Dumpington
Literotica Guru
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- Aug 3, 2001
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NBA basketball star LeBron James appears to be looking ahead to those days when he's no longer a basketball mega-star and can consider a lucrative career in some other field! Perhaps he will become a movie mogul, a fast-food tycoon, an NBA team owner, a perhaps even a civil rights crusader?
But after the week that he's just had, David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel writes that LeBron's next career move should be:
A Democratic Party presidential candidate!
In the Hong Kong drama that's recently engulfed the NBA, James has taken a pencil to all pf the following boxes:
Hypocrite — check.
Sellout — check.
Calculating — check.
Hypocrite — check.
Mealy mouthed — check.
Hypocrite — check.
Did I mention hypocrite?
To recap: Houston general manager Daryl Morey’s “Stand with Hong Kong” tweet became an international incident. James stayed mum for a week then came out with garbled tweets about Morey being “misinformed” and “not thinking of others.”
James continued digging that hole all the way to China, where he popped his head out like Punxsutawney Phil and saw protesters in Hong Kong burning his No. 23 Lakers jersey.
Back home, critics began gleefully referencing James’ tweet from Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2018, when he posted a quote from King saying: “Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere — Our Lives Begin To End The Day We Become Silent About Things That Matter.”
Non-partisans (assuming they still exist) looked at the ensuing circus and saw a bunch of clowns with their fingers in the wind. It's silly to believe that athletes might act differently, but society has a lingering case of the Muhammad Ali Syndrome. Whatever you thought of his views on the Vietnam War, there's no doubt that Ali stuck to his principles. He paid for it by being banished from boxing for four prime years of his career.
Progressives have yearned for another Ali ever since. Along came LeBron James, complete with the words "CHOSEN 1" tattooed across his back. He wasn't just King James for his basketball skills. He was King James for his social wisdom. James used his platform to protest the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner. He even tried to carry Ohio for Hillary Clinton in 2016. His activism so annoyed conservatives that Fox News host Laura Ingraham told him “shut up and dribble.” Various media and politicians then spent the week that followed demanding that James and other NBA players stop dribbling and weigh in on Hong Kong. Meanwhile, James said jocks were not in position to speak about China’s totalitarian nightmare.
"We're not politicians," he mused.
How convenient.
Nobody’s asking James to expound on Brexit or Syria. The NBA is neck-deep in China, and the massive investment makes Hong Kong an issue that the collective voice of the NBA can’t ignore. But when LeBron did speak, the mask came off.
"It is a small bump in the road," James said. "I think time heals all."
I think this was the equivalent of Ali going to work for McDonnell-Douglas in 1967 and endorsing more F-4 Phantom IIs to fight the Vietcong.
James' social warrior credibility has been tear-gassed. How can you not roll your eyes the next time he decries a sketchy police shooting in America or Trump being a dictator? King James is dead, killed by the inner politician who should have told him that he was better off just shutting up and dribbling.
But after the week that he's just had, David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel writes that LeBron's next career move should be:
A Democratic Party presidential candidate!
In the Hong Kong drama that's recently engulfed the NBA, James has taken a pencil to all pf the following boxes:
Hypocrite — check.
Sellout — check.
Calculating — check.
Hypocrite — check.
Mealy mouthed — check.
Hypocrite — check.
Did I mention hypocrite?
To recap: Houston general manager Daryl Morey’s “Stand with Hong Kong” tweet became an international incident. James stayed mum for a week then came out with garbled tweets about Morey being “misinformed” and “not thinking of others.”
James continued digging that hole all the way to China, where he popped his head out like Punxsutawney Phil and saw protesters in Hong Kong burning his No. 23 Lakers jersey.
Back home, critics began gleefully referencing James’ tweet from Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2018, when he posted a quote from King saying: “Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere — Our Lives Begin To End The Day We Become Silent About Things That Matter.”
Non-partisans (assuming they still exist) looked at the ensuing circus and saw a bunch of clowns with their fingers in the wind. It's silly to believe that athletes might act differently, but society has a lingering case of the Muhammad Ali Syndrome. Whatever you thought of his views on the Vietnam War, there's no doubt that Ali stuck to his principles. He paid for it by being banished from boxing for four prime years of his career.
Progressives have yearned for another Ali ever since. Along came LeBron James, complete with the words "CHOSEN 1" tattooed across his back. He wasn't just King James for his basketball skills. He was King James for his social wisdom. James used his platform to protest the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner. He even tried to carry Ohio for Hillary Clinton in 2016. His activism so annoyed conservatives that Fox News host Laura Ingraham told him “shut up and dribble.” Various media and politicians then spent the week that followed demanding that James and other NBA players stop dribbling and weigh in on Hong Kong. Meanwhile, James said jocks were not in position to speak about China’s totalitarian nightmare.
"We're not politicians," he mused.
How convenient.
Nobody’s asking James to expound on Brexit or Syria. The NBA is neck-deep in China, and the massive investment makes Hong Kong an issue that the collective voice of the NBA can’t ignore. But when LeBron did speak, the mask came off.
"It is a small bump in the road," James said. "I think time heals all."
I think this was the equivalent of Ali going to work for McDonnell-Douglas in 1967 and endorsing more F-4 Phantom IIs to fight the Vietcong.
James' social warrior credibility has been tear-gassed. How can you not roll your eyes the next time he decries a sketchy police shooting in America or Trump being a dictator? King James is dead, killed by the inner politician who should have told him that he was better off just shutting up and dribbling.