Why such a big deal?

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

If you can't see why this is a big deal, you're ignorant. Willfully or not.

only the truly ignorant deal in such blatant absolutes.

its the typical "agree with me or your a poopoo head" mentality

its as big a deal as one chooses to make it. IMHO, it was a slow news day perhaps.

I havnt any problem with the guy being homosexual... i was eating a cheeseburger in a local venue when this came on the tv... the place was packed and the general mood of the place seemed to be a collective "meh"

my concern about this guys sexual preference is at a zero

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

only the truly ignorant deal in such blatant absolutes.

its the typical "agree with me or your a poopoo head" mentality

its as big a deal as one chooses to make it. IMHO, it was a slow news day perhaps.

I havnt any problem with the guy being homosexual... i was eating a cheeseburger in a local venue when this came on the tv... the place was packed and the general mood of the place seemed to be a collective "meh"

my concern about this guys sexual preference is at a zero

QED

Brace yourself, but your opinion on the matter means nothing. There's always going to be individual people for or against an idea. We care about individual instances more when they reinforce existing social problems because everything -- our thinking, our practice, our policy -- ultimately derives from our culture. One of the main methods to solve social problems is to change the culture by restricting and chipping away at the negative reinforcements.

This is something that confuses many people, who initially look at actions as discrete instances and not in a broader social context, or who don't hold that culture has a profound real-world effect.

The broader social institution holds that gay people are deviants, and not worthy of being able to marry or adopt kids, or any other number of actions that society doesn't blink an eye at when straight people are involved.

So to bring it home - why is it a newsworthy event when a pro sports athlete announced he's gay? Our culture has long decreed that straight men are macho hunter/gatherers and homosexuals are effeminate deviants who have no place in the "normal" world, much less the testosterone-driven sports world. For someone to come out and break that mold - the first person to do so - that's newsworthy.

Things that can seem like a "who cares" event when analysed in a vacuum can make perfect sense when you look closely at their context.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Brace yourself, but your opinion on the matter means nothing.

neither does yours

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

There's always going to be individual people for or against an idea.

fact

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

The broader social institution holds that gay people are deviants, and not worthy of being able to marry or adopt kids

of course there are some who think this... but i think the broader social institution doesnt hold that ideal. hell, all i have to do is look at all the equal signs on my facebook, many of them posted by baby boomer white christians i would never have guessed to be supportive of anything not printed in the bible... i dont care what the bleeding hearts have to say... every person out there isnt a foaming at the mouth gay hater.

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

So to bring it home - why is it a newsworthy event when a pro sports athlete announced he's gay?

its not

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Our culture has long decreed that straight men are macho hunter/gatherers and homosexuals are effeminate deviants who have no place in the "normal" world

some of them are effeminate deviants

does that make them sub human? no

i know a couple of them who could out-hunt most hunters i know in the freezing ass cold too

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Things that can seem like a "who cares" event when analysed in a vacuum can make perfect sense when you look closely at their context.

it is apparently a major event for you

its a minor event for me

im not going to bash the guy for being gay... its not a big deal. for the most part the response by the fans and other players has been "your gay?... ok well can you still sink it from the three point line?"

who cares...

in the world news this week lots of neat stuff happened... yet another gay celebrity type figure ranks pretty low on the list for me.

then again... this could have a lot more to do with the fact that im not even remotely a fan of basketball and thus wouldnt care to begin with.

i guess the point im trying to make is that we as a society have to stop making this sort of thing a big deal. sure, there will always be gay haters... just like there will always be racists.

i'm just as quick to hold the door for a little old black woman as i am for a little old white woman etc etc

and i have been just as quick to yes ma'am a clear and obvious cross dresser

i have said it before and i will say it again, in my life i have rubbed elbows with a lot of different folks - perhaps thats why i feel the way i do about the subject

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

neither does yours

Right. It doesn't. But I didn't make that statement to get into a "you too" back and forth, and I didn't make that statement to really attack your opinion personally. I was simply making the point that one individual's opinion is of little consequequence when taken in the context of society's as a whole.

of course there are some who think this... but i think the broader social institution doesnt hold that ideal. hell, all i have to do is look at all the equal signs on my facebook, many of them posted by baby boomer white christians i would never have guessed to be supportive of anything not printed in the bible... i dont care what the bleeding hearts have to say... every person out there isnt a foaming at the mouth gay hater.

