Players boycott games | Playoffs resume Saturday

[fifteenth]

@"Scott41theMavs"

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Politifact article. 

Regarding policing, I agree with Kam, there are a lot of ideas in circulation that might fall under the umbrella of "defunding" that are really more about taking a look at how to police neighborhoods and cities in a way that is more connected to citizens, more focused on service and more able to deescalate volitile situations. I don't think those ideas should be dismissed because of the umbrella term "defunding." 

Regarding Black Lives Matter and Marxism. 

This is an interesting conversation with lots of tenaicals. Here are a few thoughts. 

1. The ladies that started BLM are social sciences degreed folks, use social sciences vocabulary, and it's not a suprise that one of them, or more, have marxist leanings, although that could mean lots of different things. I'm just saying that's not unusual. That doesn't mean that they're working for overthrow of the government as described by Marxist theory. 

2. I know they have some "beliefs" posted on their website that aren't things I can particularly get behind, but what they actualy do (the organizations activity) seems to be focused on the organization of protests that follow instances of police violence against Black folks and creating awareness of the struggle of the Black community. If the ladies that started BLM actually wanted to promote marxism in the U.S. they should probably start an organization that does a better job of that. 

3. As far as beliefs go, it doesn't surpise me that folks that work for social justice can be intrigued by marxism, because when they look at the U.S. they see a caste system where the amazing wealth and benefits of the country are enjoyed by some but withheld from many others. 

4. Did you know, statiscally speaking, that the group of Christians, when divied up based on ethnicity, who have the most orthadox Christian beliefs, by a good margin (believing in prayer, Jesus divinity, the authority of the scriptures, etc.) are Black Christians? Yet they overwhelmingly support Black Lives Matter without being bothered by the political leanings or economic theory leanings of the ladies that founded the movement. 

5. I think the Movement behind the slogan Black Lives Matter is way bigger than the organization which works to facilitate protests. 

6. The words "marxism" and "marxist" have been used for a long time, and are used in abundance these days as a wave of the hand dismissal of social justice work. Conservative policial and relgious folks, both, do this as part of the Culture War. 

7. I hope and pray for conversations that can happen outside of Culture War rhetoric. While there may be a movement of young people who would love to burn this house (the U.S.) to the ground, in true Marxist style, most of the time the words marxist and marxism are thrown around in the Culture War to label things that have nothing to do with a real Marxist revolution. Much of the Black community, especially Christians, don't want to burn the house to the ground. They just want to be heard and for the caste system to end. They want to freely paricipate in our free market society, not replace it with a marxist society. 

8. Brother, I love Jesus too (like you), but I hate the Culture War and think we can do better.

9. In short, I don't care for the BLM founder's economic theory leanings, if in fact she likes economic Marxist theory, but I am fully behind the movement Black Lives Matter, and I see no danger or contridiction in that. And I hope and pray for a time when we can accomplish way more than just convincing the U.S. that Black lives do indeed matter. But this is a start, maybe.

[dirkfansince1998]

The words "marxism" and "marxist" have been used for a long time, and are used in abundance these days as a wave of the hand dismissal of social justice work. Conservative policial and relgious folks, both, do this as part of the Culture War. 

As someone who lived in both the US and Germany that is something I will never understand. Compared to other western societies the US have a unique definition of left/right. Most things that are called "marxist" in the US are promoted by the conservative party in Germany.
Same for the term "freedom".  Not really sure what makes the average person in the US more free than the average person in France, Germany or Belgium but GOP supporters love to go on endless rants about it.

[fifteenth]

As someone who lived in both the US and Germany that is something I will never understand. Compared to other western societies the US states have a unique definition of left/right. Most things that are called "marxist" in the US are promoted by the conservative party in Germany.
Same for the term "freedom".  Not really sure what makes the average person in the US more free than the average person in France, Germany or Belgium but GOP supporters love to go on endless rants about it.

These are great observations and questions. I'm no expert, not by a long shot, but I'm trying to read and listen more to folks that seem to have a handle on U.S. History, especially the parts that are typically left out. In the U.S. we have told our history in a way so as to minimize our atrocities and highlight our greatness. Anything that disagrees with that story is met with oposition. I bring this up because I think it greatly shapes what is considered conservative and liberal in the U.S. 

I started following Jesus as a teenager and after a few years I was bothered by the poltical/religious marriage present in much of U.S. chrisitanity. I clung to my identity as a Jesus follower, laid down any identity I had inheritied through culture as a "conservative christian", and then when I looked at the atrocities of the United States' past, I didn't feel accused, or threatened, or like my way of life was in danger. 

