Oscar Falls On His Blades

Last Olympics, I was moved to blog after hearing and watching the exploits of Oscar Pistorius, the amputee who overcame long odds to run with able-bodied athletes.  He was a role model and a hero.  Read blog here.

This hero and role model is now accused of the brutal murder of his girlfriend.  I was shocked and so was everyone who followed this man in the culmination of his dream.  How could he do this?  He seemed so grounded.   But did we know him?  Do we really know the people we make our role models?  Sometimes if we knew what they were capable of, we might be less inclined to make give them that status.

Role models and heroes are humans with the same weaknesses and desires like us.   Just read the papers or watch the news and you will always find stories where a  hero turned into a villain.  Fortunately, not every hero or role model choose to surprise us and end up being charged for heinous crimes or other criminal activity.  There are actually some that we can look up to but we should still never be too surprised when even these show their human sides.

Oscar is no different than the other stories you hear about NFL players or movie stars who kill their girlfriends or their families.  The fact that he is an amputee perhaps lends a ‘feel good’ touch to his story as we see him as ‘different’ but he’s not.  He is capable committing the same crimes as everyone else is.

Oscar is innocent until proven guilty and no matter what the verdict is, he will still be remembered for being the first amputee to compete with the big boys.  If he is found guilty, then he would have basically ‘fallen on his blades’ as far as killing his legacy.

My take.

Monkey follows olympic gymnast

That’s not the monkey bar!

May I have your attention please…Hello! Hello!  Oh, there you are, sorry for yelling.  I have another blog that is screaming for release.  Plus, it’s relevant to the Olympics which is taking place now, so I want to get it out there while it’s still relevant and fresh.

Ok, where do I start? Have you been following the Olympics at all? Even minimally?  If so, then you must have heard about Gabby Douglas, the darling of the games.  Gabby  happens to be black, (Go Sista! Represent!) and kicks some serious ass in gymnastics.  Yes! A black girl dominating a sport usually not reserved for us colored folks. Damn, I just identified my race. I hope this doesn’t interfere with our relationship.

Gabby Douglas, in winning the gold medal, became the very first African-American to do so.  Every television network worth their salt was talking about her exploits and NBC was no exception.  Well except what transpired after they were done talking about Gabby Douglas.  As soon as the sportscaster finished telling viewers what an accomplishment it was for an African-American girl to capture gold in such an event, the network proceeded to air an ad featuring a monkey doing gymnastics.  It was for a new show in that they were starting in the fall.

I am mad! I am steamed! I am upset! (Aren’t you going to ask me why?).  You automatically thought I am mad because of the monkey following Gabby?  Do I see it as an act of terrorism racism? Heck no.  I am mad about the protesters who took to twitter and other social media, to cry foul over this blatant act of racism.  (sarcasm).  Had I seen that apparent faux pas, I promise you that even as a brother, I would not have drawn such a conclusion.  It know that maybe I should be happy that us blacks have Twitterers and Facebookers looking out for our best interest but please I beg you, stop it! You are the ones who are waking up sleeping dogs here.   You see dead people.  You are just looking for a cause to protest.  Come on already!  Remember the Slave Shoes Adidas was attempting to produce?  They had ankle chains that prompted an outcry from those who cried foul and cried on their social media because it evoked memories of slavery.  Gad! Gimme a break! Adidas also had to issue an apology and dished production.
NBC was forced to send out an apology on their ill-timed ad.  In my opinion, or IMHO, this should have been a non-issue.  We should be celebrating this girl’s major accomplishment, not forever tarnishing it with our small-minded observations.  For all we know, it could have been an act of racism or maybe not.  We don’t know and we shouldn’t care. What people are saying behind our backs is none of our business.

Congratulations Gabby! Get that monkey off your back!

Note:  After all is said and done, I do agree on one thing, that the ad was indeed wrongly timed and as humans, we do suffer from foot in mouth diseases or brain freezes.

Related articles

• NBC Denies Any Racial Offense Was Meant By Olympic Monkey Promo (mediaite.com)
• NBC Apologizes For Monkey Gymnastics Spot After Gabby Douglas’ Win (alan.com)
• US TV Network Accused of Racism over Timing of Monkey Advertisement [VIDEO] (ibtimes.com)
• NBC coverage of Olympics causes outbreak of Offendeditis, Racial Obsession Syndrome (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)
• Gabby Douglas Makes History As First African-american Woman to Win Gold in Gymnastics (binsidetv.net)
• Adidas Slave Shoes

To Protect and Coddle

Ariane Friedrich (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While browsing the online news this morning, I came across a story where a famous German athlete was being stalked.  Read here.  This isn’t anything new.  People, especially famous people, are stalked all the time.  What made this blog worthy was what transpired after.

The stalker, to use the athlete Ariane Friedrich‘s own words, obviously ‘messed with the wrong person’ as she is trained as a police officer.  Not only that but she also took it upon herself to post the stalker’s information including name and address, on her Facebook page.  She also posted excerpts from the email he sent her.

So what’s wrong with that?  Well it seems that some people, including the German authorities has an issue with this outing.  Apparently her actions contravened their online data protection law, which makes it illegal to share information about someone online.    “As much as I can understand your anger about the stalker, you as a police officer should not just pillory somebody on the Internet,” one person wrote on Friedrich’s Facebook page.

In contrast to the negative reactions, I tend to agree with Ariane.  I think she did the right thing.  Maybe this guy is the husband of a wife who doesn’t know about his dark side.  Or maybe he works in an environment where he may need to be monitored.

I think that the law has coddled and protected the privacy of criminals for too long and it is one of the causes of repeat offenses.   I am not saying that as soon as someone is suspected of a crime, their names and pictures should be published.  What I am saying is that when proven guilty beyond a doubt, all privacy protection should be lifted.  Everyone should be made aware that John Doe has committed a crime for which he has been charged.  (One never know who else might be tempted to come forward with more accusations after this).  Sometime the embarrassment of their names and pictures being published could be more effective than a jail term.  (I know of individuals who did time behind bars then upon release, told everyone that they were in another province).

The cold, hard fact is that criminals are not made to take full responsibility for their actions.  In my opinion, victims are doubly victimized.  Once by the perpetrator and then again by the legal system that does all in its power to provide a soft landing for said criminals.

That’s just my take.  What’s yours?

 

 

Related articles

• Olympian outs stalker on Facebook, triggers debate (worldnews.msnbc.msn.com)
• German track star fights back against genital photo stalker – shames him on Facebook (offthebench.nbcsports.com)
• German Olympian Calls Out Crap Email Dude on Facebook [Facebook] (jezebel.com)