Black speedskater represents his race so awesomely!

[RiverTheNuts]

Im not saying its correct, or people have causation to act like he is some ambassador. However, lets be honest here, he is going to be viewed as such by the media and the public no matter what.

Taking this into consideration, he's got to know that acting the way he did makes him come off as a giant douche... maybe he just doesnt have enough experience with the media to realize the gravity of his situation and his responsibility, whether he likes it or not, he's stuck with it.

[maryfield48]

[ QUOTE ]
Relax, Boris wasn't calling you a bigot. He was pointing out that bigots always qualify their statements in a certain way. It just so happens you qualified your statement in that certain way ... doesn't mean you are a bigot.

However, the rest of the statement didn't help your cause much. Who ever heard of being an "ambassador" for people of a race? Why can't he just be a guy who is good at skating?

[/ QUOTE ]

If Boris was calling OP a bigot, he'd have pretty good grounds on the evidence of this thread. The subject line, and the very premise of the original post is that this skater should act differently because of his race.

Sounds like racism to me.

[TripleH68]

Why must we vilify our athletes?

Can you really imagine what it would be like to be the speedskater in question when the media says you are the 'favorite' to win gold. Or worse yet that you are 'expected' to win gold. The pressure would be enormous and surely you would need to be focused on your routine and not on pleasing the media. Of course all the while the US media is looking for anything to create controversy and get a scoop on something, particularly something negative.

Give the guy a break.

The olympics are supposed to be a celebration.

[Boris]

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... btw, Im not racist, I just thought this guy, as an ambassador for people of his race as far as winter sports go, was a complete jackass douche.

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I love how the bigots always qualify their statements like this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I love how people who aim to attack other posters completely ignore their entire post, search for a 4 word clause such as this one, and then proceed to comment on it as if they intimately knew the OP and his darkest secrets, attempting to make them public, adding nothing to the topic. I believe you just stereotyped people to a much further degree than I did in my OP as a "bigot."

You sir, are a [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

I read the entirety of your post before commenting. I'm not trying to out your "deepest darkest secrets". The fact that you hold a black speed skater to a different standard of conduct is a pretty str8 up indication that you are a bigot. At least you're open about it.

[Dids]

Guys, as an representative of MY race ([censored] white people), I'd like to state that we're totally not ok with the OPs post, and that as white people, we'd prefer our bigory to be more subtle and prehaps a little more intellegent.

[roundmound]

So you non-bigots don't think that Tiger Woods represents his race in golf? Jackie Robinson was just another baseball player and he shouldn't be celebrated? Fact is, this is the first black person to win an indivdual medal. This is a pretty big deal. Just like Tiger doing well at golf has created tons of inner city golf programs, this will lead to at least 1 black kid saying "Hey, I can do this if I want to." He doesn't have to embrace this, but it would be a shame if he didn't.

[Dids]

Given that Tiger's loathe to admit that he's black, I wouldn't say he does a fantastic job. Yes, there are more black kids playing golf, and Tiger deserves some of that credit, but he's not one to trumpet his race

The point is that it's nonsense to expect somebody to "represent" their race. Shani Davis, because he happens to be one of the few black skaters, shouldn't all of a sudden be exepcted to be act with the thought that he's representing a whole community (one that in large part rejected him BECAUSE he's a skater).

Moreover, the point you're addressing is hardly the one that the OP is making. He's basically saying "xxx is a [censored], but because he's black it reflects badly on all black people" That kind of generalization is just laughable.

[KudzuKing]

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Given that Tiger's loathe to admit that he's black,

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I don't think Tiger is loathe to admit he's black.
I think he respects his mother. and father.
Caublinasian. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[roundmound]

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The point is that it's nonsense to expect somebody to "represent" their race. Shani Davis, because he happens to be one of the few black skaters, shouldn't all of a sudden be exepcted to be act with the thought that he's representing a whole community (one that in large part rejected him BECAUSE he's a skater).

Moreover, the point you're addressing is hardly the one that the OP is making. He's basically saying "xxx is a [censored], but because he's black it reflects badly on all black people " That kind of generalization is just laughable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Shani shouldn't have to represent the whole community, but he will. African Americans who are leaders of their trade DO represent their community whether they want to or not. Shani has a chance to embrace it or shun it away. Either way he will always be known as the first black individual gold medalist and this will be mentioned in probably every winter olympics following this one. He can either be mentioned with praise, as someone overcame what no one in his race has, or he can be mentioned in passing. Anyone who thinks he is just another olympic athlete is naive.


[ QUOTE ]
Given that Tiger's loathe to admit that he's black, I wouldn't say he does a fantastic job. Yes, there are more black kids playing golf, and Tiger deserves some of that credit, but he's not one to trumpet his race


[/ QUOTE ]
Tiger spends a lot of time doing free clinics and giving away equipment to inner city youth. I think he deserves more than some credit. Tiger also has given a ton of praise to Lee Elder for paving the way for him and he hopes other African Americans will follow in his footsteps. Its laughable that you think Tiger pushes his race to the background.

[Clarkmeister]

I'm glad both these douchebags lost the 1500m today. Very fitting.