Is this racism?

[flatandy]

It’s not slavery but the US sport draft has some very weird aspects where athletes have no say about who employs them and who they work with. The baseball trade system is the same

[mids]

Although we know that many slaves benefitted from their employment.

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-florida-standards-teach-black-people-benefited-slavery-taught-usef-rcna95418

[Repat Van]

Oct 7, 2023 4:56:52 GMT flatandy said:

It’s not slavery but the US sport draft has some very weird aspects where athletes have no say about who employs them and who they work with. The baseball trade system is the same

So do they just sign up and have to play for whoever purchases them?

[perrykneeham]

.... and pick cotton after training.

[rick49]

Oct 7, 2023 4:56:52 GMT flatandy said:

It’s not slavery but the US sport draft has some very weird aspects where athletes have no say about who employs them and who they work with. The baseball trade system is the same

true. but if the players got to choose which team they wanted all the best players would choose to play for the few top tier winningest teams. no one would want to play for the chicago bears for instance because they are such a lousy team.

[rick49]

So do they just sign up and have to play for whoever purchases them?

no, they aren't bought. they are drafted/chosen by a team. they must play for the team that drafts them. salary negotiation comes later.

[flatandy]

Oct 7, 2023 17:03:47 GMT rick49 said:

Oct 7, 2023 4:56:52 GMT flatandy said:

It’s not slavery but the US sport draft has some very weird aspects where athletes have no say about who employs them and who they work with. The baseball trade system is the same

true. but if the players got to choose which team they wanted all the best players would choose to play for the few top tier winningest teams. no one would want to play for the chicago bears for instance because they are such a lousy team.

That’s the way it works in association football. In the US they go through college, pop out at 22 as fully formed athletes who then get chosen by teams in an order dictated by how bad they were last year. So basically the best young player automatically goes to the worst team in the league. It’s a bizarre system.

And because it’s mostly white people deciding which young black boys get to go where, there are some very weird connotations in the US.

[rick49]

and if the people who did the drafting were all black, and every player on the teams were black, and all the owners, coaches and trainers were black, someone somewhere would still manage to see white racism.

[flatandy]

It would have less dodgy connotations if the racial dynamic was different. But it’s still weird. Players are under some universal contract with no possible other employer for their skills and are sent to work with whoever chooses them.

It’s odd, though. For all that it feels very meat-market, you are right that it helps fix competitive imbalance, particularly when combined with salary caps. The European free market model makes it much harder for teams to compete than the US socialist model.

[rick49]

It would have less dodgy connotations if the racial dynamic was different.

what racial dynamic. white players are being treated the same. nobody is forcing them to play football. they can walk out at anytime. a top player can make in one season enough money to last them for the rest of their lives.

[flatandy]

The racial dynamic where most of the people being traded are black and most of the people doing the trading are white. If you don't see that it has slightly loaded connotation in the US, you're very strange.

You might think it's coincidence (I think it's coincidence), but it still looks slightly disturbing.

[rick49]

Lawsuit: U.S. Naval Academy’s Consideration Of Race In Its Admissions Process Is Unconstitutional
thefederalist.com/2023/10/06/lawsuit-u-s-naval-academys-consideration-of-race-in-its-admissions-process-is-unconstitutional/

[flatandy]

It's an interesting claim for the lawsuit given that the supremes explicitly excluded military academies from its ruling a few months ago.

[Repat Van]

Weirdly - a woman this time.

Wonder if she is batty as a box of frogs or just plain evil.

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/hubert-brown-bristol-stabbing-murder-tribute-woman-arrested-b1110845.html

“Tributes have been paid after a man died following an alleged “race hate” attack in Bristol.

Hubert Brown, 61, was stabbed to death after he was attacked in the St Paul’s area of the city on Friday afternoon.

Christina Howell, 46, from Easton, appeared at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Monday after she was charged with murder in connection with the incident.”

Press can’t seem to decide whether she is 46 or 36.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/24230707/tribute-hubert-brown-murder-charge-bristol/amp/

[perrykneeham]

It's The Sun, so 46 years, 36 bust, I expect.

[rick49]

trees are racist?

USC outdoors club for black students to combat ‘stigma,’ ‘racism’ in nature

"Student: Trees may remind African Americans of lynching, slavery"

"Through nature hikes, camping, yoga, gardening and more, a new student organization at the University of Southern California says it’s working to dismantle “environmental racism” for the black community."
www.thecollegefix.com/usc-outdoors-club-for-black-students-to-combat-stigma-racism-in-nature/

ok, we're toppling statues of confederates and horses because they were racist and remind people of slavery, so when does the the cutting down of every tree in the country begin?

[perrykneeham]

There is an alternative, where the trees get to stay ....

[marechal]

Black people lynched with impunity in my own lifetime and it's not the fault of the people who did it and who let them get away with it, it's the fault of the trees.

Did I get that right?

[mids]

The countryside is racist here too. The grass, the trees, the hills, the glens, the bonnie purple heather. You name it, racist to its core.

[Repat Van]

Oct 10, 2023 19:44:52 GMT mids said:

The countryside is racist here too. The grass, the trees, the hills, the glens, the bonnie purple heather. You name it, racist to its core.

Sounds made up.