My apologies for hijacking the hijack. I have no excuse.
Richard Parker: What’s not fair? I didn’t know a damned thing about Vick’s background until I took the time to look it up to see if he had been raised without exposure to schooling, a library, newspapers, computers, television, loving parents and other adults who cared about his welfare – before I posted my opinion.
As a former high school teacher of mostly Black students, I know that the opportunities are there for those who take advantage of it. We have sent students to Harvard. We have seen one of our students take his place among the Trustees of Vanderbilt University. And one of the students across town at another urban school (I’ve mentioned that I coached/judged her at forensic competitions) became what I believe is the world’s first Black female billionaire.
I also checked to see if maybe Whoopi had lived in the South. She hadn’t.
I agree with you that explanation is not the same as an excuse, but in this case I do believe that what Whoopi stated on television was definitely offered as a defense. The Associated Press agrees with me:
Source: Yahoo AP quotation
Whoopi deserved pitting for her defense of Vick and for not checking out her facts before perpetuating ignorance about Southerners and the South before a television show of millions of people.
I see these stereotypical myths introduced into casual conversations almost daily. How would you fee if the rest of the country thought that everyone from NYC was an Archie Bunker and they treated you, Richard Parker as if you were? How would you like it if people constantly made the wrong assumptions about your education, your religion and your politics?
In this day and age, she also deserves pitting for defending someone who is that cruel while being a hero and role model to so many kids! I wonder how many young minds will think that cruel is cool because Vick did it. He wasn’t just any old football player. If they love him the way I love Steve McNair (even when he plays for Baltimore), they must have a lot of question marks in their eyes.
You seem to have forgotten that I also acknowledged earlier that the culture obviously exists to some extent or Vick wouldn’t have been involved. But it isn’t common – in the way that Goldberg implied – or I would have known about it.
Cockfighting isn’t “common,” but I’ve known about that. I wouldn’t know where to find one, but I could probably ask people who know people who could tell me. But then I’ve known a great assortment of people who would trust me from my years as a teacher. Most people don’t get to know that many people that closely in a year’s time year after year.
You quoted one journal article that said that the subculture of dogfighting was centered in the South. These writers said they went to fourteen fights. Did they mention how much effort they put into finding fights outside of the South? On what basis did they judge that the dogfighting is centered here? Who are these people? What are their credentials? Is this a peer reviewed journal? I’m really skeptical, but I will keep an open mind since I know nothing about dogfighting except that it is not common in the South in general.
I can’t get too frustrated with anyone from NYC. I’ve never been to Manhattan, but I’ve wanted to go since I was a child and used to pretend I lived in a penthouse. I got as close as the George Washington Bridge once. My quick glimpse of Yankee Stadium took my breath away and the memory still does. Besides, the only genuine New Yorker that I ever knew here in Nashville was named Parker. We pronounced it “Paah-kur” because one of his New York friends visiting called him a “big faaht” once and we couldn’t stop laughing. That was much more impressive than our word for that bodily function.
Please excuse me if I seemed angry with you. I was transferring my anger at Whoopi onto anyone who seemed to be taking her side. You were very convenient.
And most of the time I adore Whoopi. I just love the South – most of the real South – more.
All of us have to stop creating so much pain everywhere.