I'm glad you brought up Germany (South Africa would work as well). Correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't visited), but I believe they tell the truth about the history of the Holocaust, talk about it and create museums and monuments to honor the victims. They tell the truth in order to properly process their past and attempt to ensure they don't go down those paths again. We all know operating this way is emotionally healthy for individuals. Turns out it's emotionally important for nations as well. The U.S. has never fully dealt with it's atrocities and has trouble admittting that one of them continues to this day. We don't tell the truth about our history. We don't talk about stuff that needs to be talked about. We tell a story that excuses our holocausts in light of our greatness, and the preservation of that story, I think, is behind the question you asked. 

If you invest any time with this, besides reading my amaturish thoughts, find and listen to (or read) Brian Stevenson, Esau McCaulley, and Tiim Keller. I'm sure there are many others that I haven't read and listened to.

[ThunderMav]

This is another salvo in the decline of sports that got politicized and is now paying the price for it.  It matters not about any player movement its that they and leagues forced it down their fans throats.  These same fans who work hard all week and hear/deal with so many problems all they wanted was some time to watch people play a sport without stressing them out with politics.  Players by virtue of their status have so many venues/options away from the game to ram pol to masses yet chose to do it when viewers don’t want it.  NBA will never recover from these losses.  Some teams will not survive the money won’t be there.  Stadiums will never be full like before which dulls the game even more.  They blew it regardless your beliefs. If I went into a hamburger joint to get hamburgers and before they would fill my order I had to watch a political ad, I would never go back.  Their business is hamburgers, thats what I came for.

ESpin is going to let a ton of workers go.  The writing is on the wall these TV sports stations can’t afford to pay the NBA what they paid before.  Players will be taking a self induced pay cut.  Too bad for the HS and college kids.  Even the younger kids who aspired to play. Because of selfish rich players like LBJ they will have less opportunities to reach their dreams.  

https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/13...7225897989

[FunkBoreland]

I thought this thread was dead lol. 

Here's an interesting article, although it isn't directly related to sports, it is relative to the mixing of political leanings in blogs, influencers. 

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ste...ne-is-over

If you're not up to clicking the link, then I present to you, a couple excerpts from the articles.

Women in a Facebook group for fans of blogger and influencer Lauryn Evarts Bosstick, who goes by the Skinny Confidential, hoped to chat with other women about the death of an icon. Instead, former members of the once-56,000-person-strong group claim, posts about RBG were deleted. After some women complained, Bosstick abruptly shut down the group. Shortly after, she posted to her 1 million followers on Instagram that she wanted to keep her group free of politics and religion in order to “try and keep a POSITIVE space,” but the group had become a place of “negativity” and women “tearing down” other women.

People online were pissed, as were members of the group, who soon founded new, unaffiliated Facebook groups. In a blog post she shared with BuzzFeed News, Bosstick denied that she shut the group down because of the political topics being discussed (even though she noted she originally didn’t want politics in the group) but rather because it “became a hateful negative space.”

Bosstick’s attempt to keep her Facebook page free of anything she deemed controversial may have once seemed admirable, a normal response from a lifestyle blogger looking to keep things light. But this year, politics, social justice issues, and current events are inextricable from our daily lives. It’s hard to have a conversation about literally anything without the context of everything going on.

It’s an internal struggle that Shana Draugelis knows well. Draugelis, who founded a motherhood and lifestyle blog called the Mom Edit, told BuzzFeed News that her website has never “shied away from hard topics.” She shared updates with her readers about having breast cancer and has discussed topics like human rights, climate change, and issues facing mothers alongside more lighthearted fashion and parenting posts. However, there was one issue she didn’t discuss.
As the Trump presidency progressed, Draugelis said, the lines began to blur.

“What has become really tricky, in 2020, is that we can no longer talk about the big, important issues without inherently talking politics,” she said. “The Trump presidency has been so polarizing that the sad result is the blurring of lines between basic human rights, science, and politics. And I find that really scary.” Draugelis's dilemma is one that many influencers are facing. Even if they ostensibly want to stay silent on the election and discussions about politics, they feel a moral obligation to speak out about the big issues of our time, mainly the Black Lives Matter movement and COVID-19.

What I got from this article was that its evident, you cannot ignore the elephants and continue to live with them as if it was normal. There is going to be a breaking point which it has to be spoken. And 2020 IS that Year! Overall, being apolitical sides with the oppressor. No one has ever been without politics, if you don't want to change the status quo, you approve of the status quo.