Rodman, Artest, Howard

I was one of those people, and while Howard has yet to kick a cameraman or instigate brawl, I can say with resignation, ‘this guy is really starting to piss me off’. He has been portrayed up to this year as a high-character guy in Dallas, and it is now clear he does not warrant that description. I hope the Dallas fans boo him, but hey, they’re the same fans that welcomed TO with open arms years after he stomped on the Star at Texas Stadium, so I’m not holding my breath.

How different is this than Shaq threatening someone’s life?

1) He’s 28
2) He smokes weed.
3) He doesn’t have much love for our government.
4) He drives fast.

He sounds like half my friends.

Side note:

Explain to me this logic:

1) Josh Howard, reasonably or not, has angst toward his government for its treatment of African Americans and expresses this angst by not paying attention to the national anthem.

Therefore:

2) He is disrespecting the troops in Iraq?

Quoi? If being at war means that we can’t disagree or even despise our government without being unAmerican or “French,” then you’ve pretty much equated patriotism with authoritarianism. And I really can’t stand it when people limit patriotism in that way. One can both disagree with a war or a government who started the war while still respecting the troops who are fighting the war since they aren’t in control of it.

Similarly it’s eminently possible for someone to:

1) Be disgusted with parts of our nation’s history
2) Be disgusted with our current government
3) Find things like flags and anthems now too politicized to have any meaning to them

and

4) Still love the United States.

Patriotism is a big idea and it definitely leaves room for dissent.

I am not talking about patriotism. That’s a subject for another blog. I am talking about a pattern of foolishness and bad judgement for a player who has demonstrated the propensity for bonehead plays on the court. He has been a hothead, and it has been easy for opponents to get him out of his game because of his problems with judgement. Judgement is an intrinsic quality that permeates our being, and manifests in whatever be our pursuit. Now this summer he pulls off the trifecta of drag racing, smoking pot (and publicizing it) and then this.

All this for a player who is well paid, and one who is being depended upon to stabilize the sinking fortunes of a highly visible pro basketball team.

For a person who has benefitted so much from the system that we live under, I find it disgusting that Howard can’t find time to be thankful for what he has received, and be a part of the solution to the problems he sees instead of tearing down what others have labored so hard to build. It takes dedication, hard work, and sound judgement to create lasting structures that will benefit others. It takes foolishness, a hard heart, and selfish short-sightedness to tear them down.

When you wave a red flag in front of the bull, that is free speech, but you know the bull’s coming after you. Similarly, when you insist on publicly denigrating the values of a majority of those who have made you rich, the free speech will cost you. Nobody, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, God, or the Devil can guarantee free speech with no consequences. Consequences are our teacher, without which we will remain the spoiled infants that were brought into this world.

I smoke weed. I’m black.

I drive fast. I’m black.

I hate this or that. I’m black.

All of this seems to suggest: if you celebrate that shit: you ain’t black.