[LOCKED] OT: Coach Harbaugh meeting with UM Muslim students today re: American Sniper tweet
This was reported by The College Fix late yesterday, and appears in an Mlive article this morning:
Coach Harbaugh will meet today with a small group of Muslim students who protested the showing of American Sniper on campus, and who were upset by his Twitter post supporting the movie. I take this as further evidence of Harbaugh's character, no matter what your politics. We'll see what comes of it.
MOD EDIT - Locking this because I wouldn't even know where to begin to clean it up to make it politics-free. The search for nice things will continue. Man, you go to one meeting... - LSA
OP EDIT -
What we should really be worried about are people with viewpoints like yours.
And the people who are upvoting it.
This it is. The comment that shuts this thread down.
Newsflash: Muslims are winning Nobel prizes in Chemistry (Ahmed Zewail) and Physics (Abdus Salam) and Peace of all things! (four of the past ten). Muslims are leading scientists at NASA (Farouk El-Baz). Muslims are on TV, trying to entertain us (Dave Chappelle, Dr. Oz, Fareed Zakaria, and some guy named Shaq). Muslims are leading ordinary lives as everyday American citiizens! I saw Muslims playing basketball over the weekend! Wearing turbans!!
Here's another newsflash: Christian terrorists are beheading people in the streets of the Central African Republic. Christians are murdering, abducting, raping, enslaving and forcing into arms children in Uganda, Sudan and Congo.
Shouldn't we be concerned about the above very real ongoing events more than a dramatic movie?
It's incredibly distressing to see that this post has 7 upvotes
but he wasn't forced to tweet his views on the movie or Kyle—he chose to do it. In doing so, he guaranteed he was going to be drawn into a controversy that has nothing whatsoever to do with Michigan football, or the athletic department in general.
Harbaugh's carefully-cultivated identity as a badass "I don't give a shit what anybody thinks I'm going to say what I want" kind of guy appeals to most Michigan fans. However, if he doesn't understand that his position as head football coach at a major public educational institution means that offhand statements and tweets are going to get a level of scrutiny that wasn't the case in S.F., he's going to be constantly making news in ways that having nothing to do with his job responsibilities.
"However, if he doesn't understand that his position as head football coach at a major public educational institution means that offhand statements and tweets are going to get a level of scrutiny that wasn't the case in S.F., he's going to be constantly making news in ways that having nothing to do with his job responsibilities."
And yet, if he hadn't made that comment, we might not be in the midst of a conversation about a somewhat important topic - not movies, but the topic of free speech, religion, tolerance, etc.
Also, who says he doesn't understand it? I have yet to see anything from Harbaugh saying "Oh, I had no idea it was a big deal." Maybe he WANTED people to talk about it, and maybe he sees his position and his statements as a way to get people talking.
Glad to see him discussing a controversial issue with the affected parties. This thread kinda, sorta stayed out of politics, but I'm happy that Harbaugh is dealing with it.
Jeebus, how does that guy ever have time for football-related things, anyway?
Harbaugh chose to get involved and by doing so deserves the praise and the criticism.
End of story.
I'm an Iraq War veteran who thinks the Iraq War was a mistake, and believed so from the get-go (actually I've believed it was more than a "mistake", but elaborating on that would be more political than I want to go here). And, even going back to when I was in the Army, I've always found our country's level of military adoration awkward. I am not someone you will find adorning their home or vehicle with the American flag. I have nothing against America, I just don't consider the circumstances of my birth to be an integral part of my personal identity. And that has nothing to do with this country, it's how I would feel if I were Canadian, Mexican, Egyptian, whatever. I'm not big on the concept of American exceptionalism. I don't listen to "patriotic" country singers and generally roll my eyes at the over-the-top delivery of such artists and actors. Having gotten that fairly lengthy disclaimer out of the way...
I do think it's a bit alarming how people who want to express pride in things that many would consider "traditionally American" seem to be encountering more and more resistance to doing so. I've not seen American Sniper and have no plans to. I have yet to read a single review, positive or negative, from someone I don't believe has an agenda that would be served by either lauding the film or bashing it. It's not something I feel I need to see as a veteran, and I've read some direct quotes of Kyle that give me the impression he was...not someone I'd have hung out with, I'll leave it at that. Even with that said, I don't understand why there has to be an uproar over showing the film. No one is being forced to watch it, and I'm sure it's not the first controversial film to be shown on campus. I don't see what Harbaugh needs to apologize for. Things like this, and students wanting to remove the flag at...was it UC Irvine? I don't get it. Come to this country and criticize it all you want, you'll never hear a word of protest from me, regardless of your opinion. Hold whatever political positions you want, seek to change the country's way of doing business via democratic channels, I'm all for you trying, whether I like your goals or not. But this demand that people just change their behavior because it offends you, whether it's from PCers and immigrants offended by patriotism on one side, or fundamentalist preachers railing about women and gays on the other, I feel like we're on a dangerous path.
and have no military service whatsoever.
I think part of the protest bythe Muslim Students (or anyone) is that it gets them noticed and therefore its more likely that something will change. I mean without the protest, there are no Mlive articles, no 200+ post thread on MGo, no meeting with Harbaugh...
I don't know if they really believe that nobody should see the movie or are just saying so because it gets airtime (not a bad thing).
I'll just put in here that I think part of the reason for the increasing resistance is that the political system has not been particularly responsive to democratic channels. See, e.g., http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9354310 (the study which generated various "The US is no longer a democracy"-type headlines).
We all know Australia is the best country on the planet. Go Australia!!!! You all hate us cuz you anus. Proud to be Australian! Woo!!!!
/s
Your post is exactly how I feel about all this nonsense. I also don't get gay pride or black pride or white pride or any of that either. It's all birth circumsatances. If you set a goal and then you achieved it . . . like got ripped or something or lost weight or learned a skill then I think you should be proud of that because you DID SOMETHING. If your born a certain way I think you should accept yourself and accept others, but to celebrate and be prideful doesn't really make sense to me.
Are we talking about Muslims or Moose Limbs? I get those two confused!
Political or not, I like threads like this. Maybe this isn't the proper forum, but the discourse on this site is much better than you'll find pretty much anywhere else on the internet.
Sure, some people get out of hand and take things personally, but as a person that appreciates being exposed to a multitude of opinions and viewpoints, I think threads like this serve a valid purpose.
Unless it's football season.