czvo
Banned
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I get where you are coming from, but I personally don't agree with "stick to sports/entertainment" refrain. Politics has a real impact on all of us...even those in their "secluded bubbles" as you called them. It's not clear to me why an athlete should be disqualified from speaking about politics but a trust fund baby born with a silver spoon can create a political blog or run for office - are they not living in a secluded bubble too? And yeah maybe athletes don't always have the ideal nuanced knowledge to discuss some issues but neither do half the radio hosts and pundits on both sides of the aisle that get to spout their opinions on the airwaves.
I respect those who have used their platforms to speak up on issues that matter to them like Ali, Kareem, Russell, and Brown did...and I respect that LeBron chooses to do the same. And by the way that goes to people on both sides of the political spectrum. I couldn't disagree more with Clint Eastwood politically, but I respect his willingness to speak his mind and he remains one of my favorite all time actors and directors. I have never owned a gun in my life and know like a grand total of one person who owns one, and yet I have a poster of Charleston Heston hanging in my office.
That being said, I think @TyGuy and @The Human Q-Tip make a salient point. Where LeBron erred in his recent round of comments was to make blanket assetions, intentionally or not, about a large set of voters that should not be generalized the way that he did. So yea I definitely don't agree with his assertions about Trump voters even though I generally applaud him for having the fearlessness to speak his mind without regard for the effect it might have on his brand.
Tl;dr - I support LeBron, other athletes, and other entertainers being active in politics. But for the reasons outlined eloquently by @TyGuy, I don't agree with LeBron's recent generalized comments about Trump voters.
I've gone back and read that part of the piece several more times, and I'm STILL not seeing these things people are pointing out.
Here's the exact quote when asked "Can a state that voted for Donald Trump also love LeBron James? Is that actually possible?"
"That's a great question. I think, um, they can love what LeBron James does. Do they know what LeBron James completely represents? I don't think so. So those people may love the way I play the game of basketball, because they might have some grandkids, you know, they might have a son or a daughter or a niece that no matter what they're talking about, the kids are like, 'LeBron is LeBron. And I don't give a damn what you talking about. I love him.' So they don't have a choice liking me. But at the end of the day, these people are gonna resort back to who they are. So do I have a definite answer to that? My state definitely voted for Donald Trump, the state that I grew up in. And I think I can sit here and say that I have a lot of fans in that state, too. It's unfortunate."
If someone could point out where he's "calling everyone racist," I would appreciate it.
The way I read it, it's a minority man in America genuinely confused as to how so many could, at the very least, ignore the rhetoric of the man in charge. But that's me. Like I mentioned in the other thread, his comment is really a whole lot of nothing, so everyone is reading into it whatever they want.