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Tuesday, October 15, 2019
LeBron James: Shut up and make trades
You would think that LeBron James--who has used his expressive platform more than most mega-stars and has been told on more than one occasion to "shut up and dribble"--would support an NBA colleague attacked for doing the same. You would be wrong.
Everything LeBron said could have been (and has been) applied to his statements on subjects such as Black Lives Matter, police violence, the killing of Eric Garner, etc.: 1) Morey was not educated on the subject (Taiwan Hong Kong) about which he spoke (while admitting it was just his "belief" that Morey was not informed); 2) people could be harmed as a result of his speech; 3) bad things can happen from the exercise of free speech and you cannot think only of yourself when deciding what to say, on or off Twitter. Ironically,the Morey tweet was supported people protesting in favor of democracy and who were subject to police violence--the very ideas James purport and support in his speech.
Posted by Howard Wasserman on October 15, 2019 at 07:10 AM in First Amendment, Howard Wasserman, Sports | Permalink
Comments
Critics of James, critics of Black Lives Matter, and supporters of Blue Lives Matter argue that policing and the need for police to use violence to control dangerous situations is than critics suggest. They argue that the "anti-police attitude" reflected in the speech of James and others contributes to lawlessness, disrespect for police (which makes policing harder and more dangerous), and violence against police. That hurts police by making their jobs harder and more likely to lead to violence against them. Read some of the statements made by police unions following any sort of player protest. Police unions and others want police to be above criticism--kind of like China wants to be.
Posted by: Howard Wasserman | Oct 15, 2019 4:42:04 PM
What is the argument that LeBron James, a black man raised in the US, is not educated on the subject of the value of black lives? Or on police brutality against black people? And who, specifically, was likely to have been harmed as a result of James speaking out against the devaluation of black lives or against police brutality? What bad things resulted from James's speech on those subjects?
This post sounds a like a baseless comparison that is held up only by your unsupported "beliefs." If people want James to shut up and dribble, that's fine. But this comparison is simply disingenuous.
Posted by: Anonymous | Oct 15, 2019 1:48:10 PM
I believe the topic was Hong Kong, not Taiwan.
Posted by: J. Bogart | Oct 15, 2019 9:23:05 AM
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