Kobe Bryant fined 100,000 for gay slur

[CLAM]

so I just read THIS ARTICLE ...

 

basically, Kobe Bryant made some sort of gay slur towards a referee after he was called for a foul that he didn't agree with.

 

David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, fined Kobe 100,000 for his comments... and all of these gay rights groups are demanding an apology from Kobe.

 

 

Now, I hate Kobe Bryant, always have.. long before I knew he was a rapist lol... but I just think this is all stupid..

 

the NBA fining him is ridiculous because players do far worse than make gay slurs on and off the court... I think they are just trying to say "hey gay NBA fans, look what we did because he said this.. please come to our games.. we love gay people!"

 

I mean, you will hear players saying the N-word all day.. and the NAACP doesn't come out demanding apologies.. and the NBA doesn't fine players for this either..

 

 

 

I tend to think that the gay rights groups just act... well.. pretty "gay"... and they hate it when people use that phrase to mean anything negative, but they are only helping to associate that phrase with acting whiny, overly sensitive, selfish, self righteous, snobbish, etc etc...

 

I have no problem with gay people as a whole, I see them the same as anybody else.. and I don't treat them special.. I have gay family and friends and I love them just the same.. when I hang out with my gay friends, their sexual orientation is never an issue and they don't act all protective about it.. we have gay people in our family and love and welcome their partners just as we would if they were straight.. it really is not an issue or a big deal at all.. but I think that these activist groups are just being stupid and asking for special treatment that makes them stand out and actually makes people dislike them or have a negative image about their community.... I feel the same way about black activists groups... people are already fine with minority groups of all kinds.. it is THEY that need to stop making it an issue... if they want to be equal (which I think they are already), they need to stop asking for people to treat them like lesser beings.... and by that I mean why can't people say whatever they want and stop walking on egg-shells about them?? When you cry about people saying stuff about you, it tells me that you have issues about yourself and don't see yourself as good as the rest of us.

 

guess what.. people make jokes, make comments, tease, insult, etc.. each other all day.. what makes you so special that nobody can say anything bad about you or whatever?? what is next, a fat people alliance that fines people anytime somebody makes a fat joke? claiming that people are fat-phobic because they don't want to date a fat person or carry clothing in all-sizes.. or whatever other stupid crap would come of that..

 

I am so sick of Politically Correct America.. where people have to be afraid of everybody else because somebody's feelings might get hurt.

 

 

anyways.. what do you all think?

[Wheeljack35]

People are too damned sensative nowadays and if this keeps up the freedom of speech will be a thing of the past

[nevermore]

Sounds like he might have been fined for insulting the referee and not for using a gay slur.

[Capt.S.G.Wiseman]

I don't mind Kobe getting a $100K fine. That's hardly a dent in his wallet, but an apology to the gay community? Why? Will it really make them feel better? Would Kobe actually be sincere in his apology, and for that matter did he use the insult because he really thought the ref was gay?

 

 

People are too damned sensative nowadays and if this keeps up the freedom of speech will be a thing of the past

 

I'm starting to see things like this as not so much about them being sensitive or even offended. It's just form of a power that they like to abuse to make them selves feel better.

[tuga viper]

Like a friend of mine says this is the "pussyfication" of America!

 

 

 

Em

[CapnJeffro]

It wasn't even truly like he was making a homophobic slur. He called the ref a fa***t out of frustration and it has as much meaning as calling someone a bi**h, douche bag, or any other slang swear slur. If it hadn't been accidentally caught by a a microphone it would be a non issue.

 

This is the same kind of asinine stink that came up from the Vince Vaughn's line in the trailer of The Dilemma where he calls something "gay" and the trailer was pulled.

[Nguyen_Dragon]

This is freaking ridiculous... This is coming from someone that dislike Kobe and the Lakers...

[Dragon66]

Would he of been fined if he had said it in a funny British accent? It would of totally changed the meaning of the word.

[spystreak]

damn Liberals I mean I say racial slurs too when I'm angry I once dropped my Grilled cheese on the floor and flipped out yelling " @##@@ Kraut Plates" nobody sued me and my neighbors at the time were off German descent this is just an excuse for the people to get attention for their cause simmilar to how Peta would throw blood on people to get attention for their cause thankfully that stopped. I agree with him I'm sick of Politically corret america and canada I'm not racist but I hate having to watch what I say like when telling a joke.

