Say "Sorry" for Your Salary

[William769]

While it is commendable for anyone to apologize for making a mistake — something that we all are prone to do at some point in our lives — a simple apology does not always mend broken fences or undo the horrific damage done to others.

Four years ago, Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington was fired from the hit ABC series after using a homophobic slur during an off-camera altercation with costar Patrick Dempsey. A few months ago, Kobe Bryant hurled a gay slur at NBA referee Bennie Adams without conscience or remorse because he wanted to strike an emotional chord that would reverberate through the man’s psyche. It was crystal clear that the Lakers star meant to hurt the referee in the worst possible way, and that was to assassinate his character publicly and demean his manhood.

Those who impress me are not the athletes or actors who initiate damage control to save their careers, but the ones who do the “damage control” to make sure these unfortunate incidents never happen. If anyone is to be commended and praised, it is the NBA athletes like Grant Hill and Jared Dudley of the Phoenix Suns, who have never uttered any of these homophobic slurs and have teamed up with organizations like the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network to discourage bullying and homophobia in sports and in our communities.

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/06/22/Say_Sorry_for_Your_Salary_Tracy_Morgan/

The whole article is great and hits home.

[david_vincent]

1. Interesting that Kobe Bryant

thinks that he has any standing to demean anyone else's manhood. As an athlete, he plays games for a living, and therefore he is professionally less than a man. Real men contribute concretely to the world. Professional athletes do not; they have prostituted their masculinity on the auction block of celebrity.

[JackintheGreen]

2. Yours is a social construction that won't carry much water

I like your reading, don't get me wrong. Professional athletes effectively block themselves from full maturity by making a living as full time "kids." It's an interesting interpretation, but it ignores the mainstream socialization of masculinity - strong, athletic, wealthy, etc. Athletes hit all the keywords for how machismo is constructed in America. Contribution to society? Hardly even registers. What, for example, does Matthew McConaughey contribute to society?

[msongs]

3. in one case being a serial adulterer contributes little or nothing to society lol nt