Social Issues and Basketball

Here’s another link.

I’m torn just because (a) it was inappropriate, but (b) it’s so stupid. I’m trying to understand where you’re coming from, Panama, and I think I can (of course, I’m restricted by being an upper-middle class white male) but to me it is a non-issue.

Spain’s attempt to make it seem like a “friendly gesture” is the only thing more stupid than the original photo. That sort of thing is something that mature adults left behind in elementary school.

I guess it’s more of an indictment of them than anything else. Overly-negative reaction to it only give the Spanish what they wanted (like in grade school).

I do remember the soccer stuff, though. I had a friend at a match in France that said similar things happened, too.

Perhaps the dumbest thing about it is that the Chinese are not “invading” Spain in the same manner that the Spanish perceive the “invasions” from the Africans, etc.

if Pau will use this to make Sun Yue feel welcome on the Lakers.

Also: I do love the fact that the Spanish are justifying this by also pointing to a picture of the Lithuanian players posing as bullfighters.

Last: I’d have to agree with JSun, in that this is undoubtedly offensive, but it’s so stupid and so typical of Euro-xenophobia that I didn’t pay it much mind. It’s kind of like when one of our athletes makes yet another homophobic/sexist remark (or just beats his wife. Way to be, JKidd!).

Professional basketball players and social awareness are just not a common combination, which isn’t that surprising when you give men who have been idolized since grade school millions of dollars to play a child’s game and tell them they’re heroes.

Issue of non-issue, one of the most difficult things we have to leaarn to get along in this world is how to treat other people. This happens everywhere, but of course there are those that only see bad treatment when it is done to someone outside a definable group. Which of course is myopic.

I have done nothing overt to deserve the hatred and derision of Europeans, yet I have been treated with disdain and prejudice wherever I went in Europe (I know, some of you might say this is Bush’s fault, but I was there in 1987). It is a nice place, but I would not want to live there. I had a discussion with a Danish guy who pretty much painted all Americans with the same brush; we didn’t ‘care’ for our people since our government didn’t provide everything free from cradle to grave.

Also, I wonder if there is a distinct prejudice for South Americans on the continent. I was in Brussells, and some Colombian musicicians were treated horribly by a skinhead gang (which, by the way, are everywhere). I wanted to do something, but was limited by language.

These Spanish players are idiots, to be sure. I think in the competitive world of sports that is dominated by the young and foolish, we will inevitably see this kind of thing. You ought to see what passes as a ‘joke’ on a high school campus here in the States. My wife is a high school teacher, and had a colleague that missed a semester with a nervous breakdown. We came to find out that it was a game for these students to see if they could harass a teacher into a breakdown. In Mao’s China, students turned in teachers in for ‘Communist’ activities (often resulting in torture an/or death) when all they did is dare to give a student a failing grade.

In a world where this can happen, does it surprise you what these players did? Those who condemn it need to condemn it wherever it occurs.

Being of East Asian background, more than offended by Spanish team and the photographer’s actions (and reactions), they just seem pathetic.

Haven’t seen anyone do the ‘slanted eyes’ thing since kindergarten, when some classmates were trying to taunt me. ...We all were, what, 4 years old?

BTW, José Calderón plays point guard for the Toronto Raptors. He’s their defacto starting point guard, now that they traded TJ Ford, yeah?
Toronto’s a multicultural city with a large and vibrant Chinese community. Bryan Colangelo & the Raptors PR department might not be in their happy place right now.

If anyone was looking for another adjective to define the picture, how about “infantile?”

Regardless, it seems to me this was only a moment of “nonthinking” on the part of these basketball players as opposed to some deeply rooted racism coming to the surface. Everyone has them. We all can think of and name 100 recent public embarassments (Don Imus anyone?) relative to racist comments and such.

I doubt anyone can say anything to make the Spanish team feel any worse or stupid than they already do. And if they do not feel bad, then we should all feel sorry for them.

Sure we all have stories of Europeans treating Americans like garbage and I am sure they can say the same. People tend to take one or two instances of rudeness and paint a whole culture or race. It’s been going on for a long time and will always, I believe, because there is more that divides us than brings us together.

The Sun fan in me though is happy that Gasol was in that picture. Another reason to dislike the Lakers!

I’m a Spurs fan, and I know that makes me you guy’s mortal enemy, but this is a great post dude. This racism is killing me!!!

We will quit talking about this long before we approach the time spent ruminating about whose fault it was to lose JJ, or when Matrix would be traded.

Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on the belief that race is the primary factor determining human traits and abilities. Racism includes the belief that genetic or inherited differences produce the inherent superiority or inferiority of one race over another.

The key factor in determining racism is the extent to which the action in question involves or results in discrimination or judgment of superiority/inferiority. I just don’t see that here. Is the pose childish and in poor taste? Probably. Would the Spanish be pissed if they were hosting the games and other teams took photos dressed as matadors? Probably. But what is the message this photo is really sending? That the Spanish think that Chinese people have eyes that are shaped differently than theirs?

Let me be clear: racism is a hideous blight, to be spoken out against and eradicated. This? This is nonsense.

Next Season, every PHX SUN in my photos will have TP Coneheads.

Will that be okay with everyone?

=)