The problem with Lebron is that he isn't educated on all issues. Obviously the deal with Morey affected his pockets (along with the rest of the NBA) and he was angry about that. He didn't stop and think why Morey re-tweeted the message and he spoke up not knowing the issues. We need to be real here, not all of us can keep up with every event in the world, it truly is overwhelming. Some of us are engaged at all aspects while some us are not. I try my best to be as informed as possible, but with my job, personally hobbies, time I need to dedicate to my wife, etc etc, I honestly cannot keep up. This is why I do my best not to open my mouth if I truly don't understand everything. On things I do understand, I offer my opinion, right or wrong, but at least I've given my opinion some thought. Lebron, his opinion was strictly based on money, he was not informed and although he may look like a hypocrite, he really isn't in regards to this particular issue. The right thing for him to do, if he hasn't already, is apologize to Morey and be real that he was not well educated on the manner. That's what makes a real man, in my opinion. If I know I'm wrong, I'll swallow my pride and just say it, my bad dude, I didn't know what I was talking about.
I think LeBron owes Morey an apology for the way he called him "uneducated" and selfish. That was out of line. Maybe he has done so in private. But he has no duty to make controversial political statements about China, given the unpredictable effect his words can have. Saying he should leave the country and go live in China because he dares to speak out about injustice in his own country is beyond disgusting to me.
Man dude I agree with everything you said here. Honestly it wasn't just a learning experience for Lebron it was also a learning experience for the entire world. Really that's the advantage of using your platform. Not to always pump yourself up and look like man of the people but to show look I'm not perfect I make mistakes but I am a man that wants better for myself and everyone else that's doing all they can as well to do and be better.
LeBron was wrong about China / HK. LeBron is right about racial justice. Why would anyone expect him to have the same knowledge about HK as he does on Black issues in the US? These attacks on social media about "Hey there's something else you don't know so shut up" are so pointless. You may as well say, no one should talk about racial justice until they've brought peace to the Middle East, or for that matter cured the coronavirus.
To be fair, LeBron likely meant that Morey was uneducated on how this would affect the league and the players from a money standpoint, not uneducated regarding China and Hong Kong politics. But he was still wrong as f%$k. Morey might have underestimated the vitriol from the Chinese government, but I'm pretty sure he understood the role China plays in NBA revenue.
I believe Lebron and the other players are sincere in their outrage. i'll believe they're serious about accomplishing something when their stunts actually cost them money. right now they have no skin in the game.
Many conservative fans claim to no longer want to support to the league because the players are outspoken. Does that not cost them money? Many NBA players also donate money and time to social justice causes, including education and housing.
There are also plenty of people that don't identify as conservative that are put off by this too. Just because one is right of AOC or Bernie does not mean they are conservative.
What you say is not wrong. But the same message coming from a genuine person and from a fake person has a very different effect. In fact, the latter sometimes may produce the opposite effect, damaging the truth of the message. That's why character matters. Many republicans who voted for the current president realized it. Voting for someone who agrees with you is not enough. You need to vote for a GOOD guy who agrees with you, or he is going to push people to the other side.
Remember that just because a lot of us here seem to think LeBron is inconsistent in his actions and motivations doesn't mean that's the common perception of him. He's still the biggest star the league had this last decade and is revered by millions. His words carry a lot of weight, regardless of how poorly thought-out they are at times.
13th amendment abolishes slavery except for prisoners. Prison labor is a multi billion dollar industry. Never mind the multi billion dollar industry that exists to maintain and build prisons. https://businessreview.berkeley.edu/profiting-off-of-prison-labor/ United States has 4% of worlds population but houses 22% of the world's prisoners. Interesting stat for the Land of the Free. How convenient that after slavery abolished, blacks practically overnight made up over 40%+ of prison population even though they make up only 13% of population. All the old stereotypes were developed to continue this free labor conduit. US spends over 74 BILLION annually to maintain corrections (prisons, jails, probation, parole, etc.). Why? Crime is supposedly at historic lows. This 74B expense was from 2007 data, I'm sure costs have risen proportionally in 13 years. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate
The problem isn't that LeBron was wrong about HK. The problem is that LeBron, he himself uneducated about foreign affairs, called out another person for being uneducated as if LeBron was somehow more educated than Morey. LeBron shouldn't have even commented, and left it alone. No one would have faulted him for that. But because he wanted to seem more righteous than he is, he made comments. That's the hypocritical part that everyone is up in arms about. And now he's even more of a hypocrite because of the issues juxtaposed between the US and HK.
Also, weird string of tweets from LeBron, today. Something referencing a lynching in 1874 and then a tweet with the F word. Not exactly a twitter user nor a LeBron twitter follower, so I dunno know often he types out the F word, but sheeesh.
Several experts suggested we instead compare U.S. incarceration rates to those in the annual Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics data for 47 member countries and other major economies for what one academic called an “oranges to 97-percent-oranges comparison.” The council’s 2013 report shows that the median European prison population rate was 133.5 inmates per 100,000 people. In the United States, the rate was 478 per 100,000 — three and half times the European rate. The United States also far exceeded Canada (188 per 100,000), Australia (130 per 100,000), New Zealand (192 per 100,000) and Japan (51 per 100,000). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...e-up-at-a-higher-rate-than-any-other-country/
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/fiscal-fact/median-value-wealth-race-ff03112019 ^ due to Jim Crow era redlining https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...62b704-3915-11e9-a06c-3ec8ed509d15_story.html ^ due to the vast majority of our k-12 funding coming from local property taxes resulting in neighborhoods that are already underprivileged with low property values such as urban black communities having less money to spend on educating their children.
Their salary, once it is time negotiate a new contract, depends on the profitability of the league. What type of protest do you have in mind that would make a more meaningful impact?
