Comments on: The Whites-Only Basketball League

By: Czhorat

Czhorat — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:24:21 +0000

Thank you Lihtox. I should probably let this thread die, but a few more thougths in answer to Mark M:

To draw an equivalency between deliberate preferential treatment for whites and preferable treatment for minorities is to ignore the legacy of racism in this country. As sad as it is, racism is still here and it has deep roots. When people are asked to form opinions of people based only on photographs they assign positive characteristics to white faces more often then to black or darker skinned faces. This is even true of African American test subjects. Studies have shown that resumes with “African American” sounding names are less likely to get job interviews. THere was a recent NY TImes article about how African American lawyers try to hide their racial identity in resumes, not listing membership in African-AMerican student associations or naming prediminantly black schools where they studied. 107 out of 110 Supreme Court Justices have been white. 99 of 100 US Senators are white.

In other words, there already is an arena in which whites get preferential treatment; it’s the whole country. To pretend otherwise and say that there’s not a place to help those in the “out” group try to catch up is, at best, willful blindness to reality.

By: David A. Rooney

David A. Rooney — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:36:09 +0000

Don’t worry too much, folks. If this is real, the free market will flush it down the toilet pretty quick - can you imagine any company/corporation willing to sponsor this crap? Who would they ask - Clorox? “Get your sheets as white as our teams!”

By: Lihtox

Lihtox — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 06:08:02 +0000

@Mark M: Colorblindness is a goal, but we ain’t there yet, and black-only organizations are just one way to counterbalance all the little petty (and the big not-so-petty) grievances put upon black people because they are minorities in this country (and historically disadvantaged ones, to boot). It is disingenuous to equate a majority’s view of race with a minority’s view of race.

Actually, the fact that this is a whites-only basketball league is only mildly disturbing to me, just because of the way it brings to mind whites-only country clubs (which wouldn’t've been so bad if there weren’t so many deals and business relationships formed within those country clubs). No, the bloody awful racism here is the flat-out statement that black people don’t/can’t care about the fundamentals of the game, or that that’s all that white people care about. Don’t blame today’s NBA on black people, blame it on the fans who LIKE flash over fundamentals. The NBA could easily tell the refs to strictly enforce the rules and encourage a more disciplined style of play, but that doesn’t make money. You want to start a league with stricter rules or what have you? Fine; nothing wrong with that. But imagining that this can be accomplished simply by limiting yourself to a single race is insulting to black people, immigrants, AND white people.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 06:15:32 +0000

This has got to be a publicity stunt/joke/hoax/political commentary stunt or something like that. The fact that the league purports to be planning to discriminate against non-whites and foreign-born players would basically put it in violation of the Civil Rights Act from day one. At the very least they can expect the Justice Department or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to sue them.

By: Mark M

Mark M — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:24:34 +0000

Czhorat, I’m not really sure what you’re saying. At worst, I’m implying that whites are in need of protection? How do you tell the majority to treat the minority as equals when the minority engages in activities that exclude the majority?

By: Bearman

Bearman — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:51:27 +0000

John Small…the problem with the XFL is the same problem that the WWE’s competition today. Production Value. The reason WWE is on top is because of the production value. The reason the NFL is on top is because of production value. The XFL didn’t even visually look as good as a college game.

By: czhorat

czhorat — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:40:40 +0000

Mark m, to imply an equivalency between programs aimed at assisting those who have historically oppressed minorities and attempts to exclude those minorities in favor of the majority is disinge at best. At worst, it is pretending that those who haver historically been in power and, to a very large extent, still are are the ones in need of protection as cover for your own racial biases

By: paperboy

paperboy — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:56:20 +0000

Powers#6, I’m with you. I’m hardly a sports-fan, but the few times I’ve watched a game I was disgusted at the lack of basketball skills. Most of those guys can’t throw the ball through the basket unless they get a couple inches away, thus the “dunk” was born.

By: chene

chene — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:19:31 +0000

One of the arguments used to generate interest in women’s basketball is that it’s more fundamentally sound than men’s basketball.

But I thought there already was a Caucasian basketball team in the NBA - the Indiana Pacers

By: John Small Berries

John Small Berries — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:49:16 +0000

Wasn’t it a wrestling promoter who introduced a new football league a few years back (XFL I think?)?

Yes, Vince McMahon. I actually liked XFL better than NFL, because they kept the game moving, instead of stopping after every damn play. It made football almost as exciting as hockey.