[hamsterboy]

And Phil Jackson gets fined today for talking about a lockout in the NBA. What's wrong with the NBA?

[Capt.S.G.Wiseman]

And Phil Jackson gets fined today for talking about a lockout in the NBA. What's wrong with the NBA?

Apperently they want more money. ...Ut-oh, I better watch it. They may fine ME for saying that, too. @loll@

 

As far a Kobe, he was sitting on the bench when he said that. The camera just happened to "read his lips" before they panned off of him.

[spystreak]

anyone have a video to this?

[Viper Hunter]

Why is it being made MANDATORY that homosexuality NEVER EVER EVER be used in a negative connotation? If people don't like homosexuals then that's their right to feel that way. If they think being gay is something BAD or something to be ashamed of...that's their right to think so as well. If they want to use a gay slur to insult somebody, because in their mind that's even an insult at all, then that's their right to do so. I know a lot of men that call women all kinds of nasty and derogatory names, from b!tches, Ho's to sluts and worse....yet they still LOVE'em and chase after them. People say nasty things about religion and the people that believe in God and think them to be the root to all evils in the world, and people say equally nasty things about people that don't believe in God and so on and so forth. I think once a person resorts to calling another person a nasty name WHATEVER it is, they've lost the PR game, but when they try to single out SPECIFIC insults and make them comparable to calling a black person the n-word, then it's just getting plain silly.

 

Hell, they even ran those dumbass GAY anti-using the word gay to describe something as being BAD public announcement ads on TV for a while. Really? I remember when old folks use to call something "queer" if it was odd and out of the usual. Now it's "gay" if it's not cool or manly, or considered kinda wimpy and lame. Can't control what people say and which words they come up with to describe what they like and what they dislike. Hell, even BAD became GOOD and so did WICKED.

 

I'm old school...."Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will never hurt us" unless we have to take FEELINGS into account, and I'm still old school on that one too, and I plead the "I'M A MAN" amendment. I have no feelings.

[Rockzilla]

Welcome to the age of hipsters and Glee.

[jjlecaros]

i agree that its bs.....and he really isnt a rapist when the chick had like 5 diffrent guys "man juice" in her when they swabbed her for evidence.

[CaptainTriumph]

Actually, Kobe called him a MOTU subscriber...but you know what he meant....

[DarthJoe]

It doesn't surprise me that Stern fined him, given the fact that he's been trying to clean up the image of the NBA over the last few years, and the rule changes implemented this year concerning the players keeping their emotions in check on the court.

 

That said, I agree with everything you said, Clam.

 

Stern should have just fined him for using derogatory language towards the ref and left it at that. The only apology that should be made on Bryant's behalf is to the ref he disrespected. End of story.

[spystreak]

people have openly said worse Kramer said the N word and so did Randy Marsh except he used the plural version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J5UXwHD2YY

[nevermore]

I guess I really don't see the harm in people trying to be decent to one another. The fact of the matter is the whole sticks and stones saying is untrue. Words hurt a lot of people. There are a huge number of suicides by people who were bullied to support this.

 

At my school I am an advisor for The Friends of Rachael Club (an anti bullying club founded in memory of the 1st girl killed at Columbine). The depression that some of these kids go through is insane.

 

So some of you may be able to shrug off insults like nothing. I can too. But the fact of the matter is many can't. What negative results really come from people being treated with respect?

 

Look if you want to say whatever nasty, offensive stuff you want go for it. Those ads were meant to bring to people's attention that it isn't harmless. If you don't mind hurting someone then go for it. The reason I tell my students they can't say it is because some don't realize they could be hurting someone.

 

All that being said I don't think people should lose their jobs for stuff like this (depending on the job I of course shouldn't be able to say stuff like that in class). But people have to realize business is business and if they see someone as potentially costing them $ because of their biases than an example will be made.

 

If Stern wants to clean up the image of the NBA and one of his star players is caught using a slur it makes sense to me that he would be fined to show that that isn't tolerated by the NBA. As long as he has the NBA jersey on and is on an NBA court he is a representative of the NBA. He is getting paid a lot of $ to play basketball and sell tickets/merchandise with all that come responsibilities.

[DarthJoe]

I guess I really don't see the harm in people trying to be decent to one another. The fact of the matter is the whole sticks and stones saying is untrue. Words hurt a lot of people. There are a huge number of suicides by people who were bullied to support this.

