I am going to make this short and sweet. There is bigger issue that no one is really talking about in the midst of this whole "Don Sterling" affair. And, frankly, it is more chilling than his racist rants. Are we now to be held accountable for everything that we have ever voiced or or thought or said in our private moments?
Let's be clear here. Don Sterling was known in private to be exactly what he has been pilloried for in public. As Kareem Abdul Jabbar so eloquently wrote in Time.com, why was anyone surprised? He has been saying these exact things in private and in public for years, but everyone including the NAACP has been giving him awards (in 2008 and 2009) and a pass for years, and taking his money anyway. No one complained when he donated thousands of tickets for each game to the poor children of L.A. They took his money and his tickets and ignored his private moments. Until he was embroiled in a toxic matrimonial case and his girlfriend for whatever reason decided to manipulate him during 100 hours of tape, and make his racist rants public for her own gain. Think about that...100 hours of tape.
We are ALL guilty of saying things in private that we would never voice in public. That is why we say them in private to people that we think we can trust. There is not one person who can honestly claim that they have not said something in private that was incendiary, hurtful or damning, and that in the wrong hand, could ruin them. And with the proliferation of smartphone technology, no on is safe. This just erodes our trust in being able to be open and honest in our private moments. We all voice ideas and questions that we don't necessarily believe, but that we need to explore. If we can't voice them in private around people that we are supposed to trust, they will come out inappropriately in other more violent ways. We cannot stifle private thought otherwise we do not have a safe harbor to hear how wrong we can be and change our minds.
This extends to trust in our government. With the revelations that our internet musings and private phone calls are being warehoused by the NSA, how can we trust that someone may not use these to their advantage when they need or want to silence us? If you have never read "1984", I beg you to read it or re-read it if it has been awhile. George Orwell was only 30 years off, but he was frightening prescient in how our private moments can be so easily manipulated and used against us. How fitting that this is May Day...
As always, please feel free to disagree or change the subject.
P.S. Just because you should know - another NY elected official was arrested this week for doing wrong stuff. This time it's a Republican! More on that later...
Let's be clear here. Don Sterling was known in private to be exactly what he has been pilloried for in public. As Kareem Abdul Jabbar so eloquently wrote in Time.com, why was anyone surprised? He has been saying these exact things in private and in public for years, but everyone including the NAACP has been giving him awards (in 2008 and 2009) and a pass for years, and taking his money anyway. No one complained when he donated thousands of tickets for each game to the poor children of L.A. They took his money and his tickets and ignored his private moments. Until he was embroiled in a toxic matrimonial case and his girlfriend for whatever reason decided to manipulate him during 100 hours of tape, and make his racist rants public for her own gain. Think about that...100 hours of tape.
We are ALL guilty of saying things in private that we would never voice in public. That is why we say them in private to people that we think we can trust. There is not one person who can honestly claim that they have not said something in private that was incendiary, hurtful or damning, and that in the wrong hand, could ruin them. And with the proliferation of smartphone technology, no on is safe. This just erodes our trust in being able to be open and honest in our private moments. We all voice ideas and questions that we don't necessarily believe, but that we need to explore. If we can't voice them in private around people that we are supposed to trust, they will come out inappropriately in other more violent ways. We cannot stifle private thought otherwise we do not have a safe harbor to hear how wrong we can be and change our minds.
This extends to trust in our government. With the revelations that our internet musings and private phone calls are being warehoused by the NSA, how can we trust that someone may not use these to their advantage when they need or want to silence us? If you have never read "1984", I beg you to read it or re-read it if it has been awhile. George Orwell was only 30 years off, but he was frightening prescient in how our private moments can be so easily manipulated and used against us. How fitting that this is May Day...
As always, please feel free to disagree or change the subject.
P.S. Just because you should know - another NY elected official was arrested this week for doing wrong stuff. This time it's a Republican! More on that later...
I don't disagree, Bev, but .... we now live in an age where computers are routinely hacked, somebody can take a video or picture of just about everything. I never really read or heard exactly what he said or where, but I understand a "journalist" snuck in and got him on tape. I guess my point is, if you are any kind of public figure at all, you pretty much have to assume anything you ever do or say could go viral. The moral is, don't do or say anything you wouldn't want known by the public. Fair? ...not really, but it is the current situation. So much of the outrage today over anything is often feined, and mainly used to advance some agenda. Look at the comments from the Mississippi Congressman that have been largely ignored.