I agree that a lot of progress has been made and gay people are becoming more and more accepted. But it's kind of a case where "this is a big news story until the day that it isn't." As long as there's still laws on the books that discriminate against gay folks, this is gonna be a news event.

it is apparently a major event for you

its a minor event for me

The same can be said about a lot of events that are objectively newsworthy. I may not care much about, say, a story like this: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...-in-calif?lite

But you may care about it more as it involves private aviation. So that doesn't mean it's not newsworthy.

in the world news this week lots of neat stuff happened... yet another gay celebrity type figure ranks pretty low on the list for me.

And that means we're making progress as a society as a whole. If only that were the case for more people.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

It speaks volumes about your own prejudices. You honestly can't see how the FIRST ACTIVE PRO SPORTS PLAYER to come out of the closet is newsworthy?

Jesus, Takeda is right.

Do you know how much sports I watch? Zilch, zero, zip. Nada. I could care less about ANY pro sports players. It's just more celeb worship in my opinion. So the guy plays a ball game.... big deal. I have always found ball games, about as much fun as watching nascar, which in turn is about as exciting as watching grass grow.

In nascar, they go around in a circle, and around, and around and around and around, ad nausem. In ball games what do they do? From one end of the court to the other, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth ad nausuem. About the only sport's i found even remotely interesting is hockey. At least then a fight or something exciting can happen. If i was to watch hockey, thats all I wait for, because the rest is just back and forth, back and forth...

borrrrinnngg.....

So, combine my complete lack of interest in sports, with a complete lack of interest in what some dude I don't know, have never met, nor will ever see, want's to do in his bedroom, and but that on the front page. What reaction do you expect?

EDIT:
As i've said, I find the whole thing very petty and unimportant. The world is a crappy place. Always has been, always will be. There's always something to worry and concern ones self about - but some ball player coming out of the metaphorical closet isn't one of them. I don't concern myself with such petty things. Never have, never will. What i want to see on the front page is news that matters. Things that effect our jobs, government, economy, the nation at large, foreign policy, things of that nature. If ball player Z comes out and say's he likes gender X, is top news and very important to you, then you must have a very sheltered view of the world.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Do you know how much sports I watch? Zilch, zero, zip. Nada. I could care less about ANY pro sports players. It's just more celeb worship in my opinion. So the guy plays a ball game.... big deal. I have always found ball games, about as much fun as watching nascar, which in turn is about as exciting as watching grass grow.

In nascar, they go around in a circle, and around, and around and around and around, ad nausem. In ball games what do they do? From one end of the court to the other, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth ad nausuem. About the only sport's i found even remotely interesting is hockey. At least then a fight or something exciting can happen. If i was to watch hockey, thats all I wait for, because the rest is just back and forth, back and forth...

borrrrinnngg.....

So, combine my complete lack of interest in sports, with a complete lack of interest in what some dude I don't know, have never met, nor will ever see, want's to do in his bedroom, and but that on the front page. What reaction do you expect?

But you are aware that sports is a multi-trillion dollar business? And pro-athletes are held up to a godly celebrity status? And that there's never been an openly gay pro athlete in the "big four" sports in the US?

You can't see how it's maybe a little teeeeny bit newsworthy?

[Ducimus]

See edit to prior post. And again, I could give less then a crap about celeb's. So they can do something very well on TV, big deal. There is always someone who can do something you can't, and there's always something you can do that other's can't. We all put our pants on one leg at a time.