It's What Is HEARD, Not What You Said

The latest version of ESPN The Magazine, an erratically-published periodical with a bizarre tendency toward soccer and NBA articles, had an opinion piece at the end by Howard Bryant, as it often does.  Bryant, who is black according to the picture shown with the article (I at least have a state certifying me as black), writes as if everything is to be seen through the lens of race, and you can be comforted in knowing that he would not be happy even if the world changed to accommodate 100% of the opinions he shares.

The latest output from him concerned the issue that is severely damaging the National Football League, that is, the actions of a number of its players in kneeling for our National Anthem.  It is not, Bryant tries to assert, a slap in the face to our armed forces and veterans, nor to the flag and the republic for which it stands.  It is about other things and, therefore, he insists that we should not be concerned about the kneeling's reflection on those veterans and armed service members.

Now, what those "other things" actually are is a whole 'nother thing, depending on what kneeler you talk to, which kind of burns Bryant's thesis a bit.  It's about "Black Lives Mattering", you know, except that it may be about police brutality (despite the statistics showing that racially-igniting combinations of the race of the cop and the criminal have declined hugely in 15 years, an inconvenient truth).  It is about equal pay for women, we also hear.  Maybe affirmative action, or maybe the designated hitter rule.  Ask five people and expect at least three different answers.

And oh yeah, the first kneeler, Colin Kaepernick, said when he did it that he didn't want to honor the flag.  So that whole "it's not the flag" thesis of Bryant fails the sniff test.

But, you see, it doesn't matter what the intent is.  That's because it really doesn't matter what the person taking the action thinks it means -- it is how it is taken by those who hear it and are affected.

Doubt that?  That is an absolute canon of the left, at least everywhere else.  You can't say "Chinaman" to refer to a Chinese person anymore, even though when I say "Chinaman" I mean "a guy from China", which carries no implication other than that the person is from China.  I certainly don't carry any pejorative or dismissive intent, as I do when I call an Englishman a "limey" or a Frenchman a "frog."

Nope, you're not supposed to say "Chinaman" because supposedly it would offend someone who is Chinese, although for the life of me I don't get why they would be, and have never heard an actual Chinaman say he is offended at the term.

You follow that?  Let's go over it carefully.  You are not supposed to do or say things that carry no malicious intent, if they can be construed by others as offensive to them.  That's the mantra of the left and the professional offended class.


But according to Bryant, the whole take-a-knee-for-the-anthem thing is somehow different.  No matter that literally millions of active servicemen, veterans and plain patriotic Americans -- myself included -- are deeply offended that the players are failing to respect their flag and anthem and could just as easily do their kneeling thing at a different time.  We have to respect their intent and drop our feeling of offense.

Well, I call BS, Mr. Bryant.  If you think I'm the one whose offense is not worth honoring, then you and your whole gang of kneelers need to shut up, if and when I start using what you think are racial pejoratives in my everyday speech.  I certainly don't mean any offense by them, and if the rights of the speaker or actor to say or do something that someone else may take offense at, supersede the rights of the person taking offense, then it has to work all the time.

You sir, are a hypocrite beyond belief if you are not going to apply that standard ubiquitously.  If you think that what you take offense at is more important than my right to say something in innocence and not care if you are offended by it, than I have some choice words for you that I know you won't like.

But it's OK, I didn't really mean it offensively.

Copyright 2017 by Robert Sutton
Like what you read here?  There's a new post from Bob at www.uberthoughtsUSA.com at 10am Eastern time, every weekday, giving new meaning to "prolific essayist."  Appearance, advertising, sponsorship and interview inquiries cheerfully welcomed at bsutton@alum.mit.edu or on Twitter at @rmosutton.