ReplyDeleteShort and sweet? I beg to differ! ;-P
ReplyDeleteBev, I feel your pain. There is something seriously wrong with the idea that people who were told something in private could come out of the blue and tell people what you said. On the other hand, that is how the human race works. If you get caught saying or doing something you shouldn't, and people don't like you enough to overlook it, then you go down in flames.
ReplyDeleteThat said, we have also reached an age when many people (especially corporate types and politicians) have learned that you can escape your own words and deeds by just denying them and then issuing a non-apology apology.
So maybe it all balanced it out? Evil + evil = neutral.
Andrew, by denial and then non-apology apology do you mean this?
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------
"I did not cheat on you! I swear I did not cheat on you!"
Later...
"Honey, I'm sorry if my actions around that woman caused you hurt and pain in any way."
----------------------------------------
Kit, The current PR thinking is that you deny wrongdoing until it becomes impossible to deny it any longer... and then some. Then you claim this is an old issue and you try to avoid talking about it. Finally, you issue an apology that says something like, "We regret any harm that may have resulted from whatever actions have been attributed to us."
ReplyDeleteSo, it would be more like this?
ReplyDelete-----------------------------
"I didn't cheat on you!"
Later...
"I never even spoke to that woman!"
"Daisy says he saw you and her making out on the couch."
"I was... giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!"
"With your hand up the back of her shirt."
"... Yes! I was trying to massage her back and push the piece of food stuck in her throat out."
Later...
"I know you cheated on me 3 weeks ago! I have video!"
(Plays video)
"... Its not what it looks like. That video is probably fake or too grainy-ish. Even though you can see very clearly my... point is, its way past time talk about it. Its an old issue."
Finally...
"Honey, I want to apologize if my actions while in her presence, however they may have been interpreted, caused you pain in any way."
------------------------------------
Is that it?
So Sterling was betrayed by the woman he betrayed his wife with after he fell out with/betrayed her? Somehow I don't feel a sense of either surprise or alarm. In human relations common sense always needs to come into play.
ReplyDeleteRemember Obama's comments about those ignorant poor people who cling to God and guns or Romney's about how he doesn't care about the poor? Both comments were made in private, but surreptitiously recorded by people who weren't fans. Who objected and who rejoiced was contingent upon whose ox was getting gored. Same as always.
As for the lack of privacy on the internet, its always been my working assumption that if someone asked Verizon or Google what I've been talking about/watching/reading on the internet I'm pretty sure either company could hand them a detailed list. The internet is an awesome thing, but there are tradeoffs. Someone is always watching.
Our big defense isn't some abstract right to privacy, but the fact that the watchers are drowning in data and most of us are of little interest to the watchers.
Jed,
ReplyDeleteAll that Mississippi rep did was call Clarence Thomas an Uncle Tom. Its unfair and inflammatory, but par for the course. Many liberals and conservatives of all colors normally use slavery language to denigrate blacks on the other side because it tends to play well among people on their side.
The notion that blacks are handpuppets of whites is toxic and a game no one (especially a black person with a modicum of self respect) should play, but most politicians/political activists are firmly focused on the good of their party and indifferent to all else.
Google liberal plantation or conservative Uncle Tom and one can spend the next few years reading all of the hits that come up.
Surprisingly, I haven't yet seen anyone launch what I think would be the most effective counteroffensive against damaging "leaks," which would be for the offender to bombard the media and the public with all the good things (s)he has done, sort of like what you did at the opening of the article with all the organizations and children who happily took Sterling's money and donations.
ReplyDeleteIt's not so much about negating the supposed wrongdoing. It's about attaching the detractors to it as well. It's one thing for some third party to say that the NAACP should've jumped on Sterling earlier. But imagine how it would play out if Sterling himself said the NAACP should've called him out sooner? (With overtones of "maybe I could've gotten help before it was too late.")
Of course, most people who get caught up in this media game are so steeped in their own prejudices or whatever that it would never occur to them to flip it back on the fickle press. Plus, the hypocrite card must be played carefully lest one prompts his own execution--don't blame the public, blame the intermediary.
