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The Rockettes

I know something now that I didn’t three days ago: being a currently mediocre has-been major league pitcher with occasionally resurfacing racist tendencies will win a man quite a few fans.

At least, that’s the impression I got on Friday after AOL’s blogs page linked to a post I had done a couple of days earlier, about John Rocker’s stupid comment that he had suffered more than any player in major league history, including Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson- two all-time greats who had to bravely endure years of death threats in order to claim their rightful place in history. Rocker’s legacy as an athlete, on the other hand, will be as the guy who insulted just about every ethnicity in New York, and then threatened to beat up the reporter who called him on it.

The ensuing 38 comments consisted of just about every fallacy of political argument imaginable, including: rank racism itself; the belief that the only thing wrong with racist comments it that they’re “politically incorrect”; the belief that the First Amendment grants Rocker immunity from criticism; the “your argument isn’t as important as other things going on in the world”; and (of course) changing the subject from the one at hand to “liberal media bias.”

A few favorites:

No he isn't an Arron or Roberson, but your no W. Conrite either!

Don’t know who “Arron” and “Roberson” are, but I’m pretty sure this guy’s referring to Walter Cronkite. While I’m certainly not up to Walter’s level as a journalist, I can say that judging by his contribution to the Huffington Post, I am a better blogger.

You subhuman politically correct nazi lunatics are in all actuality the bad guys here. Obviously, Rocker was not comparing himself to those dudes in THAT context. Most of what John Rocker says is pretty much right on and accurate, and subsequently he is being skewered and crucified by pc fascist morons like yourself. You mothers have a search and destroy mission and unfortunately you're raping the culture as a result.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m due back on planet Earth.

john rocker is a really good baseball player...and contrary to what many may say, evidentally a pretty smart guy

John Rocker’s current stats with the low-level minor league Long Island Ducks (As of Saturday): 0-2 record with a 16.20 ERA. As for being a “pretty smart guy,” see above. And consider why a guy who's hated for prejudiced comments he made about New York, in the context of his feud with then opponent the Mets, would decide to make his comeback with a team on Long Island- which is not only in New York, but populated almost entirely with Mets fans. And he's surprised the crowd isn't nice to him?

This is nothing more than a biased, liberal media looking to drum some crap up to make a buck.

There’s only one newspaper with a beat reporter on the Rocker story, and it’s the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post. Not quite the “biased, liberal media.”

he was making a comparison of the troubles he's had as did the two he mentioned. so big deal.two because of their color and him for his frankness.

Hank Aaron’s race, John Rocker’s history of racist comments. I think some would call that “false moral equivilence.”

John Rocker was an amazing pitcher before the Braves outcasted him for his correct though socially incorrect statements. He can't help that everyone loves freaks, fags, and blacks now. They will all be what they have always been. Freaks, wrong, and the missing link.

I was going to find some stats to show that Rocker actually nosedived as a pitcher after the comments and before the Braves got rid of him, but really, why argue with someone who refers to “freaks, fags, and blacks” as “the missing link.” Must be a Braves fan.

Why can't he say this??? Why does everything have to be SOOO overtly race related.

He can- no one’s saying he can’t. And we can say that he’s an idiot, who hasn’t learned the lessons of the past.

because he's not black, he's not allowed to point out the "crap" he's taken?

Barry Bonds is black, and he does nothing off the field but point out the crap he’s taken. And the media hasn’t exactly given him a free ride on that.

John Rocker is a idiot, theres no comparison to what he went through and the things hank and jackie had to deal with. Just think about it, black men in the majors, where blacks where hated beyond anything whites could ever imagine.

I was with this guy’s argument, until he started ragging on “white people… who I’d like to kill if I could.”

John Rocker has the balls to speak freely about what he believes. That, is something most of the politically correct pussies in this country wouldn't dream of doing…

I was ready to respond to this one too, until it suddenly turned into a long rant about non-English speaking Hispanics.

I've still got another of those "long-gestating" pieces in the works, which should probably finally appear next week, and it's on the topic of incivility in the Blogosphere -right and left- and how it mirrors that of political discourse itself. So I'd like to thank the fans of John Rocker for giving me lots of great examples.

Posted by Stephen Silver at May 16, 2005 01:18 AM