Tar Heel coach Ol' Roy Williams puts it all in perspective.

[Contrapuntal]

Well, the Heels have been losing a bit more than usual, and for the life of him Roy just cannnot figure out what the hell is going on. Whatever it is, he knows it's bad, though.

Our massage therapist told me, 'You know, coach, what happened in Haiti is a catastrophe. What you're having is a disappointment,' " said Williams. "I told her that depends on what chair you're sitting in. It does feel like a catastrophe to me, because it is my life.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/stewart_mandel/02/09/duke.north.carolina/index.html

He's a real prize, that one.

[astorian]

Maybe you have your own, perfectly valid reasons for hating Roy Williams (especially if you’re a Duke or Kansas alum). But this isn’t worth getting upset about.

Look, in your own life, you’ve undoubtedly experienced misery of one kind or another. But if you’d just lost your job or had just gotten divorced, would “perspective” REALLY make you feel any better? Has any unemployed person EVER felt better after being reminded, “Some people have terminal cancer, so what you're going through is really nothing”? Has any depressed, heartbroken divorcee ever cheered up after hearing “Some people are starving in Africa, so really, what are YOU complaining about”?

OBVIOUSLY, Roy Williams isn’t suffering the way Haitian earthquake victims are. He knows that as well as anyone. But our pains and problems are our pains and problems. They don’t vanish just because there are other people whose problems are far worse.

[Contrapuntal]

Maybe you have your own, perfectly valid reasons for hating Roy Williams (especially if you’re a Duke or Kansas alum). But this isn’t worth getting upset about.I'm not upset, and I don't hate him.



Look, in your own life, you’ve undoubtedly experienced misery of one kind or another. But if you’d just lost your job or had just gotten divorced, would “perspective” REALLY make you feel any better? Has any unemployed person EVER felt better after being reminded, “Some people have terminal cancer, so what you're going through is really nothing”? Has any depressed, heartbroken divorcee ever cheered up after hearing “Some people are starving in Africa, so really, what are YOU complaining about”? Whatever. I certainly wouldn't compare my plight to that of the people of Haiti at a freakin' press conference. Just because you have a thought doesn't mean you have to vocalize it.

OBVIOUSLY, Roy Williams isn’t suffering the way Haitian earthquake victims are. He knows that as well as anyone. But our pains and problems are our pains and problems. They don’t vanish just because there are other people whose problems are far worse.I'd say his major problems are a lack of empathy and no governor on his motor mouth.

[Omniscient]

He didn't pay the proper lip service when referencing Haiti? Off with his head!

[Contrapuntal]

He didn't pay the proper lip service when referencing Haiti? Off with his head!No, he compared losing basketball games to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, countless others injured or orphaned or left homeless, when he could have just shut he fuck up.

There was no "lip service," as if that even applies here. He brought the topic up.

Of course, if he wants the world to know the inane rambling self-centered conversations he has with his massage therapist, all the while dismissing a tragedy of truly massive proportions, he was absolutely spot on.

[Omniscient]

You seem to think that there's only one meaning to the word perspective. I suggest you spend a little time acquainting yourself with the others.

[Contrapuntal]

You seem to think that there's only one meaning to the word perspective. I suggest you spend a little time acquainting yourself with the others.If you are confused what I meant by perspective, I will gladly enlighten you. I feel uncompelled to compose an OP that accounts for all the meanings of the words included, along with their variants. Seems a bit unwieldly.

[Omniscient]

Try this on for size: From Roy Williams' perspective the Tar Heels' crappy season is having a greater impact on his life than Haiti is.

I suspect the catastrophe that this rant is will have a greater impact on your life than Haiti will i.e. vanishingly little.

Take it away, Kanye.

[Carmady]

If you are going to look up words, I would suggest "comparison."

He made no comparison between losing games and the deaths in Haiti.

He said losing games felt like a catastrophe to him, in the same sense that he might have said losing games felt like the apocalypse to him. He never compared anything to Haiti.

[Contrapuntal]

If you are going to look up words, I would suggest "comparison."

He made no comparison between losing games and the deaths in Haiti.His massage therapist did. You read the quote, right?

He said losing games felt like a catastrophe to him, in the same sense that he might have said losing games felt like the apocalypse to him. He never compared anything to Haiti.Again, his massage therapist made the comparison, and he responded to it. You folks sure can twist yourself into knots defending what is essentially an indefensible statement. The simple fact of the matter is that the therapist defined "catastrophe" by citing what happened in Haiti. He then used the same word to describe losing basketball games.

He needs to get out more.

[astorian]

Exactly right- Roy Williams didn't compare his situation to that of Haiti. His massage therapist did.

The massage therapist tried, as many well-meaning people do, to make light of somebody else's problems by pointing to people who are MUCH worse off.

That rarely helps ANYBODY.

When everything is going to Hell in your own life, it’s small (or no) comfort to hear anyone telling you how (relatively) blessed you are, even if it’s true.

I’m willing to bet that, if you’d had a lousy week at work, and some perky optimist told you, “Cheer up, at least you have it better than Somalian refugees," you wouldn’t smile and say, “Gee, you’re right! I’m a lucky guy, when you think about it.” You’d probably tell her, “Shut the hell up. What does that have to do with anything?”

That wouldn't indicate a lack of compassion for Somalians, just a recognition that other peoples' grave problems don't do anything to diminish your own lesser problems.

[Trepa Mayfield]

His massage therapist did. You read the quote, right?

Again, his massage therapist made the comparison, and he responded to it. You folks sure can twist yourself into knots defending what is essentially an indefensible statement. The simple fact of the matter is that the therapist defined "catastrophe" by citing what happened in Haiti. He then used the same word to describe losing basketball games.

