re: Calling Walker names

[bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>]

> From: Maurice Spruijt <maurice@soneramail.nl>

> I am sick and tired of the people here who call Walker all those sick
> names.. Mellonhead? Anthrax? Antrax bin Walker?
>
> [...]
>
> But what Walker does on the court is all that matters to people. He9s not 
> a
> human being, he is a basketballplayer whose game stinks right? So it9s 
> okay
> to call him anthrax right? So he9s nothing but  a punk according to some
> people here. I wondering who9s the real punk here!

Uh, Bob Ryan?  Seriously, Maurice, I appreciate your views regarding this 
subject, and even agree with you up to a point.  For instance, there's a 
difference between Joe Hironaka using his beloved nicknames (ever notice 
that Joe H. really likes to use nicknames?) and others who label players 
certain (uncreative) derogatory labels.  Joe's using something we call 
humor -- a twisted sort of humor, I grant you, but I find those kinds of 
things funny.  Plus, one of its rhetorical functions is to point out that 
a certain amount of backlash exists in Antoine-Walker-as-public-athlete.  
So, in effect, Joe's doing the same thing you are, but using humor and 
satire to create it.  As is usual with Joe's posts, I find them 
interesting and one of the great pleasures on this list.

On the other hand (and it *is* the other hand, to be sure) there are 
labels like "melonhead".  Though Jim Hill might see it differently, many 
looking at the appellation when it's applied to a young black man might 
actually (*gasp*) think it may just be racist in origin.  Yes, I know what 
you're thinking ("But Celtic 'Tird', there are no racists in America, are 
there?"), but it may just be true. At least, some people might wonder why 
not just call Antoine Walker (or any other black man) a "cotton-pickin', 
watermelon-chewin', darkie punk" and get it over with.  Bob Ryan already 
went one-fourth of the way, and you've undoubtedly seen the "melon" 
reference played out here.  Half way there, baby!

I tell you the truth: eventually, as someone who wants Antoine Walker to 
do well, you just sort of get used to it.  You realize that the current 
anti-Walker diatribe you're currently reading is written by someone whose 
tactics when it comes to discussion are ... shall we say, lacking? ... and 
you give it the persuasive power it deserves -- your mileage may vary, 
especially if you have a gas-guzzler.  You realize that any hint that 
someone's anger may be, in part, racially motivated, is going to provoke a 
response that you're a "Walker apologist" (like you're somehow in charge 
of issuing formal apologies for the likes of Osama bin Laden, Saddam 
Hussien, and, of course, Antoine Walker).  You realize that some people 
are so tired of discussing race that they'd rather it be swept under the 
rug instead of discussed.  It's the "bury your head in the sand so it 
doesn't exist" method.  Works quite well for some, I hear.

And then you realize that it's all good, the C's won their last game, and 
look good going into the next one.  The igtc list will be around tomorrow,
  and it'll still have the same cast of misfits, Celtic geeks, 
wannabe-media-types, Irrational Walker Haters, and you can search through 
those types of posts (and more!) until you find ones written by people 
whose opinions, thoughts and insights are, for you, worth reading.  Enjoy!

Regards,
(The Celtic "Tird")