Whitlock with a good article on the Riley Cooper situation

[Fat Elvis]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/w...d-learn-080113

We, the media, will blow this Riley Cooper teachable moment. It’s what we do when it comes to race. We look for good guys and bad guys, villains and heroes. We choose the politically correct path rather than the road to understanding.

Riley Cooper
RILEY'S RUNAWAY MOUTH



Riley Cooper, a receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles, did and said something very, very stupid and disgusting. Drunk and partying in a sea of whiteness, Cooper apparently lashed out at a black security guard and threatened to "fight every n****r here".

A cellphone camera captured Cooper’s ignorance. It took a month, but the blogosphere unearthed the video and broadcast it to the world. The Eagles reacted responsibly, fining Cooper and forcing him to confront his mistake publicly with the media and privately with his teammates.

Watch what he said. Warning: Language is universally considered to be offensive . . .

I don’t expect the media to respond as responsibly. Too many of us will think the solution is for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to suspend Riley Cooper. Too many of us will think Riley Cooper in no way reflects on all of us.

Well, I’ve been young, drunk, filled with athletic testosterone and partying in a sea of blackness. I’m glad there were no cellphone cameras then. I’ve been middle-aged, drunk, filled with non-athletic cholesterol and partying in a sea of blackness. I’m glad no one recorded the foolish thoughts I’ve uttered when I assumed no one around me would be offended.

Maybe most of the people working in the media are perfect, immune to impure, biased thoughts or actions. I’m not. And no one I know is. What happens with age and maturity is we get better at combatting our biases and keeping them from spilling out of our mouths. When we intellectually evolve, we get better at seeing the stupidity of our biases and not letting them dictate our actions.

I’m extremely distrustful of anyone who claims they’re free of biases. They’re dishonest or delusional.

For the most part, Riley Cooper handled his apology flawlessly. He forthrightly expressed the proper remorse and humbly answered every question.

“This is the lowest of lows,” Cooper said. “This is not the type of person I want to be portrayed as. This isn’t the type of person I am. I’m extremely sorry.”

There’s no room for Cooper to be totally honest. The media — social and legitimate — won’t allow Cooper to be transparent. What was captured on tape is a reflection of what type of person Cooper is.

He’s flawed. He’s a product of America’s conflicted melting pot. That is not a knock on America. We have racial issues because we’re the most diverse nation on the planet. We have trouble working through those issues because dishonesty and simple-mindedness are rewarded.

Like all of us, Riley Cooper is biased. He needs to admit that to himself so he can adequately combat his biases and be a force for positive change.

I used to be proudly homophobic. I used the F-word regularly. In 1998, while sitting in the New England Patriots press box, I got in a back-and-forth exchange with Pats fans and cracked a “joke” that ended with me asking, “Drew Bledsoe gay?”

The ensuing controversy started the process of me recognizing and realizing the utter ignorance of my homophobia. I used to be offended when people analogized the struggle for gay equality with black people’s struggle for equality. I now get it and understand their struggle benefits our struggle and the overall fight for fairness.

I hope Cooper is allowed to evolve. I hope we don’t demonize him to the point that he becomes John Rocker II and more entrenched in bigotry. I hope Cooper confronts who he is. He didn’t threaten to fight every n****r because there’s no bigotry in his heart and mind. He did it because he has failed to deal with who he really is.

He’s in the same denial most of us are in. I’m talking about all of us — black, white, brown and yellow.

I want to make one other point before I finish. Cooper’s transgression isn’t much of a locker-room issue for the Eagles. There are bigots of every color on sports teams. The beauty of sports is that teams force participants to put aside their biases and work together. Working together is different from liking or respecting each other.

Cooper isn’t a coach or executive with the power to hire and fire people based on his racial biases. Cooper is a player. He’s a 25-year-old kid with immature thoughts. His teammates will move on as long as he plays at a high level.

Racial slurs fly on football fields somewhat regularly. It’s a violent game that brings out the worst in people. My junior season at Ball State, I played against a white Northern Illinois defensive tackle who N-bombed me most of the afternoon. I kept shouting at his mostly black defensive teammates about why they would tolerate such a flaming idiot. The next year, the same guy was the most courteous opponent I played against all season.

Let’s help Cooper evolve and mature. We might be surprised by the results.

[9er guy]

Originally Posted by Clayton Bibsby

I'm not convinced. You're white for all intensive purposes until proven otherwise.

Hmmmm ok. Well I can't post links so....

[Mav]

Originally Posted by 9er guy

Hmmmm ok. Well I can't post links so....

Better not to make eye contact with that one. Hes a special kind of stupid......

[TEX]

Originally Posted by 9er guy

Sooooo your point is what again?

Thaaaat you're a special kind of idiot if you can't figure it out...

[9er guy]

Originally Posted by TEX

Thaaaat you're a special kind of idiot if you can't figure it out...

Well I am special. That's not debatable.

Idiot? Maybe after a couple Jameson shots.

But hey, what are you gonna do?

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by 9er guy

Sooooo your point is what again?

I'm just using this particular incident to vent my thoughts on race in general, dont like it?

[9er guy]

Originally Posted by scott free

I'm just using this particular incident to vent my thoughts on race in general, dont like it?

No. I was just confused as to the revelance. But now I see you wanted to vent. That's cool.

Can I ask you a question? Do you know any black people that feel the system is keeping them down?

Or are you basing you opinion off of the claims of the NAACP, and the Black structure that exists in the media?