He needs to get out more.

If I'm reading the quote right, no he didn't. First, Tar Heel Guy said that the losingness was a catastrophe. Then his Massage Therapist said 'No it's not, Haiti is a catastrophe.'. Then THG said, "It's a catastrophe to me, because it is my life."

[Contrapuntal]

Try this on for size: From Roy Williams' perspective the Tar Heels' crappy season is having a greater impact on his life than Haiti is.That's damning with faint praise at best. And it still offers no justification for his callous and self-centered remark at a press conference.

Feel free to force your definitions of perspective on the conversation. Just understand that they are not mine. The perspective Roy needs is the one required to understand that there are much greater troubles in the world than his coaching record.

I suspect the catastrophe that this rant is will have a greater impact on your life than Haiti will i.e. vanishingly little.Funny. Youse a real humanitarian, youse is. But a lexicographer? No so much.

Take it away, Kanye.I assume this is intended as an insult. Duly noted.

[Contrapuntal]

I’m willing to bet that, if you’d had a lousy week at work, and some perky optimist told you, “Cheer up, at least you have it better than Somalian refugees," you wouldn’t smile and say, “Gee, you’re right! I’m a lucky guy, when you think about it.” You’d probably tell her, “Shut the hell up. What does that have to do with anything?”Well. you're wrong about that. I wouldn't say anything like that. And I certainly wouldn't say that from my perspective I was in the same situation as a Somalian refugee.

[Contrapuntal]

If I'm reading the quote right, no he didn't. First, Tar Heel Guy said that the losingness was a catastrophe. Then his Massage Therapist said 'No it's not, Haiti is a catastrophe.'. Then THG said, "It's a catastrophe to me, because it is my life."Show me where in the quote he used the word "catastrophe" first.

[Omniscient]

Feel free to force your definitions of perspective on the conversation. Just understand that they are not mine. The perspective Roy needs is the one required to understand that there are much greater troubles in the world than his coaching record.

Interesting. You now have the power to define the meaning of words? That must be very convenient in debates.

:rolleyes:

[Carmady]

His massage therapist did. You read the quote, right?

Again, his massage therapist made the comparison, and he responded to it. You folks sure can twist yourself into knots defending what is essentially an indefensible statement. The simple fact of the matter is that the therapist defined "catastrophe" by citing what happened in Haiti. He then used the same word to describe losing basketball games.

He needs to get out more.


Williams did not make any comparison to Haiti.

Just because the massage therapist had referred to Haiti as a catastrophe does not mean that for the remainder of the conversation the word catastrophe was redefined to mean "Haiti".

It seems as though you are trying to read his words in the worst possible light because you dislike the guy.

Don't worry about it though, it's not the end of the world.

[ToeJam]

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.
Mel Brooks US actor, comedian, & movie director (1926 - )

*Not quite the same thing. But it's a good explanation of perspective.

[astorian]

And of course, if Roy Williams HAD told the press, "Sure, we'll probably miss the NCAA tournament this year, but compared to the agony suffered by people in Haiti, our problems are really pretty insignificant," NOBODY would have said, "That's a good point." Williams would have been ridiculed by fans and the media for making lame excuses.

[Little Nemo]

Former Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy was once asked if an upcoming game was a "must-win". Levy answered, "No, World War II was a must-win. This'll just be a football game."

[Little Nemo]

Look, in your own life, you’ve undoubtedly experienced misery of one kind or another. But if you’d just lost your job or had just gotten divorced, would “perspective” REALLY make you feel any better? Has any unemployed person EVER felt better after being reminded, “Some people have terminal cancer, so what you're going through is really nothing”? Has any depressed, heartbroken divorcee ever cheered up after hearing “Some people are starving in Africa, so really, what are YOU complaining about”?I think those Haitians need to let it go. The earthquake only killed a couple of hundred thousand people. The 1931 flood in central China killed ten times that many. Where's their sense of perspective?

[Contrapuntal]

Interesting. You now have the power to define the meaning of words? That must be very convenient in debates.

:rolleyes:I can define words to be they way I mean them when I say them. You can't? Pity.

If there are, say, five definitions for "perspective" and I posit an assertion that depends upon definition #3, do you really think that I have to defend my position against all the other definitions? Really? It must be hard as hell to talk to you.

[Contrapuntal]

And of course, if Roy Williams HAD told the press, "Sure, we'll probably miss the NCAA tournament this year, but compared to the agony suffered by people in Haiti, our problems are really pretty insignificant," NOBODY would have said, "That's a good point." Williams would have been ridiculed by fans and the media for making lame excuses.Where is the excuse in that remark, exactly?

Also, do you understand what a false dichotomy is? Here's a clue : Ol' Roy (http://www.viewpoints.com/images/review/2008/357/21/1230003553-626_full.jpg) didn't have to say Jack Shit about Haiti, one way or another. He brought it up, when he should have just shut up.

[Omniscient]

I can define words to be they way I mean them when I say them. You can't? Pity.

If there are, say, five definitions for "perspective" and I posit an assertion that depends upon definition #3, do you really think that I have to defend my position against all the other definitions? Really? It must be hard as hell to talk to you.

When you make an asinine assertion you'd better be prepared to defend it from all angles. Claiming that your interpretation is the only possible one makes you look like a fool or a liar. I pointed out the irony of you using a word who's alternate definition highlights the crux of the argument against you, not that I expect you to understand such a concept.

[bucketybuck]

I was looking forward to this weekend. I was going to meet up with a few mates, and bitch a bit about how crappy work has been this week.

But hey, Haiti and all that. I had better get a smile on instead.