Kyrie went 5-16 in getting eliminated and we have schadenfreude.

Marciano490

Marciano490

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mauf said:
Effective activists usually focus their efforts on one or two issues for which they have particular passion, often because of a personal connection to the issue. This is especially true for folks for whom activism isn’t their day job.

I can’t recall a white person ever being criticized for this. For example, I don’t remember anyone, ever, suggesting that Dolly Parton is a hypocrite because she didn’t focus on starving children in Africa alongside her efforts to promote literacy and HIV/AIDS research, or that Leonardo DiCaprio* is a hypocrite for not focusing on women’s rights as much as he focuses on the environment. Which makes sense — it would be stupid to criticize these people for not being engaged with every issue that might be worthy of their attention.

Yet, when a Black man like LeBron decides to make civil rights his cause, there’s suddenly a symphony of voices calling him a hypocrite because he doesn’t also devote himself to addressing an unrelated issue affecting people halfway around the world. It’s a double standard. And it’s not much different than folks who called Martin Luther King** a hypocrite 60 years ago for not focusing on black-on-black crime as much as he focused on Jim Crow.



*-DiCaprio might be criticized for maintaining a lifestyle inconsistent with the concerns he espouses, but that’s different.

**- To state the obvious, school will always be open on LeBron’s birthday. I’m comparing the criticisms (i.e., LeBron’s critics now to MLK’s critics then), not the men being criticized.
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I don’t understand this comparison. Was Dolly Parton somehow profiting for a partnership with a government or entity that was causing the AIDS crisis?

I get what you’re saying about how minorities face greater demands for intersectionality than white people, but that’s not what’s happening here. LeBron is hypocritically keeping quiet on an issue and in fact tamping down criticism of China in general in the league solely because it affects his bottom line. Unless you credibly believe he’d make the exact same statements if shoes and basketball weren’t marketable in China.
 
benhogan

benhogan

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JakeRae said:
Did you listen to the press conference? I’ve been very vocal on my views of what Kyrie said and support of him being highly problematic. Lebron’s comments aren’t because the point he’s making is that both Kyrie and Jones did unacceptable/wrong things and the media treatment of them is disparate. Lebron obviously has his own platform, which he just used, but he’s also allowed to call out the media for how they use their platform and I take his message to be calling for raising the bar across the board, not lowering it, which is an entirely appropriate position to stake out.

As full disclosure, I’ve only watched the ESPN link above, not the full press conference, so there may be nuance I’ve missed.
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Yep I listened to all of the post-game presser

Kyrie's tweet promoting an anti-Jewish documentary last month and a 14-yr old Jerry Jones in a 65 yr-old photo are not the same... false equivalency IMO

Bron used that false equivalency to conclude that the print media, news media, sports media and sports reporters increase their attention when African Americans do something wrong.

So Bron said the MEDIA collectively discriminates/is racist in his best mockingly whiny, white person voice. He's not raising the bar at all.
 
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ManicCompression

ManicCompression

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mauf said:
I can’t recall a white person ever being criticized for this.
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Are you serious? Have you never seen criticisms of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Elon Musk, ALL OF HOLLYWOOD? The whole concept of a Limousine Liberal is a rich person, often white, who talks simplistically about social issues and goes to rich person charity events but is completely out of touch with many atrocities that they profit from (I mean, does that not sound like Lebron James?)

Lebron should be criticized, just as any billionaire should be criticized, because frankly it seems like he opportunistically backs social justice issues that will get him good PR but rejects using his considerable power to confront much more significant issues that he personally profits from. Sure, he's a hypocrite and that's annoying, but I think what many people find repellant is the shallowness of his activism. Show me an opinion that will make Lebron money and I guarantee you he'll do what he can to conform to it.

Please with MLK comparison. MLK sacrificed everything, including his life, to enact significant change. Lebron is unwilling to sacrifice anything, particularly a paycheck. That's why when he makes a statement, he makes sure to have sponsorship for it (remember the Ruffles ad? View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8LAMSQnEy4
) because what's the point of standing up for something if it doesn't pay?
 
mauf

mauf

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Marciano490 said:
I don’t understand this comparison. Was Dolly Parton somehow profiting for a partnership with a government or entity that was causing the AIDS crisis?

