The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Stereotyping athletes’ opinions is narrow-minded
I remember thinking to myself in 2003, “Who do these women think they are?”
The country band “The Dixie Chicks” publicly criticized President George W. Bush about the invasion of Iraq at a concert overseas.
Lead singer of the group Natalie Maines told the band’s London audience: ”We don’t want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”
When the band returned home, the negative backlash was steep. There were public protests of their albums and the band was denounced by talk shows. During the turmoil, the band took a hiatus from touring.
Interestingly in 2006, the band released a documentary titled, “Shut Up and Sing” — sound familiar LeBron James fans? In it, the band talked about their backlash, which included death wishes and physical harm.
I was in my early 30s at the time. I wasn’t very political. Views of the world can change in people’s minds over time, so lump me in with that group. When the comments were made, I felt the band was wrong to criticize a president, no matter what side of politics you rest on.
I was wrong. Free speech is a arguably our greatest liberty as an American. Comments, however, do come with consequences because in the court of public opinion, the people matter and can make a difference. So with free speech comes risk.
Time are changing, though. Essentially — on a much smaller scale — what happened to the Dixie Chicks is what happened to James. Fox News host Laura Ingraham bashed James for recent comments about President Donald Trump on Uninterrupted. Ingraham mocked James, as well as the Warriors’ Kevin Durant (who was also on the show), and said, “Shut up and dribble.”
It wasn’t the first time James has publicly criticized Trump. Months ago, he went on Twitter and called Trump a “bum.” It was reportedly the most retweeted — 1.5 million — tweet by an athlete in 2017.
James isn’t the first celebrity to criticize the president. The likes of actors Alec Baldwin, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and George Clooney, and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel have not held back.
There are many others, which begs the question why did Ingraham single out James?
Judge for yourself about her comments but the take here is she went way out of bounds portraying James as basically an uneducated basketball player who’s lucky if he has enough intelligence to tie his own basketball shoes.
Anyone can have an opinion. Period. End of story. But for Ingraham to stereotype James as someone
who’s only function in life is to dribble a ball goes way out of bounds, and flat-out wrong.
A portion of James’ comments on Uninterrupted: “At this time right now, with the president of the United States, it’s at a bad time, and while we cannot change what comes out of that man’s mouth, we can continue to alert the people that watch us, that listen to us, that this is not the way.”
Ingraham said the comments were “ignorant,” then said of James and Durant: “Must they run their mouths like that?”
In Ingraham’s defense, James did use an expletive in one of his comments, but beyond that, in the United States, yes they can “run their mouths like that”
James stood his ground at an All-Star Games news conference Feb. 17 in Los
Angeles.
“I will definitely not do that. I mean too much to society,” he said. “I mean too much to the youth. I mean too much to so many kids that feel like they don’t have a way out and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation they’re in. That’s why I will not shut up and dribble.”
A day before his comments, Ingraham tweeted late Feb. 16, inviting James on her show.
A part of me wishes James would take her up on the offer. He could point out:
• He’s a 2003 graduate of Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, and did not attend college. To that point, the first question I would hope James would ask Ingraham in return is this: Where is it written a person needs a college education in this country to
have an opinion?
• And that The LeBron James Family Foundation has committed millions to help elementary and secondary school students with learning programs, plus a partnership with the University of Akron to provide scholarships for students in need.
I don’t know James personally, and I’m guessing neither does Ingraham. To say James should just “shut up and dribble” is well within a Ingraham’s right, but it’s narrow-minded.
James appears wellthought in his comments about race and the state of current affairs, and he’s making a difference in Northeast Ohio and beyond.
Contact Podolski at MPodolski@News-Herald. com; On Twitter: @mpodo.