OT - Roy Hibbert fined by NBA for homophobic comments [LOCKED]
Roy Hibbert has been fined a significant amount by the NBA for saying this in a postgame interview:
I really felt that I let Paul down in terms of having his back when LeBron was scoring in the post or getting to the paint, because they stretched me out so much. No homo.
I'm 34 and had never heard of the phrase "no homo" until I started reading MGoBoard in 2011 - I'm apparently fallen out of touch with Hip Hop since my No Limit Soldier phase. I didn't even know its genesis until watching the second video embeded in this yahoo article (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/roy-hibbert-apologizes-saying-no-homo-calling-media-164648719.html).
The no homo phrase seems to be accepted on the board, or at least I've never seen any poster called out for its usage in the way someone would be called out if they used a word like "fag" or said something regarded as stupid is "gay". Curious as to the board's thoughts on why "no homo" is treated so differently than older gay slurs.
MOD EDIT: For the most part, this seemed to be going OK and that's why it was left open (last time I looked was 9:30 PM last night admittedly), but when I checked back this morning, a few comments started to stray into board inappropriate areas (such as decidedly political remarks), so this will be locked to prevent things from sliding further. LSA
It's easy to say "they're just words" when you don't have to deal w/ descrimination and hate speech on a regular basis, though. It's great that you're able to overcome the awful things that people say to you, but at least pretend to have some sympathy for people who aren't such exemplars of personal strength.
"Hey, man, don't say 'That's Gay'!!!" commercials starring Grant Hill 3 years ago... right or wrong, someone in the NBA office equated "no homo" with "That's Gay," and here we are with Mr. Hibbert...
Progress???? hahahaha. Where in Hibberts comments was he bashing anyone and being unfair. We are regressing as a society because of overreactions just like this. I have a very open and very gay brother-in law, and even he thinks this type of overreaction is just silly. I tend to agree. Lebron got away with the same thing 3 years ago, but now it is taboo and warrants 75k fine, give me a break dude.
What is the difference between gay and very gay? And you're grossly underestimating the power of language. Overreactions are annoying, but hardly evidence of regression in society. Is the fact that fewer kids are getting the shit beat out of them for being gay regression? Is the fact that we're actually aware of kids killing themselves to escape being bullied regression? I doubt your "very gay" brother in law would think so.
First of all, that is how my brother-in-law would describe himself, and he is very flamboyant, but who cares, he is a nice guy. He probably made the best point to me. First he said the term "no homo" is not even remotely offensive to him, plus he believes that most of these people who get so offended are not even gay, they are just people looking to start controversy for the sake of controversy. I will agree that there has been a lot of progress in society's awareness, but there comes a time when things are going overboard, and this is one of those. You sound offended that I called my brother in law "very gay", when that is what he calls himself. So is he offending himself. LOL
What an ironclad case. You know 1 gay guy who doesn't think 'no homo' is offensive. The level of argumentation on this board is pathetic. This is Michigan, Fergodsakes.
lots of my students write papers this stupid, too.
I don't know why this thread, which is ridiculously politically charged, hasn't been closed, given the usual rules around here. What's going on here is what goes on every time political topics come up: the board has a conservative majority, so the "anti-PC" posts are getting upvoted to 5 while the posts trying to explain what's offensive about homophobic phrases aren't. This is a board on which "butthurt" is used routinely and without any awareness of its obviously homophobic connotations; of course people aren't going to accept that saying "no homo" is homophobic.
The majority of this board is conservative? Just the other day someone else was saying the opposite.
I guess the anti-PC posts couldn't possibly be making points that people agree with and the PC posts couldn't be making logical errors. No, since the people you agree with aren't 'winning' there must be a conspiracy.
The point distribution is very consistent across political topics prior to the threads getting locked down.
That's part of what I was thinking of. But it's possible we saw them at different times. I've noticed that the reaction to political posts varies over time: it starts with a rightward lean, then tilts left over the next few hours, then goes right over the next day or so and stays that way.
