March 28, 2007

The Onionization of America, Part 329

From ESPN, not The Onion:


Ex-NBA Star's Anti-Semitic Slurs Draw Suspension

Former NBA All-Star Micheal Ray Richardson appeared to be getting his life back on track after his league suspension in 1986 for drug use. He was coaching in the Continental Basketball Association and had led his team, the Albany Patroons [huh?], to the playoffs. But as they say: What goes up, must come down.

The Patroons have suspended Richardson for the rest of the CBA championship series for comments made to the Albany Times Union on Tuesday. Before Tuesdays game against the Yakima Sun Kings, Richardson made anti-Semitic comments to two reporters in his office when discussing the contract general manager Jim Coyne had offered him Monday to coach his team in the CBA and USBL.

"I've got big-time lawyers," Richardson said, according to the Times Union. "I've got big-time Jew lawyers."

When told by the reporters that the comment could be offensive to people because it plays to the stereotype that Jews are crafty and shrewd, he responded with, "Are you kidding me? They are. They've got the best security system in the world. Have you ever been to an airport in Tel Aviv? They're real crafty. Listen, they are hated all over the world, so they've got to be crafty."

And he continued, "They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean?" he said. "Which I think is great. I don't think there's nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they're run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they're run by Jewish. It's not a knock, but they are some crafty people."


Richardson defended himself against charges of anti-Semitism in the manner that is becoming traditional for accused sports stars, pointing out that one of his ex-wives was Jewish.


Obviously, these are not "anti-Semitic slurs," but pro-Semitic compliments. And, equally obviously, everybody knows what this poor bastard said is more or less true. Most obviously of all, that was his real crime: telling the truth.

Since nobody is more holier than thou than sportswriters (the whole point of spectator sports is our love of inequality, of finding out who is better than whom, so sportswriters are the single profession, this side of gender studies professors, quickest to denounce anybody who publicly mentions inequalities), there can be no mercy. This mental butterfly must be crushed on the wheel of political correctness.

It will be interesting to see if Jesse or Al (or Barack?) jumps into defend him Richardson, since he's black, so he's got that going for him, unlike all the white sportsmen ruined for purported anti-black prejudice, such as Paul Hornung who lost his radio job. It would be right and fitting if Alan Dershowitz offered to take his case pro bono, but I don't think that will happen.


My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

He basically says Jews are smart and successful. He even says they are these things in spite of global persecution. How does the article characterize his statements?

And the offensive remarks didn't stop there.

Jeez. If those are insults, feel free to offend me using the same language any time.

In pre-PC, pre-multicultural, pre-diversity America, we used to call such remarks compliments.

Anonymous said...

We ought to be adults.

Guy needed a private talking to by upper management about how to parrot PC stuff. But that's it.

It ought to be just left alone.

But it won't because PC is too powerful a tool to be ever challenged (it stifles dissent and truth-telling). PC is the ultimate hammer to hit unpopular people and thoughts so for that reason the man must be persecuted.

Anonymous said...

It's ludicrous that the fellow was suspended for saying that, but he's even more obtuse about context than Steve Sailer pretends to be.

Jews have been hated by so many, for so long, that the very word "Jew" has gained the power of a racial slur when it is used as an adjective like this: "Jew Lawyer". "Jewish" doesn't have the same harsh connotation.

Also, examples of Jewish success in fields such as law and business have been used in the past (and today) by Jew-haters to extrapolate conspiracy theories against Jews which in turn are used to justify hatred against Jews. You don't have to stray farther than iSteve comments sections to see this line of reasoning in action.

I don't expect a minor league basketball coach to get this, but I'm sure Sailer does. This feigned ignorance of the consequences of his Human Biodiversity ideas is Sailer's chief weakness.

Anonymous said...

I think its pretty damn funny......


Scandinavians aren't morose.

Frenchies aren't rude.

The English have nice teeth.


Russians aren't brusque.


Italians dont like fine cuisine.


Spanish women aren't sexy.


West African blacks aren't athletic.


Norwegians aren't blonde (and hot).


Germans dont really excell in math and automanufacturing and are ultra-precise and headstrong.


Austrains dont really excel in music.


Ukranian women aren't really sexy.



Japanese arent really into fetishism and advanced microtechnology.


