QUESTION: CNN Says, ‘WHITE’ Phelps Shouldn’t Carry US Flag, ‘A ‘MUSLIM’ Should … Is That BS?
This is OLYMPIC-Grade stupid. Do they train somewhere to dream up this crap?
What should you look for in a flag-bearer?
Standing in front of the world, surrounded by athletes at the top of their game. Who do you look for to represent your nation.
The guy with the highest GPA? Someone who brings brownies to shut-ins? That friend that always shows up on moving day? The new criteria are about that stupid.
This is an athletic event. If you want to showcase someone, it should be someone that even the other OLYMPIC athletes would look up to as “elite”.
It would be hard to top Phelps on that score. He is LITERALLY the most decorated athlete in history.
The Athletes, not surprisingly supported Phelps:
.@MichaelPhelps is HONORED to be #TeamUSA's flag bearer in the #Rio2016 Opening Ceremony ?❗️
Just 24 hours away! ⏰https://t.co/afA85LUPgf
— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) 5 August 2016
But to some people, he’s not the right choice for flagbearer. Because it’s somebody else’s turn.
Leading the pack of naysayers was W. Kamau Bell, host of CNN’s “United Shades of America.” In a CNN op-ed, he described the swimming sensation as a “tall, successful, rich white guy” who clearly didn’t “need the honor.”
“With 22 Olympic medals, you are already the most decorated athlete in Olympic history,” he said.
But American fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad is a different story.
“Muhammad carrying the flag would be much bigger than your one moment,” Bell writes. “It would be a symbol for our country in this moment when we are mostly known for one of the most contentious, controversial, scandal-ridden, hateful, xenophobic, jingoistic, and just generally unlikable presidential elections in recent memory. This is at a time when we could use some more symbols of unity and togetherness.”
Bell referred to Muhammad as “a one-stop inclusion shop due to her race, sex and religion. Phelps, on the other hand was something else entirely.
Source: Bizpac Review
Has it not occured to anyone that “one stop inclusion shop” is actually, you know, a bigoted thing to say? As though her sex, race and religion were more important than anything she had accomplished? Or who she is as a person?
She may very well be qualified. And might even carry the flag next year. But voting her as a placeholder is so damned patronizing. She deserves more respect that that.
What should we celebrate in our athletes?
