In an earlier post that few people read (it was about baseball, see) I pointed out the excessive, virtue-signaling punishment handed down by the team on Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran. His unforgivable offense was calling an abusive fan a “fucking fag” in a moment of temper during a game. The fan had apparent been ragging on him for the entire game from behind home plate, and the slur was picked up by the Red Sox game broadcast microphones and was audible to viewers. Duran apologized (immediately and well), but was fined and suspended for two games, which, given his status as arguably its best player, harmed everyone on the team while the Sox battle for a play-off slot. I have seen no indication that the fan taunting Duran was in fact gay, so the use of the slur “fag” was apparently just a random insult, but never mind: we are now in the world of censorship, word- taboos and hate speech hypersensitivity. I was called a fag once. I remember my response: “Is that the best you can do?” (It was.)
Duram served his two game suspension, but now he is on the LGBTQ Mafia’s hit list. In The Athletic today, “out” Boston sportswriter Steve Buckley goes after Duran again (no vendetta there!) because he wore the T-shirt above while being interviewed about the incident. You know, because sportswriters never use or hear the word “fuck,” and somehow the T-shirt’s legend means that Duran doesn’t take his outburst that employed a taboo word seriously enough.
The background is that Duran has had confidence, self-image and emotional problems in the past that had interfered with his play on the field. This season, a break-out year for the speedy outfielder, Duran has been wearing that shirt (I assume he has several) as therapy, to remind him not to let criticism from sportswriters and others undermine his spirit and focus. And it’s worked, or rather, he thinks it’s worked, which should be good enough.
But no. Steve Buckley, now that he’s officially gay and beyond reproach, has decreed that Duran must remove his “F*CK ‘Em” fashion to demonstrate that he is fully willing to cower before the wrath of Rainbow World and is genuinely abject in his regret, not for insulting a gay man, but for using a word.
Fuck that.
I have alluded here in passing to my brilliant, funny, tragic, college room mate Andy Kinkaid. Andy was a Vietnam veteran and thoroughly traumatized by the experience. He came out of Southeast Asia cynical and nihilistic, and spent most evenings getting stoned in his room. Even when stoned, Andy was witty and perceptive, and his mission, essentially his post-war philosophy to keep him sane, was not to let anyone or anything upset him more than he was already upset. Andy’s mantra was “Fuck it, right?”
I can’t count how many times that message from Andy kept one of my roomies or me from despair. I can picture him saying it, big smile and stoned-eyes, with a little head toss. Andy died shortly after graduation: he was on a trip to the Amazon and the bus he was riding in went off the road over a cliff. But Andy has made a difference in my life. “Fuck it, right?” echoes through my brain when I am being distracted by outside events, my own failures, the bad conduct of others, rotten luck and what my father called “the vicissitudes of life.” It works more often than not. Thank-you, Andy.
If Jarren Duran’s T-shirt helps him through the challenges in his life, then it is a talisman, not an insult to the world, and definitely not a call to arms for his newly-minted LGBTQ foes.
[As I finished this post, Jarren Duran hit a two-run scoring single to put the Red Sox ahead of the Orioles in the 7th inning, 3-1. I’n sure it was the T-shirt…]
Ethics Alarms 
I remember I called a Puerto Rican the N WORD at work once but it wasn’t an issue at all since he wasn’t black.
Right. What if he were Irish? What if you were Samuel L. Jackson?
yes, black people are allowed to call other people the N word and gay people can call other people faggots at work all day and it’s totally no issue at all
This one day at work I called my boss (who is very Irish) a nigga and no one cared! My coworker Jamal could hear me but it didn’t bother him at all since it wasn’t directed towards him.
I also called my buddy Sean who worked in the copy room a BIG FAG because he likes Harry Potter, Jordan overheard me (he’s gay), but he also didn’t care since I wasnt talking about him.
Honestly, I think It’s totally ethical to use slurs as long as the slur is aimed at a person who isnt gay or black etc. These fags and blacks are just way too sensitive these days
That’s enough for me! You’re banned. This kind of pseudo-satire is mockery rather than argument; it’s not respectful discourse and it’s not forthright. My ethical diagnosis: you’re a smug jerk who does not intend to participate in good faith here, under the delusion that you have special insight when in fact you have none, just hackneyed, kneejerk leftist conventional wisdom.
Bye!
ALERT: The obnoxious Cici has been banned. If she sneaks on a la “A Friend,” ignore her. The undocumented comment won’t be up for long.
As I read Cici’s post it became apparent to me that she is simply trying to goad commenters on this site to make some other comment that Cici will use as evidence that the site is home to racist extremists. After Cici’s last introduction to EA I came to the conclusion that barring any reasonable idea exchange I would no longer respond to anything Cici posts here. It did not take long to validate my analysis.
What people like this don’t comprehend is that I don’t read their post banning revenge posts, and just spam them as soon as they appear. Of course she would try to get in the last word—“jerk” is too mild. This is a toxic asshole. Her mind is as ossified as as an oss. Osshole?
On the Red Sox message boards, listservs and blogs, there is a clear schism between the rational fans who say, “Fine, the guy screwed up and embarrassed the team: he was fined and suspended, and the Woke Furies—there are a lot of them in New England, who are actually saying that the Red Sox should get rid of their best player this year, because he used a word that LGBTQ individuals find offensive, even as they acknowledge that he didn’t denigrate anyone for being gay, and that there is no evidence that he is anti-gay at all. He used a word deemed unforgivable according to the self-righteous Left’s commandments, and apologizing and being disciplined isn’t enough. He should be exiled and shunned.
Revolutionaries are implacable. They always move the goalposts once an objective has been achieved. If you’re an advocacy group and you achieve your goal, if you don’t find another goal, you’re out of business. E.g., LGB has had to move on to T to keep the advocacy groups intact. In addition, compromise is never acceptable. Total victory or nothing.
Kind of like today’s Democrats. Maybe it’s the Saul Alinsky thing.
So I guess the joke about the lesbian self immolation being called LGBBQ is off limits.
For Steve in NJ
Took a while for that one to sink in….
PWS
My snarky response to that: Send him to Texas.
Either team could use the help, Houston this year, Texas next year.
I’m sure he’d have no trouble clearing waivers, right? Or does being a pariah mean that Boston gets a pass on waivers?
Give the Red Sox a compensatory 25th round pick, which is actually more than they deserve for harboring such a menace to humanity.
Jarren’s teammates and fellow union members should wear undershirts that say “Yea, verily.”
Good for Duran. I am an Astros fan. Were one of my players to do the same thing, I would expect the same from him.
I see an opportunity for T-shirt vendors. Even a “2-Pak” pairing it with the “Yea, verily” shirt. Hoodies and tank-tops to follow…