You have to hand it to reality that we now have a high-profile conflict between guys named "Sterling" and "Silver".
If you're not aware, Sterling owns the NBA team the LA Clippers. ("Silver" is NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who is leading the persecution of Sterling as owner of an NBA team. But that's as far as this joke goes, so you can forget it now.) There's a big controversy because he was apparently caught on tape in a telephone call to his girlfriend in which he expresses some pretty creepy racist sentiments. None of them are really threatening or inflammatory, he merely says he objects to his girlfriend publicly being involved with blacks. He didn't say they, or her, should be beaten up, or even hassled.
With the "tinder box" ideological climate of this country right now, and the increasing realization that racism is still a very serious problem, not even close to being "solved" as many seem to assume.
So the NBA IMMEDIATELY jumped up this guy's ass and slapped a lifetime ban from the NBA on him (he not only isn't allowed to control or interact with his own team in any way, he's not even allowed to ATTEND a game).
I hate racism probably more than the average American, but the other issues surrounding this I think are very troubling and worth far more attention than they are getting now, which is approximately NONE, even by the liberal media and action groups like the ACLU.
FIRST...in a country where people are increasingly riled up and sensitive about personal surveillance, why isn't anybody saying, "Where did this recording come from?" Since we have to allow neo-Nazis to march in Skokie to demonstrate our complete commitment to free speech, why is nobody standing up and saying, "This guy is very clearly a racist pig. [He's been caught being racist before.] But why is someone recording his private phone conversations and leaking them to the press? What happened to his fundamental right to privacy?"
You have to hate this guy, but the right to privacy isn't content-based, it's ABSOLUTE. Even if he were caught making threats (eg: "if those darkies don't move out of my apartment building I'll try to see that they start getting hassled by the cops more often" or, "someone should burn them out!") the issue would still be worrisome: EXACTLY HOW IS SOMEONE RECORDING PRIVATE PHONE CONVERSATIONS? It is expressly illegal to do this, yet since this Sterling guy is so reviled, all concern for his civil rights seems to have vanished.
But according to the fundamental American perspective on rights and law, if someone is allowed to record HIS phone calls, then someone might also be allowed to record MINE. The actual content of the call is irrelevant, unless law enforcement had probable cause to get a wire-tap warrant on this guy, which is clearly not the case or we would have been told.
The right to privacy is the right to privacy, and fundamentally the NBA should have said, "we don't like this one bit, especially since most of our players are black. But in truth we don't feel we have a legal or ethical basis on which to proceed. This information was acquired ILLEGALLY and, as such, we shouldn't know it, and therefore must act as if we DONT know it."
And as if that's not troubling enough, there's the issue of punishing someone for unpleasant ideas. Again, no one wants to stand up and defend this racist asshole in any way, but although racism is discouraged in this country and certain functional expressions of racism are prohibited by law (eg: you cannot deny someone housing or a job based on race), simply HOLDING racist opinions, or even just expressing them personally, most certainly CANNOT be considered basis for punitive actions against someone.
Again, it goes to a fundamental American principle: if we allow this guy to be persecuted for having certain (admittedly noxious) opinions, then who is to say that maybe someday someone will decide that one of YOUR opinions is "unacceptable" and move to strip you of your right to access, control, or even own the personal property you own.
"I really don't like the way Sally said maybe we shouldn't have gone to war in Iraq, so maybe we should take her car away."
Obviously the analogy isn't perfect, but it's close enough. This man Sterling is very clearly being attacked by the dreaded "Thought Police". If you are like me and sick of people excusing racism on the grounds that seeking to limit it amounts to "political correctness gone mad", well I hate to say it, but this is undeniably a case of political correctness gone mad.
By illegally taping this guy's private conversations and then upholding punishment against him just for holding an obnoxious opinion, we are acting just like the people that we condemn.
This is one of the best tests of the genuine commitment Americans have to the right to privacy and the right to hold unpopular opinions without risking serious harassment that we've seen in some time, and we are very obviously FAILING the test.
There are thousands of self-professed white supremacists--why are we not allowing them to be persecuted?
Some people call an "exception" based on the idea that the NBA is a private organization, not a public or government one, and they have the right to discriminate in any way they see fit.
Really? If it came out that they made black players use separate, inferior locker room facilities there would be a huge outcry--and there should be.
As a corollary, no organization should be allowed to act to deprive someone of their own legal property because they don't like his opinions--it's just WRONG.
It's EASY to follow your ideals as long as you agree with what they support or protect. The REAL test is when you find the other person's views sickening.
Decades back, against considerable complaint and outcry, the authorities admitted that they were obligated to allow neo-Nazis to march in a highly-Jewish suburb, and even to use the police to protect their right of free expression from private threats.
But it seems like today we no longer have the capacity or understanding to truly stand by our most important ideals. As bad as a racist owner of a basketball team is, the people rising to support action against him are worse.