 

At my school I am an advisor for The Friends of Rachael Club (an anti bullying club founded in memory of the 1st girl killed at Columbine). The depression that some of these kids go through is insane.

 

So some of you may be able to shrug off insults like nothing. I can too. But the fact of the matter is many can't. What negative results really come from people being treated with respect?

 

Look if you want to say whatever nasty, offensive stuff you want go for it. Those ads were meant to bring to people's attention that it isn't harmless. If you don't mind hurting someone then go for it. The reason I tell my students they can't say it is because some don't realize they could be hurting someone.

 

All that being said I don't think people should lose their jobs for stuff like this (depending on the job I of course shouldn't be able to say stuff like that in class). But people have to realize business is business and if they see someone as potentially costing them $ because of their biases than an example will be made.

 

If Stern wants to clean up the image of the NBA and one of his star players is caught using a slur it makes sense to me that he would be fined to show that that isn't tolerated by the NBA. As long as he has the NBA jersey on and is on an NBA court he is a representative of the NBA. He is getting paid a lot of $ to play basketball and sell tickets/merchandise with all that come responsibilities.

 

I don't think anyone is going to dispute what you're saying here, but it doesn't really relate to the matter at hand.

 

Like I said in my previous post, Stern should have fined him for using derogatory language towards the ref and left it at that. It shouldn't matter what words he used...he insulted a ref and should be fined for that and that alone.

 

It's the extra apologies that are being demanded that people are taking exception with. Kobe didn't bully anyone in the homosexual community and his words weren't targeted at any gay people. Why should he be made to apologize to them? They're just using this as a way to bring attention to themselves for social and political gain.

[nevermore]

I agree DarthJoe that he shouldn't need to give extra apologies.

 

But I do think there are some that would disagree with what I said based on some of the comments in this thread. It may not have really related to the Kobe Bryant situation but it does relate to the direction this thread has taken. At least that is how I took the comments!

[Viper Hunter]

I agree DarthJoe that he shouldn't need to give extra apologies.

 

But I do think there are some that would disagree with what I said based on some of the comments in this thread. It may not have really related to the Kobe Bryant situation but it does relate to the direction this thread has taken. At least that is how I took the comments!

 

 

That's the direction of taking peoples "FEELINGS" into consideration, which I addressed in my "sticks and stones" comment. We're free to insult people in this country, unless the manners police get created and sent out to arrest people for hurting other peoples FEELINGS and get accused of being rude and mean or of being bullies out to make people kill themselves? Is that the direction we all want to go, because some people can't handle criticism and ridicule? A pansy state? This has nothing to do with being critical of RUDE and obnoxious people that use crude language and have bad tempers and say hateful things that are intended to hurt other people, because we (generally) already ARE critical of such people, and what Kobe is going thru is proof of that, but there has to be a limit to how far we want to take this kind of reaction to such behavior. Of course (as a society) we want people to behave properly, and respect each other, and be kind and generous and loving and caring and treat people as we would like to be treated....the Golden rules of society. Nobody is promoting bad behavior, but I'm certainly not going to support some of these outrageous ideas about how to stop it. Somebody can call you every name in the book but that's not a crime. The person doing the name-calling can suffer some serious repercussions in how they're reputation is tarnished for such behavior and they'll have to deal with that, if they decide to fly off the handle on somebody. Where the LAW comes in, is when somebody takes a "stick" or a "stone" and causes you physical pain and damage, or as they saying goes....."breaks your bones" THAT is intolerable and why it's a crime to begin with. If somebody wants to go off and kill themselves for being treated poorly, I have no sympathy for them and I do not hold the rude person who insulted them accountable for anything other than being the #$## they probably already are.

 

Kobe's getting fined for his unacceptable comments to the ref, and that's how it should be, but taking his choice "insult" and trying to make more out of it than is necessary, just to protect a group of people perceived to be singled out as people worthy of ridicule and show us all a lesson in social civics 101 is what I'm in contention with. Once Kobe decided to address the ref with a derogatory comment and nasty slur (of any kind) he stepped over the boundaries of conduct in sports and he's being punished appropriately for it. If the ref runs out and jumps off a bridge, then God bless his poor soul, but that's on HIM and not Kobe. Policing manners is not saomething I want to even HUMOR the concept of.

[spystreak]

i agree that its bs.....and he really isnt a rapist when the chick had like 5 diffrent guys "man juice" in her when they swabbed her for evidence.

sounds like an episode of Maury Kobe you are not the father

[nevermore]

See DarthJoe?