I think the majority of the board is politically left-leaning, but given that many posters are male sport fans (where homophobic jokes are prevalent) this is one area where this community that is generally well educated re: social justice issues lags far behind. I used to feel the same way until I started working with LGBT youth and saw how these seemingly innocuous or silly comments have an impact on a daily basis.
We can still pick on bastards though, right?
Bullying is far more prevalent than you wish to believe, my friend. Secular humanists have waged an open war on organized religion for years now. And vice versa.
I see the stupidest thing I've ever read on this blog all over again.
I hope you feel better now that you told us how stupid we are
I remain annoyed at how far beyond help the person I responded to would be, even if we were allowed to discuss how preposterously confused he is.
Yeah, wouldn't it be great if you just force everyone to believe what you believe. You wouldn't have to bother debating with unwashed masses.
Choose a forum that won't get locked down and we'll talk.
Of course we can.
You didn't read my post very carefully. I'm not offended by it at all. I just think it's a shame that young men are so insecure that they have to qualify their statements with the intent to protect their own image lest someone misunderstand them.
And if you can think of an example where that would actually make sense I'll answer your question.
While I agree with you 100 percent that it is a shame that adolescents need to qualify their heterosexuality, it's been that way for a century of adolescents and this is by no means a new thing. "No homo" may be new, but the concept isn't.
Kids and young adults are insecure and relative to the majority of the population, extremely image conscious and concerned with what others think of them. It's always been this way and probably always will be.
Definitely agree that adolescents are insecure by nature, but I was thinking more about 20 year old college students. And Roy Hibbert and Lebron are not adolescents either. And I don't think 100 years ago kids (or even most adults) were as aware of homosexuality as they are now, certainly not as a common thing. Thus, my only point of contention with you is that while kids will always be image conscious, I don't think it's unreasonable to think we could remove this unconscious fear of being thought gay from the equation. Statements like Hibberts don't help that effort.
It doesn't sound unreasonable, but neither does stopping the harassment of fat teens/young adults so that they don't have panic attacks when they are waiting to find out if they are playing on the "shirts" or the "skins". But that, too, has been going on for 50+ years.
The correct spelling is "Polack". But then again, can't expect you Polacks to be able to spell.
/Can make this bad joke since I'm 100 percent of Polish ancestry.
I see a butterfly!
Also, a Pollock:
We use words like "no" and "homo"...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent clarifying our sexuality. You use 'em as a punchline.
but I prefer the "old school" spelling I used cuz I'm a beer swigging, Golumpki eating, bad-ass pole from the streets.... And I will crush you in cornhole.
I'm with you in general, but fining an athlete can potentially make a lot of young gay people feel better. When a kid who is too young to have a complex sense of humor sees a pro athlete he looks up to say something like this, he takes it to mean it's not ok to be gay. So when he sees gay kid later, maybe he calls him a homo in a derogatory way. Maybe a whole class of boys calls the kid a homo and a fag in a derogatory way. And maybe that kid goes home everyday and cries in his bed. And maybe eventually you see a story on the news about a 12 year old committing suicide. If you want to say that's a stretch then I'll tell YOU to take a look at the news and recognize what the real issues are. I realize this is a sports blog so the population probably tends toward the manly side of things, but many on here need to broaden their view and look at the cause and effect of what goes on in this country when people are poorly educated and raised in an environment of subtle prejudice. I'm all about not giving a shit what celebrities say and do, but in order to make small changes in society you have to push hard.
but I respect your opinion. It starts in the schools, not by fining pro athletes. It's a wasted effort.
You're offended that we pay less for gas than any other developed nation? Sounds like you're easily offended and have a poor grasp of economics. And spelling. FYI, populus is a genus of deciduous flowering plants, aka trees, such as poplars.
Stop feeling sorry that we are and should be the most well-off nation on earth. Just because we pay less doesn't mean $4.32 is acceptable. It's too bad people have accepted and conformed to this stuff so easily.
What does "most well-off" mean? And why would it correlate with our paying lower commodity prices than people in less well-off nations?
Read a book. Maybe one about oil or the economy or the climate to solve your other non-problem.