Bob versus the NRA.

I am no fan of Bob Costas, in fact I thought his comments about Idi Amin- when the Ugandan athletes came out during this past summer's Olympics- was one of the most ignorant things ever said by a person covering sports.

But I am going to have to side with him in his fight with the NRA. Maybe he should have chilled with the editorializing during an NFL game, but when you agree with someone's message it's hard to rip him.

So more on that message: Costas quoted from another guy who is not going to be on my Christmas list, Jason Whitlock, who basically said that the NRA was the same as the KKK.

“Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it.”

On Martin’s podcast, Whitlock compared the NRA to the Ku Klux Klan, reports Dailycaller.com. Whitlock also said that he did not believe the Chiefs wanted to play Sunday, after the Saturday tragedy, but the team's owner wanted the game to proceed.

Whitlock said: "You know, I did not go as far as I’d like to go because my thoughts on the NRA and America’s gun culture, I believe the NRA is the new KKK. And that the arming of so many black youths, uh, and loading up our community with drugs, and then just having an open shooting gallery, is the work of people who obviously don’t have our best interests [at heart].”

“I think it’s obvious if you’ve traveled abroad, and traveled to countries where they have legitimate gun laws, that we don’t have to have what we have in America, where people somehow think a gun enhances their liberty, and that people somehow think a gun makes them safer."

“It just doesn’t. A gun turns some kids listening to music into a murder scene. And uh, you know, if you don’t have a gun, you drive home. You know, kids listening to some loud music, you don’t like it, you go home and complain to your wife. But when you have a gun, you open fire, potentially, and take the life of a child.” [Source]

I feel you there Jason, although Mr. Belcher was not a good dude. If he didn't kill that poor woman with a handgun he might have beaten her to death. Still, I do believe that the people in the NRA are a bunch of pimps, and that they care more about lining their pockets than the 2nd Amendment. But "loading up our community with drugs"? That's not the NRA. And, let's keep it 100% with each other; at some point more personal responsibility has to come into play. Those NRA dudes aren't splitting young black buck's wigs over a bad drug deal.

Now Costas is feeling the heat, and Costas being Costas, well... he is walking back some of his comments.

"He first told Patrick that the feedback he had received had been “tremendously positive,” but that there had also been “considerable backlash,” and attributed some of it to “the gun lobby.” He explained to Patrick that the reason the situation had even taken place was because he had been told he’d receive “about a minute and fifteen seconds” to address the Belcher tragedy, and that he felt the best way to “come at” the situation from a different angle was to try to point out issues that hadn’t been addressed.
He went on,

“For a long time, I’ve been wanting to get off my chest my disgust with this idea that every time something tragic happens, no matter what it may be, that in any way touches sports, there’s a chorus of people saying, ‘you know, this really puts it in perspective.’ Which is a bunch of nonsense, because if that was true, we wouldn’t have to have that perspective adjusted every time the next tragedy occurs. It’s a bunch of nonsense. And what I was trying to say was, that if you want some perspective on this, there are a number of issues related to this that we could begin to talk about and think about.”

Although he called his comments a “mistake,” Costas cited lack of time as the primary reason he was targeted for criticism, telling Patrick, “My mistake is I left it open for too much communication.”  [Source]

Maybe critics like Mike Gallagher ( who on his radio program today said that Trayvon Martin got what he deserved and that black radio commentators basically get a free pass in America because they are...wait for it, black.) will debate Costas on this issue. Although somehow I doubt that this is what the folks on the right and the NRA supporters want. Keep in mind that these are the same folks who cry that they can't debate black folks and liberals on issues like racism and gun control. Oh the irony.

It always takes a high profile tragedy to bring the gun control debate to the forefront of our consciousness. Sadly for all of us, we will have another chance to debate it really soon.     




 

Not Again!

