I was a college freshman. I had literally never seen anything racist in my (personal) life. I should clarify that I knew about the existence of wackos... I just didn't ever expect to see it amongst "normal" people.
Let me preface this by saying I hate to get involved with these type of discussions. But if anyone thinks racism doesn't exist or isn't prevalent in society today, I would say they are in the ethnic majority. Racism does exists, people are just more conscious of it today. Even last year, I've had someone tell me to open my squinty eyes and see what they are talking about. They were emotional at the time, but it's exactly in these times where people are most likely to express their true beliefs. This type of thing isn't uncommon either, I can't tell you the number of times people have said Ching cheong to me. Not saying Jeremy is having these problems now. In fact I believe the rockets are doing all they can to help him succeed and that just add to my love for the team. But at they same time. I know where the people who makes these accusations are coming from. Especially if they had an experience similar to mine growing up here. End rant
I think a lot of posters have missed OP's point. He's not doing a Harden vs Lin comparison. Nobody has ever said something even remotely close to, that Lin is better than Harden or equal to, not even those so-called brain-washed, Lin-worshiping, suffering from inferiority complex, LOFs. Did I miss anything throwing at those LOFs? Some posters built the "Lin is better than MJ or CP3" straw man, and then have beaten it to dust for 2 years. Then they completely forgot they built that straw man to start with, just for an online "argument". Lin is still a Rockets player. I know you want him gone; I know you think he's overpaid; i know he has tons of weaknesses. Still, while he's playing, making better use of him and getting more contribution from him, is beneficial to the team. Yes, it could be good for Lin as well. But we are not at the point to forfeit the team to screw Lin yet, are we? We all know Lin's strength, the natural solution would easily be to let him be the PG, when Harden is not on the court. Instead, Parsons, TJ, Casspi, would completely ignore him and bring the ball up, trying those rushed 1 on 5 thing. It's not fast-breaks I am talking about, it's been way too often, such undisciplined plays. Let's take Luther Head as an example. He's a relatively good spot-up 3 point shooter, but bad on ball handling, decision making, and really bad on defense. While he's on the team, when you need him to play, TMac used to create some open shots for him. JVG didn't force him to defend Kobe or force him to organize the offense. Once we got the chance, we traded him. But we want as much contribution from everyone as possible when they are on the court. As I said before trading deadline, I have no problem to package him and Asik to get Rondo, but I don't believe Celtics would do that. Still, Lin could be traded or waived in the off-season, or he quits himself. But when he's playing, I want more contribution from him, especially given our thin guard rotation. It doesn't hurt to play to his strength, have those players move a little bit more when he has the ball, set a few picks for him, don't just send him to the corner, although his 3 point shooting has improved. Before the world-beater Cannan completely takes over, before Lin is sent back to Korea or wherever, can we utilize Lin a little bit better? Disclaimer: I will put my sharp criticism on Lin's inconsistency, weakness, bad habits, and bad hair style in other related threads.
"Quid pro quo Clarice." LoF's can't have it both ways as much as they hypocritically want to. This same "racism" is also largely responsible for Linsanity and his contract. If Lin was any ethnicity BUT Asian, he would have just been another young NBA player that got hot. He would never have gotten that huge contract or all those sponsorships. Fact is, "race" has helped Lin far more in the NBA than it has hurt him.
Anyone who says "Lin has been through lots of hardships..." Is just as privileged as he is or trolling...
Born in Los Angles, and raised in the Bay Area of San Fran, Palo Alto. Went to Harvard, where they do not offer athletic scholarships, and played there for 4 years and graduated with a degree in economics, assuming he was a full time student as well, his tuition total was $213,232 based on the $53,803 per year tution rate. Then went undrafted and got on with the Warriors, and now he is here. Yea, i what a hard life and path to have walked. Poor LIN. .
This. Anyone who thinks Lin had a hard life or faced more hardships than anyone else is a privileged dumbass.
When Bill Gates or Warren Buffett have diarrhea or fever or any trouble/hardship, they should simply celebrate and be grateful, because 99.999999% people would love to exchange their lives with them.
The word "hardship" should be banned in America, if it's not used on starving people in some remote places on the world or people suffering in civil war, since it's all about comparison now.
If you are being sarcastic, then sorry, but I don't recall anyone going "Oh man... Gates/Buffet had such hardships in life. Poor guy... if only everyone and anyone didn't discriminate him and hold him back from being the true superstar that he is." There is a HUGE difference between experiencing hardships and experiencing obstacles. Growing up in a broken home and fighting for every little thing you own is hardship. Proving your worth as a basketball player is an obstacle.
Troll. They don't make documentaries about diarrhea. Their fans and admirers don't blame poor business decisions on their diarrhea. I've had diarrhea--I got over it.
What if they were on the receiving end of some discrimination on their way grown up? If they succeed on the end, discrimination cannot be talked about, or it's called a good thing? I don't get the whole point of "oh, they are all millionaires, so they can't have normal human feelings or they can't be treated as normal people".
Not looking to get sucked into a debate of race politics, just a note on obstacles. It is possible to not have substantial practical hardship but still face substantial institutionalized prejudice that results in obstacles. For example, a woman can go to Harvard yet in some industries they are still facing institutionalized obstacles in terms of advancement. So are they going through financial hardship? No. However, they are facing institutional prejudice and obstacles that hinder their ability to advance based upon their actual contributions. The same sorts of institutionalized prejudice applies to being most races. Is it mere coincidence that the odds of being pulled over is higher for blacks than caucasians? Even though the police individually may not be racist (or perceive themselves as racist), the underlying thought processes of institutionalized prejudice will lead them to pull over a different subset of drivers behaving exactly the same way. While it's impossible to say definitively that Lin's race hindered his ability to get scholarships, draft positioning, and playing time, would it really be SO surprising if Lin was passed in favor of other equally or lesser qualified prospects because of stereotyping? And stereotyping goes far beyond what happens between two different races. Studies have shown that even people who are black interpret the same imagery of a black vs white person differently even when they are performing the same actions. Here's a quick mental rorscach. You see a guy walk onto the basketball court. One is white, one is black, one is asian, one is latino. They're all 5'8". What is your first instinct in terms of who knows how to play basketball and who doesn't? What about who's good at math? Or who's going to be the more passive person? I'm not expecting an answer, just noting that initial impressions are often shaped by prevailing cultural stereotypes. And the thing about stereotypes is that they inform our decision making processes in ways that we are often unaware. And that impacts how we interact with others and how they interact with us. At what point does that become overt racism versus cover racism vs innocent cultural bias? Anyway, continue your back and forths...
I just gave up responding to those posters. If they don't have the attention span to actually read what I actually wrote, instead just look at the title and post on that, well, not worth the time
I could literally write a dissertation on the effects of institutionalized racism using Clutchfans itself as sources.
I'm not sure that's true. When people are "emotional" they are most likely to say something that will hurt the person they are arguing with.
Where do I say anything about insanity? Or where do I say Lin is being mistreated because of race with the rockets? If it came across that way, it sure wasn't my intention. I was just responding to the fact that many posters are dismissing racism and complaining about LoFs claiming racism. Based on my personal experience, i'm saying that it exists, and most minorities have dealt with it some way in the united states. Lin being in sports an in the spot light as much as he is, I would be shocked if he hasn't dealt with it before. Anyways, all i'm saying is, based on my own personal experiences, I know racism exists and I can see where the LOFs are coming from.