 

VH I understand what you are saying. I don't think it should be a crime. I do agree that people should be able to say whatever they want and that people also need to deal with the repercussions. You say it on the job and you could get fired. Companies have images to protect. You say it at another time...fine. I don't like it but I am not trying to have what I don't like mandated and made against the law.

 

Taking people's feelings into account is the direction I would want to go. Thinking before you speak wouldn't hurt anyone. Like I said where is the harm in treating people decently? A pansy state? I guess I don't see how not degrading one another makes us pansies.

 

Of course if someone commits suicide it is on them. But if we as a society want to curb those actions we need to look at what is causing those actions and examine how we as a society contribute to it.

 

Case in point. One of my students was being bullied a lot. It didn't happen in my class (as far as I know) and I didn't find out about it till it was too late. But he eventually snapped and stabbed another student (who apparently wasn't even involved in the harassment)on the bus. Now if the kids taunting the kid hadn't done that, had decided not to use slurs and what not against him, he would be in my class getting an education and not in juvenile hall also the other kid wouldn't have been stabbed (he is fine btw).

 

Anyway, what I am trying to say is say what you want but I know for a fact that words hurt people. I think that is the message most of these organizations are trying to get across...change that way of thinking. Demanding Kobe apologize to anyone other than the ref is insane though. But like I said they want to change people's way of looking at things. Kobe goes around using the slur countless kids wearing Kobe jerseys are going to think its cool. But if Kobe goes on TV saying he shouldn't of done that, that he was wrong maybe they don't.

[Viper Hunter]

"Hurt" is the operative word here. Compared to what "sticks and stones" can do to a person physically, just how bad could harsh and offensive words really be...in that context? Just like in real life, I'd rather somebody cuss me out and call me every name in the book before raising a hand to me or taking their anger out on me physically or even taking it out on something personal of mine, like my home, my vehicle or private property. Scorned women that key your car or an angry ex boyfriend that flattens your tires or threatens to kick your ass and even tries to actually do so? I'll take the hurt feelings of being yelled at, cussed at and called nasty names over any of that. Yes..it hurts, but that's life in the FREE world. Bullies suck, nobody likes one and we all would like to see more people stand up to them, but that's life also and probably better prepares us for other disappointments in life and having to face problems in the social world. If you can't stand up to some harsh language and hurtful LANGUAGE in life, then you're in for some serious disappointment in life. A bully that physically assaults someone is already in trouble and will face a more serious punishment, than what a "bully" who verbally abuses a weaker person who won't (or doesn't know HOW) to stand up for themselves. Children (in particular) can be very cruel and have no filters to siphon out their compulsive thoughts and will SAY whatever pops into their heads, especially when angered. This is probably where the expression stems from? To let the would be victims of verbal abuse, teasing and taunting know that they are just WORDS and the people using them are not to be given a 2nd thought to, not are we to ALLOW those words to influence us in any way shape or form. Same goes for the expression "opinions are like azzholes..everybodies got one". We can't enforce anti-hate laws anymore than we can penalize people for their opinions, just because they're disagreeable to us.

 

Case in point. One of my students was being bullied a lot. It didn't happen in my class (as far as I know) and I didn't find out about it till it was too late. But he eventually snapped and stabbed another student (who apparently wasn't even involved in the harassment)on the bus. Now if the kids taunting the kid hadn't done that, had decided not to use slurs and what not against him, he would be in my class getting an education and not in juvenile hall also the other kid wouldn't have been stabbed (he is fine btw).

 

The student who physically stabbed someone is far greater the problem than even the so-called "bully" who may have taunted and teased them. That's outrageous and exactly the problem today, with how we're teaching our children to respond to such things. Being "bullied" is no excuse for stabbing someone. If this distrubed individual reacted so violently to teasing, then they've got serious mental issues and would have eventually taken such a drastic action against another who might hurt their FEELINGS. A cheating spouse, an angry boss an unruly and smartass child, who knows?

 

Bullies aren't getting WORSE, it's just the way our children are being raised these days, that makes them more susceptible to it, and enacting new LAWS to try and curb bully-type activity is heading in a direction we don't want to go. Education and awareness of how to deal with problems in life, from bullies to bad debt and marriage problems, is still the best option for raising responsible children. Wouldn't hurt to throw every TV in the house out the window either, but that's another issue altogether.