Donald Sterling

[Papasito]

I love people of all races and colors, and though I don't agree with what the owner of the Clippers said, what he DID was he said WORDS - he did not maim anyone, he did not kill anyone.
Sure, his opinion is WRONG, and it's not politically correct, but if we are going to start destroying people over WORDS and OPINIONS, right or wrong, we may as well slap the hammer and sickle on the American Flag and stop pretending this is a free country.

Thought, words and opinions are now cause for destruction of private citizens. Welcome to America 2014.

These standards will turn around and bite us all.

___________________________________

Fans trolling Clippers owner Donald Sterling

I think the NBA could make him attend therapy programs, maybe a psychiatrist. Healing and Understanding is the answer, not intolerance and hate.

Fighting intolerance with intolerance will get society nowhere. But then again isn't America already a lost cause, full of whiney babies who are overly offended at anything and anyone that has a different viewpoint than themselves?

I mean sure the guy's got issues, but since when are words a crime?

___________________________________

Words are now extreme. Soon it will be thoughts.
Next it will be predetermined behavior patterns predicted by a DNA analysis.

[noise]

Words are often a crime. If you didn't know that, maybe you're not one to be starting threads like this.

Furthermore, he wasn't charged with a crime. He did, however, face consequences for his actions. That's life.

[Johnnny5]

Sterling's words were going to cost the NBA owners $$$$$. That's why they took the nuclear option on this one. African Americans make up the vast majority of NBA players and even more importantly a significant percentage of the fans of the sport. The NBA can't afford to be seen as going soft on someone when comments like his have been made public.

Donald Sterling was not exactly a well liked owner so this decision was a lot easier than it could have been. That being said, it sets the mark pretty high for punishment. Honestly among the ranks of extremely wealthy, older and predominantly white and/or Jewish NBA team owners he's probably not the only one that holds or expresses these views while in private. Hopefully the others are smart enough to either change their opinions or at least not dumb enough to let themselves get caught uttering such nonsense.

[gazhekwe]

So he says some words supposedly in private and gets nuked. Meantime we have an owner that is using a hate bomb of a team name and trying to continue to get away with it with barely a comment from the authorities. That's empowerment for you. We sure know who is not powerful in this country.

[jerrytimes]

So he says some words supposedly in private and gets nuked. Meantime we have an owner that is using a hate bomb of a team name and trying to continue to get away with it with barely a comment from the authorities. That's empowerment for you. We sure know who is not powerful in this country.

Are you referring to the Redskins? Did you know that most American Indians are not offended by it?

They are words people, if words can work you up this much something is wrong.

[oladub]

According to Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida: "In 2013, 76.3 percent of NBA players were African-American. The fraction of African-Americans shrinks as we move up the management chain; 43.3 percent of NBA coaches were black compared with just 2 percent of the league’s majority owners [[of the NBA’s 49 majority owners, Michael Jordan of the Charlotte Bobcats was the only person of color."
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/diversity-in-the-nba-the-nfl-and-mlb/

[noise]

Are you referring to the Redskins? Did you know that most American Indians are not offended by it?

I hope you're referring to the 2004 Annenberg survey [[n=768). Because that's pure comedy gold.

[Pickford-Bentler]

It is the free market in action.

If I was part owner of a Kosher Food business and it was revealed that I said that Hitler was a great guy, would it not be logical for he other partners to force me out and make an apology in that the statement I made is going to severely impact the target market for the products the business produces?

Free speech comes along with accepting the consequences for what you say.

If what he said was subject to criminal sanctions by the State, not market sanctions by "Free Enterprise", then would oppose.

[Pickford-Bentler]

Again, sorry about dropped words and letters. The box this site uses often does not respond to my keyboard.

[bailey]

Sterling owns a franchise. As part of that franchise agreement he is subject to losing that franchise if he acts "in such a way as to affect the [NBA] or its owners adversely" and if three-fourths of the league's 30 owners vote in support of forcing the sale.

All the whinging about his "free speech" or "private conversations" is irrelevant. The NBA and it's owners are only acting because this got traction with the public whereas his decades long history of slumlording, being an all around scumbag, and professional sports worst owner didn't. There is no "principled" stand here by the NBA. If the NBA had any principles, they'd have booted him after his various run ins with the Justice Department and after he was slammed with the largest settlement of discriminatory housing charges in the history of the Justice Department. But hey, better late than never.

Lets also remember what he is being forced to sell will net him in excess of a billion dollars.

[gazhekwe]

jerrytimes, you do not know what you are talking about. Most Native People are opposed, more and more as exposure of this issue continues and discussion of it is hot in NDN country.

These words can hurt as they reinforce the savage history of the colonial powers to the people they found here, and their legacy of demeaning the Native People. We must assert our powers in no uncertain terms. Listen and learn.

[Honky Tonk]

Again, sorry about dropped words and letters. The box this site uses often does not respond to my keyboard.

Have you seen this post and tried this fix by EMUSteve?

I'm typing this IE 11 and COMPATIBILTY view settings turned on. I'm not having the typing issues I had been having for days.

