessive use White House resources. Never in history has a president been more scrutinized and maligned and disrespected. People seem to not have a problem holding their tongue when it comes to their feelings about President Obama when just a few years ago, talk against George W. Bush was viewed as 'unpatriotic'. A lot of the comments have been blatantly racist. Some people's true colors have come to light when it comes to how they feel about having a Black person in office, therefore revealing how they feel in general about Black people. And while certain situations can be clearly defined as racist, there are times when some claims of racism seem to be overreaching. The same thing can be said about the views of those who make comments regarding the LGBT community. There are those who hide behind 'religious views' so as to give them the right to say and/ or do whatever it is that they want regarding gays, lesbians, transgenders, etc. Again, there are times when blatant bigotry is on display but sometimes the uproar is generated by the media because it's such a hot topic.
It's very noticeable that since Obama has been in office, the amount of instances where racism comes into question by what someone in the public eye says has been on an extreme increase. The views that people have about those in the LGBT community and about immigrants (those critical of immigration reform hide behind American exceptionalism and the integrity of the American worker) have also been on the rise and the 24 hour news cycle that we live under has a lot to do with that. Technology plays a major role as well. Whereas 20 years ago you didn't see instances where a person says or does something and it's immediately on YouTube or facebook, these days everything seems to be available for instant critiquing. Political and social issues now play out in our living rooms through our TV's, computers and smartphones. We have kids who are being bullied over the Internet killing themselves and some adults playing a role in the bullying. Grown men like Jonathan Martin of the Miami Dolphins (recently traded to the San Francisco 49ers) are being victimized by others because of the perception that they are weak or not tough enough, or gay. We watch all of these scenarios play out every single day and we all develop our own opinions of them. You can twist any one of these scenarios to fit an agenda. If you are a proponent of free speech, you'll say certain issues are protected by free speech or the right to bear arms, etc. If you are a minority, an immigrant, if you're gay or feel attacked in any way, you might take the stance that if someone feels offended by something, then it warrants immediate action. The Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis cases drew national attention but were criticized, especially in the Martin case, because there were individuals who thought the topic of race was overplayed or just injected in there to generate a strong reaction. George Zimmerman himself said that President Obama made it part of his political agenda when he spoke publicly regarding the case. There were even some people who thought the Paula Deen incident was overblown, with some individuals who were Black coming to her defense. So the question of whether or not we have either become a too sensitive or too honest really comes down to a matter of perspective. Personally, I feel that you can never be too sensitive when it comes to matters of racism or bigotry of any kind. This gets overshadowed when public figures take sides to further their own political or personal agenda, either for or against. One could say that racism or issues regarding being gay or heterosexual gets inserted into certain discussions unfairly. One could also say the same thing when it comes to recent events regarding women's rights. Some could say that doing so promotes individuals being to sensitive to a cause. I say that if the world is going to be more honest about how they feel about things like race, sexual orientation or a woman's right to choose when it comes to abortion or contraception, then it's just fine for those who are affected by these things to be honest about what it really is and how they feel about it. That's not being too sensitive, that's refusing to accept ingnorant views as the new norm. Call me sensitive, but I'd rather make a big deal out of nothing than to suddenly be caught up in ignorance and didn't say or do anything to prevent it.
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