LOL well I tried, I do hope this poor victim recovers. In all seriousness, the disconnect here is that you guys view the world through a lens of conflict theory so everything is oppressor vs oppressed, victim vs perpetrator. You guys can't seem to help it and there's nothing I, or anyone, can say to get you guys to see things differently and I suppose that's okay.....but it does mean that I'll find your take on situations like this to be kind of hilarious.
You are the only one here disconnected from the reality of the situation and that doesn't see the kid as the victim here, but honestly considering your posting history that shouldn't surprise anyone. Your take on this situation is just further proof that no one should ever expect any kind of empathy from you.
Not really true man, but honestly this is a laughable topic and I'm done with it. I understand that due to the way you view the world you see victims everywhere and that's fine. I personally find it disgusting the way you choose to strip the kid of his dignity by suggesting he's nothing more than a victim without any agency in this situation but it's not going to do any good pointing that out. I'm running up against ideology here and I have to accept that.
Again, read through this thread, look at your fellow conservative posters, hell, the story was posted from Fox News...you are the outlier here. Reading about this story from several places online you are pretty much the only person that has 0 empathy for the kid.
That's just your poor understanding of what I was saying showing up, it's something that happens pretty often. I fully acknowledge that he was forced to make a tough choice, I'm just not going to strip the kid of his dignity as a result. Doing that is a result of a poisonous neo-Marxist ideology, I don't blame those who buy into nonsense like conflict theory, but I do sometimes have to laugh at the ridiculous things it causes people to say. The kid isn't a victim, he wasn't oppressed. He wanted to be in a competition, being in that competition required him to conform to the rules of the competition.....since his hair was not in compliance and his coach didn't know the rules well enough to bring approved headgear, he was forced to make a choice as to which thing he wanted more....to cut his hair or to not perform. It's not the fault of the rules that the kid was not in compliance, it's not the ref's fault for enforcing the rules. This is like an idiot speeding and then throwing a tantrum about having to pay a ticket.
Is there any empathy for the referee? Giving him the benefit of the doubt for the moment and assuming he wasn't driven by racial motives (who knows), he has been villianized nation-wide and banned for enforcing rules which was the very job he was there to do. Which of the two would you rather be? @rocketsjudoka 's posts were pretty persuasive. The kid had to have his hair cut. Which was probably a real bummer, and yes, he didn't "want" to do it. But he did choose to do it in order to wrestle. Yes, there was peer pressure and team dynamics that had to factor into his choice. That's life. We all have to deal with those kinds of pressure, fair or not, our entire lives. My guess is that he is the hero of the team if not the entire school, And he is probably rightly incredibly proud of the choice he made. My view only, but I would love to have had that experience when I was his age. (That may be a function of being a comic book/sci-fi loving, D&D playing dork in an age when that wasn't the norm.) There is probably some script writer trying to hash together a script about this right now.
Not really, the referee is a fully grown adult and him being late caused this entire issue. Not only that he's had multiple issues in the past and if you read around you'll find that many in the area don't like him. Dreds take a while to grow and every other ref before him handled it better. His post for me isn't any more valid than the quotes from @robbie380 post or the numerous wrestlers coming out saying this was wrong. I'm not saying his post is wrong, just that why his opinion over others who have wrestled their entire lives and MMA fighters that come up wrestling that are perplexed that this happened at all? I will also point out in the rules it never says anything about cutting hair. That's something that was brought up on the spot by the coach apparently. Although I'm aware that there is grooming before the issue is that the ref was late and all this could have been hashed out if he hadn't been late. The thing is this. While Bobby goes on about Oppressor vs Oppressed he's ignoring, and many people are, the reality of this entire situation. A poster earlier brought up the "War on Black Hair" and this is a very real thing and many outside of the black community don't want to listen because 'It's just hair' but it really isn't "Just Hair". I direct everyone to Chris Rock's documentary called "Good Hair" Because remember, the ref didn't have any issues with the length of the hair, he said that it was "Unnatural"...Dreds are the very opposite of that. Unfortunately, sometimes black people have to either cut their hair or straighten it to look "Professional" there are plenty of stories of little black girls being told their hair is 'Distracting' and that it needs to change and those changes often involve chemicals that can harm the hair instead. Being told that how your hair naturally grows is a problem is a big issue with me. Ignoring these societal issues and biases will not make them go away.
I saw the reference in the article to him being sanctioned for using a slur previously. So, I agree that if his actions were racially driven, they are obviously wrong. He was also late, but c'mon. That can't really be justification for the scorn and anger against him. That is a convenient additional fact to say "it is his fault." But, I assume there have been many ref's in many sports who arrive late and their lives aren't upended over it. To me, it comes down to: 1) was he driven by racial considerations; and 2) did the rules require specific headgear that the coach and player failed to bring? If the answer to #2 is yes, are you saying that a referee should be penalized for enforcing the rules?