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A party that asked students to come dressed “politically incorrect” has prompted an investigation by Macalester College officials who learned one student was costumed as a Ku Klux Klan member and another wore blackface with a noose around his neck.
Students at the private school told administrators about the Jan. 16 party on campus.
“My initial reaction was shock,” said Paul Maitland-McKinley, a member of the Black Liberation Affairs Committee, a student group. “I thought, this can’t really happen on my campus.”

A campus-wide discussion is planned for Tuesday.
“We hope we can start a deeper dialogue on ... why these types of activities hurt people and why they get the kind of response they do,” said Jim Hoppe, the school’s associate dean of students.
The student newspaper, The Mac Weekly, quoted senior David Nifoussi, who attended the party, as saying it was meant to be a satiric comment on “things that would be considered taboo in most situations” at the liberal school.
Macalester is the latest in a series of colleges to investigate student parties and incidents that have involved racial overtones.
Earlier this school year, Trinity College and Whitman College had parties where students showed up in racially offensive costumes or blackface. At Texas A&M University, students made a racist video that apparently was intended as satire, and a fraternity at Johns Hopkins University was suspended after a “Halloween in the Hood” party displayed a fake skeleton hanging from a noose.
The Macalester party was held a week before spring classes started and did not draw a large crowd, Hoppe said.
Macalester President Brian Rosenberg sent a statement to students, faculty and staff members condemning the offensive costumes and party theme.
“It is important to understand that the college condemns and will not tolerate activities of this type,” he wrote. “It is deeply disappointing that Macalester students would be so insensitive and demonstrate such a lack of understanding of the college’s values and mission.”

" I thought this can't really happen on my campus"

Well that's your first problem Paul, it's not your f****ng campus! And the sooner black folks like you stop buying into that bull sh** the sooner you will realize that there is nothing to be surprised about when a bunch of your white college peers make fun of your ass.

Folks, let me apologize for yet another cut and paste job on my post. But hey, sometimes real life comes in the way of blogging and the field just has been way too busy to post the way I want to lately.

But I have to address yet another politically incorrect bash at one of our fine institutions of higher learning: Like what the f**k? Frankly, the field just cannot understand this phenomenon, and in order to get to the bottom of it, he went straight to the source. That's right, the field sought out one of his "white friends" to explain just what is the fascination with all things black and ghetto with these seemingly normal college age white kids.

[Real Conversation]

"Hi white friend" (Not his real name)
"Hi field"
"Hey man, I gotta ask you, you went to college right?"
"Ahh yeah field, the last time I checked, you need a college degree before you get a law degree."
"Yeah that's right. So tell me, when you went to college, did you guys have these politically incorrect parties where you would make fun of black people and black culture?"
"Field, since you are my friend, I think I can level with you; we had them all the f*****g time!
I mean you wouldn't believe some of the sh*# we did and said. No offense field, but we just didn't really understand the black sensitivity back then if you know what I mean."
"Yeah I hear you. So how come all of a sudden we are hearing so much more about this stuff?"
"Hey, it's the times we live in man. White kids dime out other white kids to college administration. They think they are being Gandhi or some sh** by doing that, and the next thing you know, the press gets a hold of it, and you have a national fu****g story."
"Ahhhh, I hear you white friend. Look man, thanks for the scoop, I kinda suspected this kind of stuff goes on all the time, but I just wasn't sure."
"Yo field, we are still cool right?"
"Hell yeah white friend, we cool."

Oh wait, I can't finish this post before commenting on a pair of shootings that took place in the home of the brave and the land of the not so free over night. One tragedy took place in a city that has come to know this type of random violence only too well. (Heck, just a few years ago we had seven people shot to death execution style in a drug house) But the other tragedy, took place in the very pale, very Mormon, slice of paradise known as Utah. "He looked like an average Joe" Yeah I am sure he did, how about that? Even an"average Joe" can do not so average things.

The Philly shooter was an "average Joe" too. At least to us here in Philly he was. But then, what's an "average Joe" to Philly ain't an "average Joe to Utah I guess.

Oh well, I guess the NRA spin people will be out in full force now. "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" Mmmmmm, even if it's just an "average Joe"?