In Reply to: Give me an example posted by TheHappyBurgermeister on April 15, 2026 at 07:05:26
I wouldn't have cared if the team was indeed diverse in the first place. Knowing the players, I know there is diversity there, which made it fun for me. Though what I personally responded to was the fact that I *liked* each and every player on the team. I connected with them.
The thing is, I know my perception of ethnicity and diversity is not the same as everyone else's. There are a lot of people out there, and they're real people, who are not in tune with genealogy but appearances (this is partially a response to donutello as well, though I'd rather not engage him directly coz we've had our history). They literally see skin tone. The one thing that's outwardly, instantly visible.
I mean, we can say "I don't see color" all day long and feel great saying it. We can say "but when you know where these players come from, they're really diverse" until our face turns blue, but the fact is, for a casual viewer *or* for comentators who had to deal with racism in the sports casting business, who saw and/or felt white players getting more attention and more positive spin than black players, with Caitlin Clark vs Angela Reese nonsense that was constantly spoonfed to fans a short time ago, when they look at the team, they won't see what we see, nor will they remain neutral.
When the ESPN commentators all picked South Carolina to win the game, was it only East Coast bias or was there another, more racially, nay, skin color oriented theme at work there?
The same people who saw Texas throw all kinds of physicality at us in the FF game and saw our team handle that so well and not get fazed at all, were still talking, IIRC, that we would not be able to compete with South Carolina's physical playing style ... Something that apparently Dawn Staley disagreed with and understood what the Texas game had showed.
Like I said, I don't have any problem whatsoever. But my sense of diversity is not tuned into color. It is well satisfied by having a Serbian and a New Zealander on the team (and that is assuming I needed to see diversity in the first place). But I am also aware that the way I see things is not the same as the way the rest of the people out there do. And (going back to donutello) that's not because they're mentally ill. That's because their life experience and emotional responses are shaped by where they're coming from. (That mental illness comment really irked me, but again, I'm not getting into another argument with him. I have a blood pressure situation I'd rather keep a lid on, personally.)
That's all I wanted to point out when I chimed in.
Peace now. Peace tomorrow. Peace forever.