Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice • Hacker News Board

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#11

Post by mikestew » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:25 PM UTC

blacktriangle wrote: post #4

jmeister wrote: post #2

Good. People watch sports to escape from everything else. “Shut up and dribble” is the way to go.

I think its' more sinister than that. Keeping politics out of sports meant that sports were something that people could bond over. Sports could form a bridge between disparate viewpoints. Everybody talks about the growing political divide in America, but part of the problem is this compulsive desire to politicize everything has left nowhere for people with different views to feel comfortable congregating together.

Keeping politics out of sports...

That is, we do that after we do our little patriotic opening song, then we leave the politics out, right?

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#12

Post by blacktriangle » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:29 PM UTC

Larrikin wrote: post #10

blacktriangle wrote: post #3

Shoulda learned from the best guys. Michael Jordan: "Republicans buy sneakers too."

The world will be a better place when people are ok being wealthy without feeling the need to make every single penny possible. Being ok with cops killing unarmed minorities so you can sell more shoes shouldn't be a defensible position. Being ok with child labor and internment camps so you can make and sell more phones shouldn't be a defensible position. As an extremely minor example it seems like nearly every food c…

I think its less about making money and more about focusing on what he was actually good at. In later reflections on that line, Jordan goes on to say he never saw himself as a role model, just as a basketball player. I'd say the world will be a better place when people who are famous for X focus on their love of X and shut up about everything else about which they probably know less than the average citizen due to being hyperfocused on X.

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#13

Post by axguscbklp » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:29 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #11

blacktriangle wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think its' more sinister than that. Keeping politics out of sports meant that sports were something that people could bond over. Sports could form a bridge between disparate viewpoints. Everybody talks about the growing political divide in America, but part of the problem is this compulsive desire to politicize everything has left nowhere for people with different views to feel comfortable congregating together.

Keeping politics out of sports... That is, we do that after we do our little patriotic opening song, then we leave the politics out, right?

Throw the patriotic and military-worshipping stuff out too. It annoys me as much as the "social justice" stuff annoys me. Perhaps more. I'm in principle opposed to the patriotic and military stuff, although I'd probably make an exception if the country was actually being militarily attacked for some reason other than because of blowback for its meddling overseas. I could imagine supporting some social justice messaging in sports, I just don't like it when the messaging is based on highly questionable arguments but promoted as obvious truth. Most BLM-type messaging falls into that category for me. The theory that minorities are disproportionately shot by police started to seem questionable to me once I corrected for things like police encounter rates and homicide rates. I should emphasize, questionable - I'm not saying the theory is false, just that it needs to be investigated further as far as I'm concerned.

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#14

Post by blacktriangle » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:31 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #11

blacktriangle wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think its' more sinister than that. Keeping politics out of sports meant that sports were something that people could bond over. Sports could form a bridge between disparate viewpoints. Everybody talks about the growing political divide in America, but part of the problem is this compulsive desire to politicize everything has left nowhere for people with different views to feel comfortable congregating together.

Keeping politics out of sports... That is, we do that after we do our little patriotic opening song, then we leave the politics out, right?

If you think that the anthem is political, then I can't help you. The point of the anthem, like sports, is to remind us of a shared nation we all belong to and are free to disagree with each other within.

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#15

Post by jfengel » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

blacktriangle wrote: post #9

jfengel wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the cause and effect are reversed here. People had sports as that bridge, and the country became more divided. That division has been increasing for decades. Sports came first and they weren't creating any bonding. If they had even slowed the process, they were rapidly running out of juice. The problem with "don't politicize" is that this has a thumb on the scale of the status quo. "Politicization" means that…

[flagged]

Ah, I see. Thank you for demonstrating the collegiality I've been missing by not watching sports.

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#16

Post by sethc2 » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:37 PM UTC

I watched sports then and watch them now.

I just love to see awesome athletes who have honed their bodies and reflexes to such a crazy degree do things I could never do.

The interjection of social justice issues hasn’t yet taken anything away from the joy of the game from what I’ve seen. Kneeling for the anthem, wearing armbands with messages doesn’t change any of that.

If they start saying we need more diversity in sports and pay athletes who aren’t the best because of their skin color or sexual orientation I’d be annoyed. If someone is gay or straight or white or black and is the best at his position but he doesn’t get a job because of his orientation or skin color then I’ll stop watching.

The only thing I hate is how many athletes who have such short 3 year windows have half their income taxed for those three years then go on to work “normal” jobs for the next 30 years, and someone who ultimately made the same income over 30 years at a high paying “normal” job got taxed so much less over the same time span.

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#17

Post by blacktriangle » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:38 PM UTC

axguscbklp wrote: post #13

mikestew wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keeping politics out of sports... That is, we do that after we do our little patriotic opening song, then we leave the politics out, right?

Throw the patriotic and military-worshipping stuff out too. It annoys me as much as the "social justice" stuff annoys me. Perhaps more. I'm in principle opposed to the patriotic and military stuff, although I'd probably make an exception if the country was actually being militarily attacked for some reason other than because of blowback for its meddling overseas. I could imagine supporting some social justice messagi…

It's okay, you can say the narrative is false, the data supports you.

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#18

Post by axguscbklp » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:39 PM UTC

blacktriangle wrote: post #14

mikestew wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keeping politics out of sports... That is, we do that after we do our little patriotic opening song, then we leave the politics out, right?

If you think that the anthem is political, then I can't help you. The point of the anthem, like sports, is to remind us of a shared nation we all belong to and are free to disagree with each other within.

I don't watch sports to be reminded of a shared nation that we all belong to. Yes, the anthem is political. Not just in the sense that "everything is political", but rather more than that.

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#19

Post by axguscbklp » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:41 PM UTC

blacktriangle wrote: post #17

axguscbklp wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throw the patriotic and military-worshipping stuff out too. It annoys me as much as the "social justice" stuff annoys me. Perhaps more. I'm in principle opposed to the patriotic and military stuff, although I'd probably make an exception if the country was actually being militarily attacked for some reason other than because of blowback for its meddling overseas. I could imagine supporting some social justice messagi…

It's okay, you can say the narrative is false, the data supports you.

I'm not trying to conceal my opinions though, I'm actually undecided on the matter.

Re: Nearly half of Americans changed sports viewing habits because of social justice

#20

Post by toomuchredbull » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:41 PM UTC

It just offended me that someone like Kyrie Irving, literally thought the world was flat in 2018 and now we are suddenly supposed to respect and listen to his voice. He's the Vice President of the player's association. Guess what some of these players are morons and they don't necessarily have to be listened to.