I sat at the airport the other day for several hours waiting for my plane. So I experienced one of those rare times when I have to suffer through the unrarified news hours that are the mediocrity of the mainstream. And so I learned that one NBA star dissed another NBA star over some gay thing.
Since the volume was turned down, I could only read the closed caption text of Hardaway as he spoke to the CNN guy outside at night through some pink metal bars, vs those words of the accused Amaechi as he sat in a well-lit studio.
Harsh words were dished out by Hardaway who, said as I read that he's really sorry for the harsh words. Amaechi said that Hardaway had a platform and now that his words were out there and they give license to more hate. This reminds me very much of the soul food incident with Tiger Woods and Fuzzy Zoeller. What I remember was that Tiger said that he got his apology from Zoeller and that was the end of it. This is why Tiger Woods is a better man than this Amaechi character. Woods handled his business and defended himself, whereas Amaechi is seeking for the public to fight in his own behalf.
It doesn't take more than 15 minutes worth of thought that if you are going to be gay, or anti-gay, there are certain ethics of deportment. What we have here is a breach of ethics, not an extraordinary revelation. The NBA players don't want gayness spread all over the place. Gays in the NBA don't want homophobic remarks spread all over the place. So shutup already. Problem solved.
Some would argue that silence hurts the gay player. But isn't that what he's now demanding? Obviously a man to man apology has not sufficed. I'm not in a position to say that Hardaway did or did not offer one, but that's really all that needed to happen. Neither Hardaway nor anyone else on the planet can offer up an apology that is going to satisfy the world of bloviators who wish to make larger points on matters of 'gay relations'. Forget it. The very requirement is, by definition, impossible to meet - which is one of the reasons that gay activists always say (or hope) that the homophobic man is secretly gay and just stupendously conflicted. You will note that you will have to strain your ears to ever hear any gay activists give two beans about whether or not straight women are homophobic. I mean after all, they're just women. If it's fair to say that male homophobes do what they do because of conflicts over their own sexuality, it's equally fair to plumb the psychology of gay men's dismissal of het sex and all that could imply. Whatever to all that, the box we should be playing in is personal offense, personal apology.
So now instead of just a sporto, Amaechi has to be a sex symbol too. Respect the gay sex symbol! Instead of just a sporto, Hardaway has to be a goodwill ambassador. Aww poor babies. You can't always get what you want in the public sphere. Next time keep it to yourselves.
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