Tuesday, November 23, 2004
No more Mea Culpas
What do Ron "where the camera at" Artest of the NBA and Mark Latham of the somewhat loyal opposition Labor Party of Australia have in common? Answer: they both are in love with blaming someone else for their failures and mistakes.
What is interesting to note is that the commonality of these two men, who seem to be living in two different cultures, is that they are both unhappy but willing residents of the culture of victimhood propogated by years of leftist nonsense. Any apparent differences are not in the roots of the culture but in the branches.
Latham has recently lashed out at other members of his party for their large defeat to the Liberal (which is actually consevative - go figure) Party of Australia. Maybe some of Latham's claims are true, but it appears no one in Labor wants to take responsibility for anything especially Latham.
Artest is worried about being "dissed." In his recent interview with NBC, he makes light of his past acts of thuggery. He shouldn't be pleased with what happened to him, but a better man would have walked away and let the officials and security men handle the situation. His selfish response has damaged his team.
Many commentators have indicated that there is some sort of "hip-hop" culture that breeds this type of response. If true that could be the branch on which this fruit of liberalism sprouted. If that is the case, the fertilizer is the closely related venue of trash-talk sports radio which is also part of the anything goes mentality of liberalism in that standards and decency are almost irrelevant. Individual desires and opinions seem to outweigh any responsibility to anyone else whether it be your group of friends or your teammates.
Now, Michael Phelps, the olympic swimmer, made a mistake; but, he has taken responsibility for it. Unfortunately, he is the exception to the rule. None of us condone the mistake, but we should recognize him for doing the right thing in the aftermath. His is an example we can all follow since we all make mistakes.
One commentator on ESPN (I wish I had seen more so I could cite his name) this weekend argued that Jackie Robinson took much more unfair and racially motivated abuse and always behaved like a gentleman and a role model. Robinson behaved correctly even when a good portion of society did not. His example is one all of us should follow including this blogger.
What is interesting to note is that the commonality of these two men, who seem to be living in two different cultures, is that they are both unhappy but willing residents of the culture of victimhood propogated by years of leftist nonsense. Any apparent differences are not in the roots of the culture but in the branches.
Latham has recently lashed out at other members of his party for their large defeat to the Liberal (which is actually consevative - go figure) Party of Australia. Maybe some of Latham's claims are true, but it appears no one in Labor wants to take responsibility for anything especially Latham.
Artest is worried about being "dissed." In his recent interview with NBC, he makes light of his past acts of thuggery. He shouldn't be pleased with what happened to him, but a better man would have walked away and let the officials and security men handle the situation. His selfish response has damaged his team.
Many commentators have indicated that there is some sort of "hip-hop" culture that breeds this type of response. If true that could be the branch on which this fruit of liberalism sprouted. If that is the case, the fertilizer is the closely related venue of trash-talk sports radio which is also part of the anything goes mentality of liberalism in that standards and decency are almost irrelevant. Individual desires and opinions seem to outweigh any responsibility to anyone else whether it be your group of friends or your teammates.
Now, Michael Phelps, the olympic swimmer, made a mistake; but, he has taken responsibility for it. Unfortunately, he is the exception to the rule. None of us condone the mistake, but we should recognize him for doing the right thing in the aftermath. His is an example we can all follow since we all make mistakes.
One commentator on ESPN (I wish I had seen more so I could cite his name) this weekend argued that Jackie Robinson took much more unfair and racially motivated abuse and always behaved like a gentleman and a role model. Robinson behaved correctly even when a good portion of society did not. His example is one all of us should follow including this blogger.
