In an effort to be transparent, this post reads like you are attacking my attempt to understand a nuance I don't currently understand. That's my feeling, perhaps it has no value to you.
This is my last post in this thread because I'm not sure my attempt to discern the kernel of what is going on versus navigating a bunch of unwritten rules is being received well. For a person with Aspergers, it's a bit of a minefield.
I understand their are cultural deities that can't be touched. Obviously Robinson, MLK, Malcom X, etc. I'd add Bill Russell, Willie O'Ree as well locally. I think we are all at the point where we know, you don't speak negatively about the deities - even if they were human and weren't perfect. Fairly easy. Somewhere I'm sure there is a list of the deities for us to reference. Great, we are on the same page. For discussion, I think the cleanest parallel is Griffey Jr. He was also a recipient of these breaking the unwritten rules criticisms - "not following decorum" (hat on backwards, shirt untucked), not taking the game seriously. Almost a clone of Anderson's situation (as I understand it), and Griffey Jr's greatness was also inspirational. Had Anderson used Griffey as his inspiration would Donaldson's provocation have been wrong? It is a fair question to answer if you want people to grow from the situation. Your bolded statement clearly is accurate, and I don't see anyone questioning that. My issue in this context, is the presumption of Donaldson's intent. You (and others) seem to be comfortable doing that given your life lens. I'm not comfortable stamping a scarlet R on a persons forehead in order to make the bolded statement contextually applicable. (Or in this case, inferring the scarlet R simply because he made the made the statement, and then applying your bolded assessment.) Now, if one assumes that Donaldson is a schmuck, awards him the scarlet R, and condemns him via the bolded I'm not going to argue because I don't know the player - I have no standing. So I ask again, as a person who is trying to understand the nuances in play. If player X who is a decent person, with no scarlet R on his forehead makes the same comment about Anderson hypothetically comparing himself to the great Griffey Jr. - is Anderson experiencing racism if player X intends to mock him
because he is appropriating greatness. If we are unwilling, or unable to answer then I feel like something is wrong in the conversation.
@Doc Zero If you can't ask the questions, you can't learn from mistakes of others. Since we are not direct parties to the issue, a discussion board would seem an ideal place to ask the questions (in good faith) without causing further injury to Mr. Anderson. There is a difference between learning the nuance and justifying the behavior. Frankly on this board, too often things are shut down because trying to differentiate the subtleties of XYZ and XYZ1 and XYZ versus 123 is decried as what-about-ism. Or the implication that even asking the question is evidence of racism. Even better is, "if you don't know the answer you are part of the problem"... yeah, way to encourage people. Any moment now I'm expecting someone to ask me what my Donaldson fetish is, yuck, yuck. What if... He didn't. What if... He didn't, asking those questions are rationalizing the behavior. No, it's trying to understand a) where any other lines are, and b) is the thinking behind/underlying this something that I am comfortable being governed by. Just because a large group comes to a conclusion doesn't mean it is accurate or appropriate. I mean a 16 year old boy on the mall in DC was being chased with figurative pitchforks for things he didn't do - standing against that particular consensus turns out to have been the right thing to do. I'm not saying the consensus is very often wrong, but trying to understand the underpinnings of the consensus is worth discussion, and if you decline to participate because you feel it distracts from the 'current' problem then maybe there is never a good time to discuss it. Yes, I understand there are people here who feel this issue personally, just as there are issues in the past few days that I've felt extremely personally.
That is the reason we come to a discussion board, for the richness of our experiences - and short circuiting good faith dialog for any reason diminishes us. (I am also not attacking you, but using your post as a volley point.)