Drag The Past Out
by ChrisDecember 30th, 2004 8:53 am
Bigotry becomes no more appealing when a vocal proponent on its behalf is resting in a casket.
-James Capozzola, on Reggie White.
I’ve always been curious about the tendency to quickly forget or dismiss all that is negative about a person as soon as that person’s life is over. The phenomenon is certainly not limited to the public square, as we’ve surely all had the experience of listening to warm, glowing eulogies of rather unpleasant people whose actions in life left much to be desired. I’m not saying that we should be indiscriminant in airing our grievances, or cause further pain to those who are suffering over the loss of a loved one. We should, however, look at a person’s life and actions realistically and honestly and not be indiscriminant in our lionization.
That brings us to Reggie White. White surely was a great defensive end, likely the best of all time, and he did some fine work in the community, but that doesn’t make his views or his advocacy of bigotry and discrimination any less rotten — even now that he’s dead. The media tributes to White have been so one dimensional as to be silly. Nearly all have neglected to mention the speech which is partially quoted by James and is quite vile. It’s worth a read.
[Update] The Aggressive Progressive has a very different take on this. I hope I didn’t come off as vile as the person he quotes does, but if I did, that certainly wasn’t my intention.
December 30th, 2004 at 3:42 pm
There are a few problems with Jim’s analysis.
First off, he goes into the tired old canard about our society taking sports too seriously. Obviously, in some ways we do, especially here. But it’s no different in Europe and South America with soccer players or, for that matter, I think he’s retired now but go watch a Julio Cesar Chavez fight with some Mexicans. Then tell me just Americans take this stuff too seriously.
Second, i haven’t studied every piece done on his death, but other than the tributes from blatant jock-sniffers, most pieces i saw DID mention his inntolerant remarks.
The piece that Jim quotes from mentions the CBS and Fox pregame shows. Two points: 1) those pregame shows were on the air when news broke of his death. Obviously, they’re in shock and they’re just gonna talk about the good things they remember and 2) is this guy really implying that he’s looking for thoughtful social commentary from Howie Long or Terry Bradshaw or Dan Marino or Shannon Sharpe?
December 30th, 2004 at 3:58 pm
Jeff,
Thanks for your comment. Good points. I wrote this a bit too quickly, without really hashing things out first and I’m begining to regret it. Thanks again.
December 30th, 2004 at 4:45 pm
Well, I hope i didn’t come off as someone that gets offended by people talking about Reggie White’s intolerant remarks. Hell, I’m a Republican (there are two of us in Center City) and i was offended by what he said too.
Plus, I’ve always thought the guy was an idiot ever since A) before free-agency, he compared his Eagles contract to slavery. Sorry, Reggie, most slaves made considerably less than one million dollars a year and B) his “God told me to go to Green Bay” statement.
December 30th, 2004 at 5:02 pm
We’re up to two now. Wow! That’s got to be a 50% increase over last year. Miracles do happen. Are you registered Republican as well? I ask because I’ve met a number of people over the years whose sympathies are with the Republican Party but who are registered as Democrats so that they can vote in the primaries.
December 30th, 2004 at 5:14 pm
Wow my math is seriously bad. I meant a 100% increase.
December 30th, 2004 at 5:21 pm
Actually, there’s a really funny story behind that.
I’ve pretty much lived in the city since i was 18 and started going to Temple (I’m 33 now). But, for three years i lived in Conshohocken because i was working in Allentown and it was a pain driving up there from Center City.
So, I was a registered Republican when i lived in Conshy (Montgomery County) but when i moved back here in November of 2003, I had them switch my voter registration when i switched my mail.
So, fast forward to the primaries this past spring. I went to my Center City polling place (Pine Street Pizza) to vote in what i thought would be the Republican primaries. Basically, even though Specter’s an opportunistic jerk, Toomey was way too far to the right for me so i wanted to vote for Arlen, plus, living in Montgomery County showed me that Bruce Castor, the DA there, is a complete asshole, so i wanted to vote for his opponent in the Attorney General primary.
Anyway, i get in line to vote in the Republican primary (not that there is much of a line in a Republican primary in Center City) and the lady goes “you can’t vote in this, you’re a registrered Democrat.
Honestly, and I SWEAR this is true, but I never requested that they switch my party affiliation when i moved back to Philly but they did. Now, granted i don’t have a problem with it, and I’m the idiot that never looked at my card when i got it, i just put it in my wallet, but i thought that was really funny. Welcome back to Philly!!
So, I just left it as Democrat. At least now i can get favors from Vince Fumo and Johnny Doc.
December 31st, 2004 at 6:59 am
Favors from Vince Fumo…I shutter to think. Vince recently sent me a $5 calling card with a picture of his grinning mug on it. It was kind of funny because I had just suggested on this site, in a moment of ill temper, that he was a goatfu…never mind. Anyway, I keep the phone card in my wallet just in case I ever need to call Vince’s office and say rude things, but don’t have change for a payphone.
Pine Street Pizza is my polling place as well. Republicans living in my own neighborhood, who knew?
December 31st, 2004 at 9:45 am
“Republicans living in my own neighborhood, who knew”?
Well, at least now you know i’m not one of those Falwell/Robertson types.
What kind of self-respecting, right-wing fundie would live in the “gayborhood”? (and just so no non-Philadelphians think that’s a bigoted term, a lot of the gay people that live in our area refer to it that way too. In fact, during PrideFest, they sell t-shirts that say “map of the gayborhood”)