Australians aren't really hearty, rugged, outback types with sunny dispositions


Irish really have no talent for poetry or drinking (so help me Ive met an Irish GIRL who can drink me under a table before she gets a buzz, and can down a tall beer in one big swallow).


Scottish really aren't tight with a dollar and frugal.


Hungarians are terrible weight-lifters, and Swedish men really aren't very strong. All those strongmen trophies and wieght lifting records dont prove anything.





But George Bush really is an unread, hard-headed, idiot. That IS true.



By the way................wouldn't it not been SO DAMNED FUNNY if Michael Ray Richardson had said "man, Im in trouble, all I could afford were two Jewish lawyers, and we all know that none of them are any good in the courtroom, and are usually kinda slow-witted. I might as well plead out now and take a deal with the D.A." and....."I went to Tel Aviv once, and despite everything you hear about its world class security and technological innovation, its no different than any other middle eastern city".

James said...

They changed the headline, got rid of the "anti-semitic slurs" bit.

Anonymous said...

If positive characteristics can be true in general than the negative characteristics can be true. That is what these people scared of because if they know positive generalizations can be made than negatives one can be made too. Its unfortunate people can't take negative generalizations, people should take the good with the bad. Well at the least press tries to be consistent. Sports journalists seem to be big government types even if they deny it.

Richard said...

"Patroons [huh?]"

The patroons were the Dutch colonial landholding impresarios. They brought settler families over as the patroon, or in English, Patron of the settlement.

The Roosevelts were Patroons.

I learned that in Papist grammar school. See, at least one of your readers is older than you are. There aren't any nuns still beating essential facts into young students anymore.

Anonymous said...

"Crafty" implies shiftiness, amorality. He's saying Jews are sneaky and cunning, so he's glad to have two of them.

Anonymous said...

Richardson defended himself against charges of anti-Semitism in the manner that is becoming traditional for accused sports stars, pointing out that one of his ex-wives was Jewish.

I trust her divore lawyers influenced his view of Jewish lawyers.

Anonymous said...

No one can praise, belittle, make fun of or otherwise insult Jews except Jews themselves. By all let this be known.
In fact, talking -or even thinking- about them is streng verboten for gentiles.
Holocaust is always around the corner.

Anonymous said...

Some stereotypes may be true, others are idiotic. "French are rude" - ridiculous. I don't think anyone who has spent significant time in France as a non-tourist would buy this generalization. Most French have excellent manners. Russians and Indians are much ruder. "Ukrainian women are really sexy" - if your idea of sexy is 'acting like a cheap whore', maybe. "Austrians excel in music" - not in the last 100 years they don't. "Italians like fine cuisine" - not necessarily, they like good food. To me "fine cuisine" means some fancy $45 fish foam dish in a NY restaurant.

Anonymous said...

The patroons were the Dutch colonial landholding impresarios. They brought settler families over as the patroon, or in English, Patron of the settlement.

Not to get too far off-topic, but there's quite a story here. Dutch colonial rule in what's now New York State ended with the British takeover of New Amsterdam in 1674 and there was little Dutch immigration after that point. Amazingly, some of the well-to-do families of Dutch origin in the Hudson River valley continued to use Dutch as their first language until around World War II - more than 250 years after the end of colonial rule and significant immigration!

(Source: Made in America, by Bill Bryson)

Anonymous said...

As far as Richardson using the word "crafty," it was fed to him by the reporter and I doubt he understood its pejorative implication. He probably just thought it meant smart.

Anonymous said...

I don't think anyone who has spent significant time in France as a non-tourist would buy this generalization. Most French have excellent manners.

That is small consolation to people in the English-speaking world. Very few of whom have spent time in France as anything but tourists. People I've known who have visited France almost universally complain about the rudeness of the French.

Anonymous said...

As far as Richardson using the word "crafty," it was fed to him by the reporter and I doubt he understood its pejorative implication. He probably just thought it meant smart.

On a basketball court, being called crafty would usually be a compliment.

Grumpy Old Man said...

There's an old joke from Hitler's day. One of two Jews is reading the Volkische Beobachter, and the other, shocked, asks him why.

"It had lots of good news," the other replies, "It says Jews control the banks, the newspapers, the universities . . . "

Everybody is too f**ing sensitive these days.

Anonymous said...

Don't swear, please.

Ron Guhname said...

