Most sports fans know Jeremy Lin has recently become a sensation as a guard for the NBA's New York Knicks. Then he had a bad game. Some on-line affiliate of ESPN slapped the headline "a chink in the armor?" on an article, and because Lin is of Asian ancestrry, many went berserk over the supposed racial slur.
Gimme a break. Are we really that touchy-feely, sensitive, and yes, that stupid?
No wonder we haven't won a war since WWII. We've become too wimpy.
ESPN quickly took the post down and subsequently issued an apology. It seems everybody's afraid of everything these days, particularly when it comes to the spoken or written word, lest they, gasp, possibly offend somebody. To all of which I say -- grow up and get a life because it happens. Always has and always will. Don't sweat the small stuff.
My name's John Leach. A leech is a blood sucking parasite. Back in junior high school, I was taunted mercilessly about that. A "john leach" must mean I go around sucking on toilets. It was tough for a while, but that was just kids being kids. Fast forward a few decades and occasionally someone else will still make such a reference. I just smile -- because it doesn't matter.
Same thing with Lin. That headline didn't matter, other than wimpy losers looking to pounce upon something, anything, to create a sensation. Besides, for anybody that actually, heaven forbid, wants to look up definitions, a "chink" is a small weakness. Obviously, this is what ESPN intended with their headline, not the derogatory other meaning of the word.
So where does it end? If I were to say Michael Jordan has been acting "niggardly" in his majority ownership of the Charlotte Bobcats, would people be outraged? Probably. Would I be taken to task by my editor and possibly sued by yet others? No. Editors and astute attorneys know better. A "niggard" is a cheapskate. Look it up.
But just coming even close to a so-called no-no word gets people in trouble these days.
Let's get real. Anyone who thinks derogatory words have been extinguished by the language police is a fool. Some people will always use them.
Something rather unique happened to me earlier today. I went to a local watering hole, sat down on a bar stool, and ordered a beer. The female bartender said, "yes sir". Next to me was a young gentleman I'd never seen before. When the beer came I said "thank you dear" back to the bartender. Evidently, the young man needed someone to talk to, so I listened and responded politely. It had become quickly apparent that his mental faculties appeared to be what many would not consider "normal". Then he looked me right in the eyes and said something that totally caught me off guard.
"The bartender called you 'sir', and you called her 'dear'. People call me 'retarded'".
I told him, "The only people that are retarded are the ones that think YOU are. You've always been better than them, but you just haven't figured it out yet. Someday you will". We chatted some more.
Then what I asssumed were his parents walked in. After a brief talk with them, the young man rushed back up to me and said, "John, I'm going to the movies. Wish I could take you with me"
In today's world, some people would get all homophobic about that. Maybe even consider it stalking. That might partially explain why there's 107 pages of attorneys in my Yellow Pages. Check that out at your leisure. A lot of supposed "normal" people would have moved away from that young man in the first place, or worse, poked fun at him.
Not me. That kid taught me more in a half hour than other "smarter" people have taught me in a lifetime.
And others want to go ballistic over some obscure on-line blurb concerning Jeremy Lin?
Perhaps they should remember Lin is a Harvard grad. From what little I know, the fine folks in Cambridge aren't in the habit of handing out degrees to just anybody. Translation? Lin gets it.
Too bad other people still don't.
Maybe they should have been sitting on my bar stool next to that kid. They just might have learned something too.......
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