And this is 100% of the reason you care about this issue. Make the kid white, Asian, Hispanic or anything else and it's not a story and you wouldn't care about it at all. It's far too predictable. It's not that you care about wrestling rules, it's that you don't believe that rules should apply to black people.....because when rules apply to black people those rules instantly become "racist". This is what I'm talking about when I say that your opinion is based entirely on conflict theory. You see a situation where universal rules were applied to a black kid and you see nothing more than a white person oppressing a black person.....every single time. To a hammer, everything is a nail.
I'm pretty sure this is a part-time job for him, many refs are part-timers, even NFL refs for a good period of time. But tardiness is a pretty serious thing, speaking of the NFL, the Texans had a player that they cut over it. I doubt any professional body would accept the ref being late unless the reason warranted it...like wife going into labor or something of that sort. The reason for the scorn is reason #1, was he driven by racial considerations. That is the reason for the scorn. We know that he's had issues before and his reason for telling the kid he couldn't wrestle was because his hair was 'Unnatural.' I think there is enough there to say that he possibly was racially motivated, especially since this kid has been wrestling with his hair like that for...had to be most of the year, dreds take a while to grow... #2 is a coaching issue. The coach should have been more responsible for the kid.
Yes, because they don't have black hair. Go figure. Literally, nothing in the rules mention cutting hair right before a match. And every single time there is an issue of possible racism you ignore that angle completely and claim that there possibly can't be ANY racism.
I really don't think this is about whether the ref was late or not. I didn't see the reference to the ref saying the hair was "unnatural." If it turns out the ref actually said that, I think you are right. Do you know the source for that allegation? Real question: if the ref didn't say that, and if he was simply enforcing the rules, would you still be upset by his doing so in this case?
LOL exactly my point. You are fine with the rule so long as it doesn't apply to black people and their hair. Yeah, you're right, the ref should have just disqualified him and not listened to the coach's suggestion of cutting the hair....but I'm not sure how that helps your case. No, not every single time, I'm just not a hammer looking for nails. When we find a screw, you call it a nail, I say it's a screw. When we come across a needle, you call it a nail, I call it a needle. Again, it's ideology getting in the way here. You actively look to twist just about any situation into an example of racistm, more often than not, you'll be wrong and I'll disagree with you. When you find a legitimate example, we'll agree.....and there's no evidence that this is an example of racism. None whatsoever.
And sorry for back-to-back posting, but it seems we agree on the major issue: IF it was racially motivated, of course it was wrong, and the ref deserves what he is experiencing. But, I don't know if you are going further and saying that particular rule should never be enforced against a black athlete because of hair issues. I wouldn't agree with that -- particularly when it sounds like acceptable head gear exists that would make this a non-issue if the coach or player was following the rules. (I agree this is more on the coach)>
Why didn't the ref call the hair or headcovering into question when he first evaluated the wrestler? Why did he wait until the beginning of the match, and put excessive pressure by delivering the ultimatum saying he had 90 seconds or forfeit the match? https://www.foxnews.com/sports/wrestlers-attorney-suggests-haircut-because-of-referees-tardiness Why did the ref make this comment? What did he mean by hair "wasn't in its natural state"? https://wgntv.com/2018/12/26/family-of-the-wrestler-who-was-forced-to-cut-his-dreadlocks-speaks-out/
The natural state thing was reported by a few outlets. @NewRoxFan just linked one from Fox News but it is coming from the attorney of the family but the ref hasn't denied that this was said either. I think the whole thing happened because he was late. If he wasn't late they could have hashed this all out before the match and if the kid really wanted his hair cut then he would have had it cut in the locker room before the match instead of it being in front of family friends and students like that. The rules shouldn't be changed because the headgear does exist and that's really on the coach for not having his student prepared. My guess is when it was brought up a week before he let the kid handle it himself and the it sounds like the kid went and bought some kind of wool cap or whatever. He's a kid at the end of the day and the coach should have been thorough to show him what is proper head covering and what isn't.
False. Not what I said. Again...not what I said. You keep going on about the rules and nothing in the rules state that hair must be cut. When you have multiple wrestlers, professionals and such saying that this isn't a thing that normally happens that's kind of hard to ignore. I'm not going to respond to your strawman's anymore. Look at the back and forth I am having with @jcf and stop attributing arguments to me that I'm not making. Sure there is. the fact that the ref in question had issues with possible racism in the past and that he had no issues with the length but said it wasn't in a 'natural' state...he's yet to deny any of this. Also, can you name the last time you called out racism against black people? I seriously can't remember it.
