DeSean Jackson has been penalized and will pay a fine.
Yeah well is that enough? I can deal with controversial comments, but agreeing with Hitler about, well, anything is fucked up.
This feels like more than just ignorance. I could see someone who doesn’t know a ton about conspiracy theories that fuel antisemitism might overlook that aspect of Farrakhan and gravitate towards the rest of his nonsense, but to specifically latch onto his antisemitic views requires that you’re at least the type of person who’s on the road to becoming a bigot. IMO the only reason those kind of bigoted views would resonate with someone who isn’t consciously bigoted is that the bigoted view they’re being introduced to addresses deep-seated feelings or resentment, persecution etc. Of course we all have those feelings, but once you let someone create an association between that feeling and a group of people, you are starting to become a bigot. And if you offer a weak apology
asahi - I think there are a few reasons there hasn’t been as huge a backlash as there would be if a white player made a comment about something like slavery. One big reason is the somewhat bizarre way it fits into the punch-up/punch-down paradigm. I don’t think anyone would deny that black people have it worse than Jews in America, but it seems more like punching diagonally to me. Another aspect is that there is a concerted effort among white supremacists to drive a wedge between Jews and black people. I think just trying to downplay the problem is not the answer, but a better way would be to get the message across that it’s a divide that only helps white supremacists. I don’t know how this can be done on a large scale, but that would be the ideal IMO.
EDIT: The other reason is we’re talking about the NFL where being a wife-beating scumbag won’t even get you removed from the league.
At a certain point, skill is skill. If you’re good at the sport (and for many years, DJax was a great receiver,) you get a lot more leeway and slack than if you’re not good. And the Eagles badly need everything they have at WR.
Plus, DeSean eventually did apologize.
DeadTreasSecretaries: “Another aspect is that there is a concerted effort among white supremacists to drive a wedge between Jews and black people.”
I don’t think you can blame the persistence of anti-Semitism among a subset of black people on white supremacists. Resentments, often based on the same misconceptions and religion-fueled hate that afflicts other groups, have been percolating in the black community for a very long time. Why DeSean Jackson felt it was a good idea to let his bigot freak flag fly on social media now, is anyone’s guess.
Whatever fine is imposed should be used to make a donation in Jackson’s name to a suitable charity, while requiring him to accept Julian Edelman’s invitation and spend a day at the Holocaust Museum.
I agree. White supremacists are trying to accelerate tensions and prejudices that already exist.
I think the main relevance of this is that some people in the media are going to less likely to draw attention to this issue because they don’t want to do the work of white supremacists.
And they know them as the wealthy boss/owner. Reaffirming the caricature that the peddlers of resentment are selling.
But yeah, when it comes to NFL “forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown”.
I’ve seen that sort of thing with people who have been raised in a socially isolated world view where the people they interact with growing up are all the same and all tend towards us vs. them viewpoints, various conspiracy type notions, and so forth. Which yes, does put you on the road to being a bigot. In young folks, though, education can divert them from that path if their ways of thinking haven’t solidified. That’s one reason for encouraging sending young people off to college away from home - to get them out of such and environment and interacting with people who are different from them and their social circle growing up. Does it always work? No. But it’s worth a try.
The example from my life that sticks out to me was running into a bunch of missionary students, most of whom had been raised in homogeneous small towns, living in Chicago while getting their “degrees” - they had very odd notions about people who weren’t white, (their brand of) Christian, and conservative because growing up they had never encountered people different then themselves and families.
Having no idea of the background of the player involved in all this I have no idea if this applies in his case or not. Presumably, he wasn’t raised in a white enclave of some sort. I’ll just point out that black people can be just as bigoted as anyone else (Farakhan being exhibit A in this discussion).
Or maybe he is a DeSean is a bigot through and through.
^ This. That doesn’t help combat conspiracy theories about controlling Jews.
Actually, First Take, Get Up and other shows on ESPN DID condemn all the remarks