I'd also like to tack on that MOST of the people incarcerated in America (regardless of race) are non-violent drug offenders.

So while I agree that there's definitely violence associated with drugs in ANY poor area (Regardless of race).

The idea that the majority of black incarceration is associated with violence(Whether associated with drugs or not) is just not accurate.

[9er guy]

I also think that in ANY poor area (Regardless of race) Public school is going to be shitty. That's just how it goes.

[Setsuna]

Originally Posted by 9er guy

No. I was just confused as to the revelance. But now I see you wanted to vent. That's cool.

Can I ask you a question? Do you know any black people that feel the system is keeping them down?

Or are you basing you opinion off of the claims of the NAACP, and the Black structure that exists in the media?

I'd also like to tack on that MOST of the people incarcerated in America (regardless of race) are non-violent drug offenders.

So while I agree that there's definitely violence associated with drugs in ANY poor area (Regardless of race).

The idea that the majority of black incarceration is associated with violence(Whether associated with drugs or not) is just not accurate.

Originally Posted by 9er guy

I also think that in ANY poor area (Regardless of race) Public school is going to be shitty. That's just how it goes.

Yeah this solidifies it. You are certainly not black.

[9er guy]

Originally Posted by Clayton Bibsby

Yeah this solidifies it. You are certainly not black.

LoL. Why do you say that?

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by 9er guy

No. I was just confused as to the revelance. But now I see you wanted to vent. That's cool.

Can I ask you a question? Do you know any black people that feel the system is keeping them down?

Or are you basing you opinion off of the claims of the NAACP, and the Black structure that exists in the media?

I'd also like to tack on that MOST of the people incarcerated in America (regardless of race) are non-violent drug offenders.

So while I agree that there's definitely violence associated with drugs in ANY poor area (Regardless of race).

The idea that the majority of black incarceration is associated with violence(Whether associated with drugs or not) is just not accurate.

To your first sentence, the last black guy i had true, personal friendship with was 3 years ago, he never stopped ranting about the white man, even went to the way back machine and started bitching about how he knew my mom discouraged me from hanging out with him when we were kids because he was trouble, we damn near had a fight... and she was RIGHT lol, ALL we did together as kids was go around looking for trouble with Gibs as the prime instigator.

I hadnt seen him for 20 years then moved back to my hometown and bumped into him again, we started hanging out until i found out he was a crack dealer... always wanting a ride somewhere for something... a prospect that made me nervous as hell, thats why i cut off all contact with him shortly thereafter. Superfluous info here, but he had a chance to be so much better than he is now, his mom is the mother of one of Ken Nortons kids and she tried to put him on the right path with her connections.

Drug violence? sorry, i'm not buying what you're saying, black neighborhoods are the most violent in every single place i've lived.

[9er guy]

Originally Posted by scott free

Drug violence? sorry, i'm not buying what you're saying, black neighborhoods are the most violent in every single place i've lived.

Where have you lived?

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by 9er guy

Where have you lived?

I'm not revealing all kinds of personal info here, but i've been east, north, south and west.

Big towns, small towns... you get the idea.

[9er guy]

Originally Posted by scott free

I'm not revealing all kinds of personal info here, but i've east, south, north and west.

Big towns, small towns... you get the idea.

I don't see what the harm is if you don't live there anymore.

I just don't buy that every single place you've lived there's just been this unstoppable wave of black violence.

[Baby Lee]

I can honestly say I've never leveled that word at anyone identifiable or any identifiable group. I have said it in reciting a joke I heard or read, but I make no apologies for my love of aggressive shocking humor.
And I have the background for [and, winning in the end, against] it. My two best friends were jacked in the Crown Center parking garage when they were 16 by a prowling group of AAs, put them in the hospital, ended up with a settlement from Crown Center. My mom's side of the family is in the deep south and it was as simple as saying someone's proper name. I can remember as young as 5-6 playing with kids at the laundromat and my grandma whispering salaciously 'get away from them n___s, boy.' I watched my uncle throw half of his stepdaughter's stuff out on the lawn because she was running around town with a group that included a couple n___r boys. That last was particularly ironic as he had no problem with his step-brother coming around with his black twink boyfriend. Even my mom went into a tizzy in the early 90s when there was a house on the market on our block and a black family came to check it out, peering through the curtains and muttering under her breath.

But they gave me a shit ton of leeway as a kid growing up [amazing because they stayed out of my 'romantic' life as well, while my younger sister got the eagle eye throughout puberty and never had a closed bedroom door from age 13 on], and I made friends with the minorities as a matter of course, tastes in music, love of soccer, BMX-skateboard culture all contributed. Then in college I had a black roommate for two years who subverted every stereotype, dude was Count-RY!! Studying for a pilot's license, pledged Alpha Gamma Rho [the farmer's frat], music major with agriculture minor, listened most always to classical music. Funny story, his dad was even more nerdy than him, and showed up at the end of the first year to take him home wearing a t-shirt with a huge triangle with a rainbow inside it he'd found at Goodwill, Jamaal had to explain to him he was wearing a LGBT shirt.

[BradBigglestein]

This is off topic from the Riley Cooper incident, but I recall Whitlock being extremely critical of Andy Reid from afar when he was still coaching the Eagles. The national media has always loved Andy Reid and criticized Philadelphia for wanting a change at coach, but Whitlock was never an Andy Reid fan.

What has he said about the hire from the Chiefs? I know Whitlock used to be a KC writer(KC Star I thought?). I don't know if he is anymore. I don't follow him all that closely.