From www.detroityes.com, go to IE menu, Tools, Compatibility View Settings, and add this site.

That worked miracles for me.

[[I'm running Windows 7 and have both IE 11 and Firefox 28).

Last edited by emu steve; April-24-14 at 11:42 AM.

[Papasito]

Being racist is not illegal - it's offensive.
Wrong and offensive.

And Americans are offended at EVERYTHING.
No matter what happens from how someone makes your coffee to what someone's religious or political opinions are. We used to be a strong country because everyone was an individual and had their own opinion, we respected that fact, right or wrong, and we were stronger for it. Today if your opinion, even if it doesn't hurt anyone, is different than someone else's, it is met with intolerance and hate.

Now this fool from the Clippers said some stupid stuff.
He deserves whatever the NBA throws at him.

What I don't like here is we are setting precedent that words are as damaging as actions and are as punishable as actions are. We are setting precedent that what happens in the privacy of your own home that is recorded and distributed without your consent is punishable. We are setting precedent that privacy is a figment of our imagination, and we must watch everything we say everywhere and all the time.

Freedom of speech is dead.
Privacy rights are dead.

______________________________

Oh - I wanted to post this double standard pic as a response to the so-called "war on women" because women are always offended so easily .. another cog in the wheel of offended people in America.

Women - Offended
Minorities - Offended
Muslims - Offended
Christians - Offended
Feminists - Offended
Abortionists - Offended
Homosexuals - Offended
Illegal Immigrants - Offended
Welfare Recipients - Offended
Low Income Wage Earners - Offended

People need to stop being offended by everything and if they hear something they don't like, just don't listen to it. The speech police belong in science fiction and dictatorships. Oh wait I forgot that modern America clearly is a tyranny.

[Papasito]

How about racism?

How about the way the Irish were treated?


What about the Italians?


Yet both are listed as "White" on Government forms and Job applications.
Why is this? Only Hispanics, Blacks and Native Americans count as oppressed people? The lynching and hanging of Irish and Italians didn't matter?

[noise]

You clearly don't understand freedom of speech.

[gazhekwe]

FACTS: There are many people who are bullied for many reasons. When bullying occurs because of legally defined protected status, civil action is available. These people are the ones who can seize the limelight. The limelight expands to include more groups as opinions change. The reference to Irish peaked some time ago, before national origin was designated a protected status, before civil rights for anyone was ever thought of.

In Michigan, protected status includes: Race, religion, national origin, color, sex [[including pregnancy), age, height, weight, marital status, familial status. Oddly, sexual preference has never been added. As public opinion changes, it likely will eventually be added. There are some circumstances where sex discrimination includes people harassed because of their sexual preference, though.

In my humble opinion, just because one hears of people being harassed because of some reason that is not seen as a cause celebre, is no reason to discredit the ones who are in the public eye.

[old guy]

Are you referring to the Redskins? Did you know that most American Indians are not offended by it?

They are words people, if words can work you up this much something is wrong.

I'm not a Native American, but I find that extremely offensive. Why they wouldn't drop that is beyond my comprehension. That's way out there.

[gazhekwe]

Right and why jerrytimes thinks WE should drop it when "they" are going whole hog to keep it is a mystery. He sees only one side disputing this. Why is that?

[oladub]

Not to make light of Indian concerns about the symbolism of the Redskins logo but having some Scandinavian heritage and speaking only for myself, I would suggest and encourage that the name Redskins be changed to Berserkers since Vikings is already taken. There is an ongoing History Channel series Vikings being shown on Thursday nights 9pmEST. Last week, my heroes got their rears kicked by an English army.Two week before, the program ended with one fellows lungs being removed and repositioned on his shoulders until death. In some ways, Scandinavians in 800 had the same reputation in England then as Indians had to Anglo settlers a thousand years later. Maybe modern Scandinavian descendants have just had more time to distance themselves from the name calling.

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with Donald Sterling but I'm all for more black ownership of NBA teams. I see that Oprah has indicated interest in doing just that. She has already proven herself to be a good business person.

[Papasito]

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with Donald Sterling but I'm all for more black ownership of NBA teams. I see that Oprah has indicated interest in doing just that. She has already proven herself to be a good business person.

Personally I'd like to see Magic Johnson buy it.

Here's something else to think about ----
I think it's stupid that the owner of a sports team can be fired for being racist, but a player on a sports team can rape or murder someone and still be signed on to more contracts ...!!!

[noise]

That would be stupid if it was accurate.

[gnome]

Donald Sterling is a bad guy and has a long record of being a bad guy. The NBA should take his franchise away for being a bad guy.

however, they shouldn't remove his franchise for speaking his private thoughts inside his own home.

Thought crime is ungood. We learn this same lesson all the time. Trying to control how people think through punishment is counter productive. Also, no one is innocent when the Thought Police come knocking.

[Papasito]

That would be stupid if it was accurate.

no problem move along

[noise]

I like how you ignored the first part of your incorrect statement.