I'm a little lost why it is that a person who I guess is a racist, but there's no evidence he ever mistreated people of colour, is somehow worse than a man who fought dogs against eash to the death (Mike Vick) or was in prison for carrying a loaded gun into a bar in NYC (Plaxico Burris)...but they're still playing....nope, makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteCritch - Actually there is a lot of evidence that he mistreated minorities. Maybe not his players or friends or people of influence. But he has been sued several times and had to pay millions because he made it a policy not to rent apartments in buildings that he owns to minorities. But again none of this was any surprise to anyone.
ReplyDeleteHowever I agree. With all the rapists and pillagers who play basketball (and all professional sports) who are excused because they are great athletes, all of this does seem out of proportion. And marketed.
TennJ and Andrew - Of course this has been happening since the beginning of time. I think what has my caution sign up is the speed in which these become international issues. It's not just someone betraying a trust in the confines of the neighborhood or limited community. It's now global, and it is instantaneous. And with the lack of fact checking and verifying in the media, one can be irreparably damaged by even false accusations. I am not defending people like Sterling. He made his bed and gets what he deserves. But someone with a beef can easily manipulate an innocent conversation into damning expose.
ReplyDeleteKit - Yes, we now have PR people whose sole job is to write non-apologies. You know, like the person who follows Sec't Kerry around cleaning up his messes. My favorite this week was the "apartheid" kerfuffle as he crashed and burned trying to force a peace with Israel and The Palestinians. Kerry makes a mess of it and then "apologizes" with "Gee, I shouldna' said that. I wish I could go back in time and not use that word!" Well, I paraphrase]
ReplyDeleteDelegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (of DC) just called the Iraq invasion "the most catastrophic war of the 20th Century.”
ReplyDeleteSo much stupid in that statement.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/dem-congresswoman-iraq-perhaps-the-most-catastrophic-war-of-the-20th-century/
Its silly that Kerry got that tied up in the peace process (which never had a snowball's chance in hell of success) and drawing comparisons to apartheid is insane for an American politician.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how long and how deeply the mainstream media covers Benghazi.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that the issue itself is a winner for Republicans, but another example of the administration's incompetence and mendacity will help push Obama's already record low approval ratings further down, which helps Republicans.
Bev, Trust me, I share your concern. With the internet and the minute by minute news cycle (a cycle without responsibility because no one remembers if you were right or wrong the next day), we've reached a point where hints of rumors are enough to worldwide protests. This is a great time for knee jerkers, rumormongers and the wicked. It's a bad time for truth and justice.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, There is a whole lot of stupid packed into that statement. Wow. For one thing, wasn't the Gulf War in the 21st Century? Also, I don't recall a continent in ruins... six million dead Jews... 50 million dead Russian, Germans, Poles, etc... and 100 million people imprisoned behind an iron curtain.
ReplyDeleteOr did I miss something?
"...Both comments were made in private, but surreptitiously recorded by people who weren't fans."
ReplyDeleteAnthony - Sorry I am behind and you have brought up many interesting points. I actually disagree - both Obama and Romney were making public statements at private functions. So that is what happens. My concern is private conversations in private behind closed doors. We all risk opening up and speaking our minds to people in our private moments and always have. But now can be manipulated and used against one so quickly and globally.
But as for Google and Verizon - no one is safe when someone wants to know. Let's take that plumber guy for instance. He was just at some rally as a private citizen and made a statement when some reporter stuck a mic and camera in his face. He was elevated to saint/sinner within days and everyone knew every sordid detail of his life...just because someone's campaign manager didn't like what he said or someone's campaign manager DID like what he said. It just makes people more wary of what they say which causes people to back away from holding our government officials (in particular) accountable out of fear of real life retribution.
Anthony - I agree about Kerry. Both he and Obama has some misguided delusion that if they just gave each side a deadline that it would all work out because apparently no one had ever thought of giving them a deadline before, yeah, riiiiight.
ReplyDelete\
And about Benghazi, until the journalists start digging into this and other issues in earnest, it won't really effect anyone. I suspect that the Benghazi issue is in a vamping stage awaiting Clinton to openly declare her Presidential bid. THEN we may see some digging in earnest.