I get what you’re saying about how minorities face greater demands for intersectionality than white people, but that’s not what’s happening here. LeBron is hypocritically keeping quiet on an issue and in fact tamping down criticism of China in general in the league solely because it affects his bottom line. Unless you credibly believe he’d make the exact same statements if shoes and basketball weren’t marketable in China.
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Disagree with the bolded. That’s exactly what’s happening here.

Most businesses the size of the NBA have some kind of interests in the PRC. Maintaining those interests generally requires executives for those businesses not to engage in public activism against the loathsome policies of the regime. If you own a business and are willing to suffer the consequences, you can obviously do what you want. Non-fungible talent in entertainment businesses (elite pro athletes, movie and rock stars, et al.) are in a similar position to owners. But executives who are paid well to manage businesses owned by others are expected to keep their mouths shut. Daryl Morey broke that rule and paid the price. It’s not great, but it’s how the world works.

If he was willing to take the hit to his wallet, LeBron could take a stand against the PRC’s policies. So could the other 700 or so American billionaires. But aside from a few techbros who use “free speech” rhetoric when it suits them (which is a straightforward example of hypocrisy), I can’t think of anyone else who has faced anywhere close to the level of criticism LeBron has for choosing not to take a stand. And most of the people criticizing LeBron are explicitly or implicitly contrasting his silence on issues in China with his outspokenness on civil rights issues affecting African-Americans. As though advocating for the basic human rights of his family and friends requires him to be perfect, or at least better than other people.

Damn right I think that’s racist.
 
moondog80

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mauf said:
Disagree with the bolded. That’s exactly what’s happening here.

Most businesses the size of the NBA have some kind of interests in the PRC. Maintaining those interests generally requires executives for those businesses not to engage in public activism against the loathsome policies of the regime. If you own a business and are willing to suffer the consequences, you can obviously do what you want. Non-fungible talent in entertainment businesses (elite pro athletes, movie and rock stars, et al.) are in a similar position to owners. But executives who are paid well to manage businesses owned by others are expected to keep their mouths shut. Daryl Morey broke that rule and paid the price. It’s not great, but it’s how the world works.

If he was willing to take the hit to his wallet, LeBron could take a stand against the PRC’s policies. So could the other 700 or so American billionaires. But aside from a few techbros who use “free speech” rhetoric when it suits them (which is a straightforward example of hypocrisy), I can’t think of anyone else who has faced anywhere close to the level of criticism LeBron has for choosing not to take a stand. And most of the people criticizing LeBron are explicitly or implicitly contrasting his silence on issues in China with his outspokenness on civil rights issues affecting African-Americans. As though advocating for the basic human rights of his family and friends requires him to be perfect, or at least better than other people.

Damn right I think that’s racist.
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LeBron’s sin wasn’t neglecting to be critical of China. It was going out of his way to attack Daryl Morey for doing so.
 
mauf

mauf

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moondog80 said:
LeBron’s sin wasn’t neglecting to be critical of China. It was going out of his way to attack Daryl Morey for doing so.
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I’ll admit I view the Morey situation differently than others do. I don’t think it’s particularly noble or courageous to put other people’s wealth and livelihoods on the line for your convictions. Which is why executives are expected to keep their mouths shut about such matters.
 
nighthob

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I mean isn’t speaking out as an executive under the threat of termination for risking your employer’s rate of wealth accumulation the definition of putting your livelihood on the line?
 
kazuneko

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ALiveH said:
You guys see john stewart's take on kyrie? Funny and thoughtful - he gets all thoughtful & deep about 4:30 in where he defends free speech while disagreeing vehemently with kyrie. btw, Kanye got permanently suspended from Twitter after going full holocaust denial & saying positive things about h*tler, after which Elon Musk tweeted "FAFO".
Jon Stewart On Dave Chappelle, Kyrie Irving, And Kanye West | Watch (msn.com)
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Stewart eloquently presents a great way of dealing with this type of ignorant behavior if you have a chance to engage with the bigot in question, but it's a nonsensical point if the question is how to address this stuff publicly. Once the Kyrie story broke the Nets had to do something, as doing nothing would have been seen as implicit support.
And to be honest, I'm sure they tried to engage him in a discussion (Stewart's suggestion) behind the scenes - but obviously that didn't work. At that point they needed to take a public action or risk being associated with Kyrie's nonsense. Stewart's "engage don't punish" idea sounds nice but not sure what it would even mean in practice, unless the Nets didn't even try to engage Kyrie behind the scenes (which is highly unlikely).
Engagement failed - that's why he got punished.
 
