[LOCKED] OT: Coach Harbaugh meeting with UM Muslim students today re: American Sniper tweet

Cue the "unamerican" "get out of my country" comments. Pretty surprising from a Michigan blog, a university that prides itself on diversity. I respect Jim for doing this today. Hopefully this is the last board post on this topic ever.

I hope he chooses his words wisely and this doesnt become more of a thing.

This post gets way too political way too fast.  Simply...

It's sad they can't realize they are Muslims and not terrorists. There's a difference. Society is so sensitive these days.

if i lived in a foreign country and there were a prominent movie that depicted the justified killing of a bunch of asshole americans, and those were the only americans depicted, i might be a tad worried as well. especially if in said foreign country there were a growing sentiment against americans in general.

i haven't seen the movie. i like clint eastwood movies a lot. as i understand it, the concern is that there is evidently no significant distinction in the film between "here are some horrible people who happen to be muslim" and "here are some muslims".

that said, i'm glad harbaugh is meeting with them. football should be something to bring the student body together, not divide them, and i think meeting with them only helps to bring them together.

in before delete

As soon as a person or group claims offense, everyone rushes to apologize and change. These claims are not superior to any other input, and shouldn't be treated as such. "I'm sorry you are offended, no offense meant," is the proper respnse, and then move on. 

What a waste of time for all involved.

It's unfortunate this is happening considering the fact that IT'S JUST A FUCKING MOVIE,based on a true story nonetheless.

I foresee this thread's becoming locked very soon.

I commend Harbaugh for meeting with these students. There should be open dialogues about these types of things, but he's got nothing to apologize for. Seriously, people in this country get so damn offended over the smallest of issues. Everyone has to be so politically correct, otherwise God forbid someone somewhere gets their feelings hurt.

People in this country are lucky that these types of things are the issues they're facing on their doorstep. There's certain parts of the world, Middle East and elsewhere, where mass starvation, genocide, total war, and true religious oppression are what rules the day.

Okay. End rant. Off my soapbox.

from one of the leaders and leading spokespeople for the University. Yep, that's what he is now that he's the head football coach and he is speaking (tweeting) publically every day. Which is all great.

All of his other tweets have been upbeat and either about him or the team. But that tweet was the only one that I would have advised against. And I honestly believe that if he could go back and reconsider, he would not have tweeted it. So it got him the response that should have been expected. Now he is doing the right thing by speaking to - not apologizing to - some students who were offended by his tweet and he can put this to rest. 

Go Blue!

Classy move by Harbaugh, but I do hope he realizes that nothing positive will really come from this. An adult like Harbaugh would gladly take part in a mature exchange of reasoned opinions. However, I'd wager that 90-95% of college students with a "cause" are filled primarily with emotion and an "us vs. them" outlook. Reasoned arguments will not prevail in this meeting.

It's admirable that Harbaugh is doing this. I think it shows that he has some sympathy for the situation Muslim students and Muslims in America have to deal with. There's nothing wrong with the movie itself, but many people will leave the theatre after viewing American Sniper with an anti-Muslim sentiment. Would anyone want to deal with additional stereotyping, bigotry or racism? As Americans, Muslim students have the right to voice their opinions just as other Americans have the right to watch it. Should the movie be shown on campus and seemingly backed by the university? No. It's a situation that's difficult to understand by people who've never dealt with the issues of racism, stereotypes and bigotry.

I am sure he will have to apologize for "The Inquisition" too because coach is Catholic.

He needs to remind them that Bo had a kicker named Ali Haji-Sheikh.

Let's face it. What is really happening here is that a certain faction of people with a barely concealed (or not concealed at all) disdain for Muslims felt they could claim Harbaugh as one of their own after he sent the original American Sniper tweet. Now JH is meeting with Muslim students, and that same faction doesn't like it because it suggests JH really isn't one of them after all. Instead of coming out and saying, "waah, I don't like Muslims and I don't want JH to like Muslims either," we get these coded statements like "he shouldn't have to apologize for anything." Well, I don't think he is meeting with Muslim students so much to apologize as to hear their views and gain a better understanding as to why they may have been offended or disappointed by JH's words. But if they were offended, then maybe an apology would be appropriate. We aren't talking about driving a stake into a grass field here, we are talking about basic respect for people with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Anyway, yeah--lock the thread.

In all seriousness, I'm beginning to wonder why Jon06 hate Evangelicals so much? In almost any political discussion on this board, he manages to maneuver the conversation to how awful he thinks they are. A bit of irony in his thinly veiled hate for one subset of the American population.

Its hard for me to see the upside of this meeting for JH.  Didn't Don Canham say that his job was to make sure a one day news story does not become a two day news story?  Or something like that?

 

I would leave it alone...