I could understand people being upset if someone said that Jews have some quality, and something needs to be done about it, but the culture is so dysfunctional, a guy gets busted merely for claiming that people are different (and that he supports those differences). To not be a bigot, we have to say, "I support Jews, but, when I say Jews, I mean a group that is held together by a name only--it possesses no characteristics whatsoever that set if off from non-Jews."

Anonymous said...

I know quite a few Ukrainian women--my wife for one--and while I can vouch for their sexiness (really just attractiveness), I haven't met a slutty one.

Anonymous said...

Two thoughts: A)Brotha says he was married to a Jewish woman. ('Was' being the operative word.) Lets see:black b-ball star married to a white jewish woman,ya think maybe there were some non-PC moments in that marriage? Recall the great Don Rickles and how he would 'riff' on his Jewish wife:she just lays there and sceams "Buy me a diamond!!" :) B)When the Clarence Thomas debacle was going on there was a lot of talk from black "spokesmen" about how terrible and racist it is to "stereotype" black males as having high sex drives and big willies...to which most guys would say,"Ya mean,thats bad??":) I understand the thinking that once you allow that some so-called "stereotypes" are true,(and BTW the guy that coined the term 'stereotypes',if living,should be shot-if dead,dug up and well,shot.)it opens the door to more truth-telling,and we cant have that!

Anonymous said...

I know quite a few Ukrainian women--my wife for one--and while I can vouch for their sexiness (really just attractiveness), I haven't met a slutty one.

Well, the Ukraine has at least one fairly attractive female politician that I'm aware of: Yulia Tymoshenko of the plaited hairdo.
See here, here and here.

Anonymous said...

wasn't MRR the only NBA player dumped permanently from the league for drug offenses? the NBA instituted its drug policy to try to correct the (correct) public perception of widespread drug use by players, but the focus was on the perception and not the reality. The journal reported on Reggie Lewis, who probably tested positive repeatedly or was carefully not tested by the NBA, who finally died of excessive cocaine use, long after MRR was drummed out of the league. MRR was the example to prove that the league had gotten tough on drugs. The architect of the sham drug policy was David Stern, a crafty NY *** and maestro of a sports league. Who knows why MRR was singled out. Maybe his outspoken nature had gotten him on Stern's bad side. Keep in mind, this is the league in which Stern and the officials threw the last championship to Miami (game 5 ended with Dirk Nowitski kicking a ball into the crowd because the foul calls were so punitively lopsided) because they didn't like Mark Cuban. Because Cuban hadn't payed his dues. Because he hadn't played ball, bowed to the system.

Anonymous said...

NBA players w/ drug problems that may have been kicked out:

Pretty sure Roy Tarpley, Chris Washburn...
Maybe Richard Dumas and John Lucas, I don't remember

Anonymous said...

Society encourages blacks to recognize group achievement when it it’s their own group. How is Richardson to know there's a different rule for Jewish achievement? As I once put it: the presence of many Jews in an important field must not be mentioned, the presence of a black in an endeavor of no significance must be celebrated.

In his comment above Fred correctly diagnoses what underlies this taboo, but fails to grasp that the rest of us are not obliged to particpate in this paranoia.

Anonymous said...

To be mildly contrary, it *has* always been a gripe of mine that Jews are thought to be or "crafty," or at best, "clever," two of the most dismissive terms for "smart."

"Intelligent, hard-working, and typically well educated" (e.g., the common asian steriotype) is a lot more positive than "crafty," which connotes trickiness or intelligence used to bad ends.

That said, Chris Rock's routine about jewish stereotypes is pretty funny and insightful.

Anonymous said...

In these days of declining educational standards, it's heartening to see a grammatical error provoke such outrage.Jew is, of course, a noun;Jewish is the related adjective. I suspect Mr Richards will remember that in future.

Anonymous said...

Sorry rob,but 'Jew' is sometimes a verb. Like,"Michael Richardson has gotten royally jewed!" Alas,Robbie, you're correct about one thing:he'll remember it and be nice in the future! :0

Anonymous said...

In these days of declining educational standards, it's heartening to see a grammatical error provoke such outrage.Jew is, of course, a noun;Jewish is the related adjective.

Jew as a singular noun is becoming somewhat derogatory or at least questionable. It's still perfectly acceptable to refer to Jews in a plural sense.