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kazuneko

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mauf said:
Disagree with the bolded. That’s exactly what’s happening here.

Most businesses the size of the NBA have some kind of interests in the PRC. Maintaining those interests generally requires executives for those businesses not to engage in public activism against the loathsome policies of the regime. If you own a business and are willing to suffer the consequences, you can obviously do what you want. Non-fungible talent in entertainment businesses (elite pro athletes, movie and rock stars, et al.) are in a similar position to owners. But executives who are paid well to manage businesses owned by others are expected to keep their mouths shut. Daryl Morey broke that rule and paid the price. It’s not great, but it’s how the world works.

If he was willing to take the hit to his wallet, LeBron could take a stand against the PRC’s policies. So could the other 700 or so American billionaires. But aside from a few techbros who use “free speech” rhetoric when it suits them (which is a straightforward example of hypocrisy), I can’t think of anyone else who has faced anywhere close to the level of criticism LeBron has for choosing not to take a stand. And most of the people criticizing LeBron are explicitly or implicitly contrasting his silence on issues in China with his outspokenness on civil rights issues affecting African-Americans. As though advocating for the basic human rights of his family and friends requires him to be perfect, or at least better than other people.

Damn right I think that’s racist.
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This isn't some abstract discussion about how the media has interacted with the other "700 or so American billionaires" vs LeBron; It was a specific news story that happened to break when LeBron, who just happens to be the face of the NBA, was in China. It would have been journalistic malpractice for him to not be asked about his opinion on the story. And let's remember he didn't choose to just ignore the issue, he actually opted to implicitly defend Chinese repression and attack Daryl Morey, going as far as to say that Morey was selfishly "only thinking about himself" when he supported the protestors. If anyone ever deserved to be called a hypocrite it was LeBron in that moment. The sad part is how well LeBron, and honestly the rest of the NBA, survived the whole debacle.
Of course, what was even more maddening was Trump and his sycophant Republicans going on to call out LeBron and the NBA, while ignoring the fact that the president himself had refused to make any statement supporting Hong Hong, and even went as far as to mimic China by calling them "rioters". Honestly, I found the muted reaction -across the country- to China's overthrow of Hong Kong democracy incredibly depressing and have trouble feeling as if anyone got more criticism than they deserved for failing to stand up for the protesters there.
 
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benhogan

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Bron is much more involved with Kanye (just had him on his show - cxld) than Jerry Jones

Should Lebron be asked about Kanye's interview on Infowars & getting banned from Twitter recently?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kanye-west-says-hitler-shocking-201900255.html

“I see good things about Hitler,” West said on Jones’ “Infowars” show. “Jewish people are not going to tell me: ‘You can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good.’ I’m done with that.”

“The Jewish media has made us feel like Nazis and Hitler have never offered us anything of value to the world,” West said.

The rapper mimicked Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu by whipping out a butterfly net — and launching a shameful new salvo of hateful rhetoric about Jews.

Using a high-pitched voice to imitate Netanyahu, West said, “We have to control the history books, we have to control the banks, we have to kill people.”
 
Kliq

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Lol at Shams making it seem like Kyrie is now this incredible free agent and not someone who's brand is so toxic it got him fired from his last deal.
 
Marciano490

Marciano490

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Kliq said:
Lol at Shams making it seem like Kyrie is now this incredible free agent and not someone who's brand is so toxic it got him fired from his last deal.
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No kidding. Next time I get fired or dumped, I hope I can afford Shams to do my PR.
 
djbayko

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This is some good Kyrie shit right here. Harden was traded to the 76ers at the trade deadline and still played 13 more games with the Nets than Kyrie (9 counting playoffs).

View: https://twitter.com/Alec_Sturm/status/1614805186589110277

Alec Sturm
@Alec_Sturm
Kyrie on why KD's absence is different this year: "Well I'm consistently in the lineup, that helps. We also don't have anyone who is halfway in in the locker room."
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Red Right Ankle

Red Right Ankle

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I don't care when this request was made or the real reasons why, I choose to believe that that drubbing the Cs gave them broke him.
 
DJnVa

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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This is amazing. At least he didn't make a commericial with Nets about getting his number hung in rafters.

What a complete fraud.
 
DJnVa

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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Irving for White, Gallinari, Pritchard, Kornet, and Jackson works.

Get it done Theo!
 
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