Andrew and Anthony - Good point about Iraq being in the 21st Century. Maybe she is confusing it with Desert Storm? Honestly the mistake we made was leaving so abruptly and on schedule without leaving any kind of clean up. We left an unnecessary vacuum. Heck, we still maintain a presence in Germany and Japan. But that is another discussion for another day.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, RE: catastrophic war - You've fallen into the classic conservative intellectual pitfall that the well-being of white people matters.
ReplyDeletetryanmax, That's true. Hmm. What about the gay ones? If we go by the advocate's 10% BS, then at least 5 million gays died in WWII, right?! So that should count.
ReplyDeleteNow you're asking too many questions. Some friendly folks from the Department of Reeducation will be visiting you shortly.
ReplyDeletedoubleplusgood
ReplyDeleteNo, seriously, it's time someone took a stand. Five million or more angelic gay people died in WWII and Eleanor Holmes Norton doesn't care because she's anti-gay!! For shame, for shame!!
ReplyDeleteI will also add that Iraq has been in a state of "catastrophic" for about 30+ years now...and well preceded our invasion and continues after our departure. Our incursion there has been kind of a wash.
ReplyDeleteAnthony - I don't disagree about it being par for the course. I think what I was getting at is that it is also typical of the media today, in that all the media is partisan. Now I think that congressmen was calling Mitch McConnell a racist or something, I can't recall. What you can absolutely count on is Fox covering it, and everybody else ignoring it. Same with Benghazi. The indictment is as much of a lost professionalism. You can bet had the story been a Republican using business as usual language, the media dogs of war would bring out the longknives.
ReplyDeleteOh oh, NATO has just declared Russia an adversary:
ReplyDelete"Clearly the Russians have declared NATO as an adversary, so we have to begin to view Russia no longer as a partner but as more of an adversary than a partner," said Alexander Vershbow, the deputy secretary-general of NATO.
That means that Russia will no longer be given partner payments, but will instead be downgrade to adversary payments, which are 5% lower. They will also lose their 10% discount at the NATO store. And the Russian military attache to NATO will also lose his reserved parking spot at NATO HQ.
Take that you dirty Ruskies!!
Jed,
ReplyDeleteJust read about a conservative black woman who using slavery language while on Fox News. I predict it won't get much coverage, won't create much controversy and won't cost her anything.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-analyst-goes-off-about-slavery-problem-under-obama/
“Dealing with Lincoln and Barack Obama, you do have a slave mentality today,” she said. “Even though we had the LBJ Great Society, we have a people enslaved on the government dole, where we have people paying for people to have more kids out of wedlock, paying for more people to go to prison instead of getting a job.”
“So we do have a problem with slavery today, as Lincoln did back in the day, even with LBJ’s policies,” McGlowan continued. “Because you have certain people that want Obama phones, free phones, free food stamps, and the whole nine yards!”
-----------------------
That's representative of why most high profile black conservatives (bar Tim Scott) are utterly useless from an outreach standpoint. They don't know how to talk about let alone to anyone that isn't one of them (nods towards Herman Cain, Allen West and Ben Carson).
Where will they get their NATO bobble-head dolls and t-shirts? Does this mean they have to give all those blue helmets back too??
ReplyDeleteI remember when there was talk about Russia joining NATO after the Cold War. That would have been weird. Oh well, back to business as usual.
ReplyDeleteAlan Grayson is a crazy SOB whose life sounds like a Springer episode.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/01/florida-rep-calls-wife-bigamist-asks-court-to-annul-24-year-marriage/
The Florida Democrat, who was accused by his ex-wife of assault, filed court documents last week asking that their 24-year marriage be annulled.
Grayson claimed in a countersuit that Lolita Grayson hoodwinked him into getting married even though she was secretly married to another man at the time.
Anthony,
ReplyDeletere Grayson... wow.
Bev, Nobody ever thinks about the bobble-head dolls before they act. Sad.
ReplyDeleteNo, the Blue Helmets are the UN. The Russians can keep those, seeing as how the UN is all about lending credibility to dictators and racists.
I'm totally with you, Bev. If I ever ran for public office my wife could probably destroy me. Yet for some reason I trust her :).
ReplyDeleteI respect all of your opinions, and like your commentary. Thinking of the 1984 image at the beginning of blog post, beware of the "Thought Crimes" and "New-speak."
ReplyDelete1984 is my favorite book, and my H.S. graduation year :-P
ReplyDelete