Kobe under fire from use of homophobic slur towards ref

We're not talking about 'bad language' here, we are talking about a derogatory slur. Obviously, some people here do not know the difference.

Let me illustrate: If I got 'randomly caught' saying "s**t" or "f**k" at my office, I would NOT get in trouble. Likewise, in this case, Kobe is not in trouble for saying "f**king." Nobody cares that NBA players say "f**k." It happens all the time, you can hear it on the TV, and nobody gets fined.

However, if I am 'randomly caught' calling someone "f*****" or a "n***er" at work, I would definitely get in trouble, just like Kobe did. The NBA is not all that different than any other professional workplace. The NBA is a multi-billion dollar company that conducts its business in the public eye. It is not a playground or a middle school hallway, where using the word "f*****" may be considered 'normal'.

 

sports intensity/environment/atmosphere <> office intensity/environment/atmosphere
people will get fired if they do a touchdown dance/celebration when they own someone in a meeting or give a shoulder budge to someone in the hallway

 

Selective enforcement isn't kosher in any moral system, period.

Kobe is a *** so granted it's awesome that he got nailed for $100,000 but since players use this language commonly it's morally unjustified if you're going to make any sort of moral argument that the usage was bad or harmful.

I can imagine the nonsense that was posted in this thread by the usual suspects so I'll just say this:

1) For the fine to have been of any use to gay rights groups, it had to be UNREASONABLY high. The fine had to be high enough for normal Joes to stand up and take notice. For gay groups who have feel they have been hurt by this incident that's precisely the only message that's of use to them: using this language is worse than you think and here's the $100k as social proof. If Stern had fined $5k, $10k it would be in-line with what most people think of as reasonable and it's worthless as political capital. The message is always: homophobia is more common than you think, it's worse than you think. Any lesser fine sends a worthless and even contradictory message to the agenda that activist groups spend millions a year promoting.

2) Stern really had no choice but to levy this heavy a fine. There's no upside and all downside to doing anything but 100% of what will appease gay groups. Only an imbecile will argue that slurs against different groups in America carry the same economic or political backlash or that these questions are resolved with any sort of moral consistency but the last thing Stern needs is a month of protest around his biggest star as the playoffs roll around.

 

But thats not what a nigg** is. If your friends are lazy, trachy, and criminals you can just call them what they are.

 

This is probably the best example to illustrate the situation.

It's painfully obvious who has a problem with gay people in this thread. "I don't have an issue, but I'm sick of them," low post count members coming out of the woodwork, etc.

Rep going around to the grown ups. And this thread is long overdue for a move to the D&D.

 

So if Kobe would have called the ref a b**** do you think women would have had the right to get upset? Because the word b**** as been used as a term to downgrade women.

 

And "f*****" does not mean "bad referee" either. But that is what Kobe called him, and that is why he is in trouble.

 

You made up your own definition of fa***, why can't he make up his own definition of ni****?

 

Oh ****. Kobe fined. Phil fined. Lakers fined.

Stern is just creating a defense for the incoming fix. Bet on Lakers.

 

Well I didint really make it up thats just how it is where Im from. And I dont give a damn if he made up his own definition it wont hurt me at all.

 

This is epic fail logic right here.

 

What did you expect Kobe to call to the Ref?

"Ahhh yes, the referee I presume? I must say, I cannot find favor in the judgment you have made on my behalf, and am rather suspect of your abilities of observation."

*** is synonymous with A-hole, douche-bad, and the works...nothing more. IT ALL depends on the context...Niger is a country and a river in Africa, chink refers to a slight gap on an object,etc etc.

Context...C O N T E X T, context

 

The point is that if Kobe wanted to call the ref a crappy ref, he should have just called him that... just like how you think if someone is being lazy, trashy, and prone to criminal acts, you call them just that.

 

I also overheard Stern was all Mr. Miyagi in the Lakers locker room with Andrew Bynum's knee. That's why he is now playing in the playoffs

 

And this thread is more pointless than a shaved porcupine

 

You don't pronounce Niger like ******

 

lol that's exactly the point of contention and you gloss over it with an unilateral declaration.

the point they're arguing is that a slur has the intention and context of denigrating some attribute a person has. that's why you're not going to get fired at work for saying mother****er even directed at another person, you're not actually slurring his sexual orientation towards incest. if Kobe said f.a.g as a general epithet it's precisely "just bad language" said in the moment as a curse not a slur about the ref's orientation. do you have proof that Kobe thinks that Adams is gay or that he was specifically using him being gay as a basis of his epithet?

if not get off your high horse and stop extrapolating about what other posters do or do not know.

It's a politically inconvenient truth that f*****, gay and *** have a meaning predating even the existence of modern homosexual orientation as a concept in the 1800s. It's a common immature epithet whose usage sometimes does and sometimes does not carry with it an actual slur against homosexuality. I can understand why it would offend you if you're gay, and can understand that as a matter of political policy the procedure of sticking your head in the sand and pretending that's not the case in order to eradicate the usage as a slur but come on.

 

Well it elicited a response from you not to use it that way so it must matter somewhat.

I'll start calling idiots 'nigg**s' from now on. Plenty of nigg**s in this thread for example. I hope no one reacts badly when I use it in public, unless they're overly sensitive and looking for something to complain about.

 

I never said Kobe was right I was just saying I dont think he was trying to call the ref gay or make gay people mad. I'll bet everything I have that gay people didnt cross Kobe's mind when he called the ref a f*****.

Now when people use the N word I think black people cross their mind all the time.

 

Whatever helps you sleep at night.