A moral pygmy with muscle

LeBron Jame$ Is A Coward

There's nothing wrong with exporting capitalism. There's absolutely something wrong about supporting tyrants.
By David Harsanyi

NBA superstar LeBron James says Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was “misinformed” and “wasn’t educated on the situation at hand” when he tweeted in support of Hong Kong’s freedom demonstrations. 

Morey’s sin was sharing an image of a slogan that read, “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” Even though the GM, regrettably, deleted his tweet, one strongly suspects his grasp of China— where the state is running “re-education” camps filled with Uyghurs—is considerably stronger than any of the NBA’s leading apologists.
Only last year, James, a purported champion of social justice, came out in support of former quarterback Colin Kaepernick with the vacuous platitude, “I stand with anyone who believes in change.” 

Anyone? 

Of course, LeBron’s stand, as with most acts of pretend celebrity bravery, resulted in hosannas being thrown at him by the press, and, more importantly, never costing him a penny.
Americans tend to use word like “stand” and “fight” in their political disagreements, although they never really have to stand and fight for anything. 

Tank Man stood and fought. 

The Hong Kong protesters stand and fight. 

We take to social media and argue. 

Posting a Nike-approved picture on your Instagram account of Kaepernick—adorned with the $40-million market-test slogan, “Believe in something, Even if it means sacrificing everything”—is not an act of bravery, LeBron.
And that’s fine. 

All of this just speaks to the relative safety afforded dissent and protest in our political life. 

In the United States celebrities are free to accuse the president of being a fascist dictator or “bum,” and no one is coming to knock on their doors. 

Watching fabulously wealthy men fretting over their words abroad is a useful reminder of the liberalism we have inherited.
There’s nothing wrong with playing NBA games in China. 

The Chinese people are the victims of their system, after all, and the more connection they have to the rest of the world the better. 

There isn’t really even any pressing demand for professional athletes to speak out on geopolitical issues. 

Once the Hong Kong question was exposed, though, it was deeply revolting to watch those who benefit most in a meritocratic society acquiescing to the illiberal diktats of a foreign regime.
It’s especially galling to listen to those who peddle hysteria about contemporary American politics pandering to the Chinese commissars. 

Apparently, those most prone to calling out pretend Hitlers can’t get themselves to say a negative word about real-world Hitlers.
Take Warriors coach Steve Kerr, a constant social media commentator, with opinions on seemingly every contemporary political issue. 

First, Kerr deflected questions about the totalitarian Chinese state by risibly claiming he needed to confer with his brother-in-law, a professor, to get a better handle on the issue. 

When later asked if he’d ever been confronted about human rights abuses on his previous trips to China, Kerr replied, “No. Nor has (America’s) record of human rights abuses come up either… People in China didn’t ask me about, you know, people owning AR-15s and mowing each other down in a mall.”
Showing contempt for your own country doesn’t erase 70 years of mass murder, famine, and incomprehensible hardship for the Chinese people. 

The Chinese state not only sanctions concentration camps today, it subjects countless people to other forms of totalitarianism. 

Those who shoot AR-15s in American malls are criminals and murderers who are breaking an array of laws in a free country. 

Not a single politician or organization approves of their actions. 

The fact that Kerr would compare the two is at best clueless, and at worst shamefully unpatriotic.
“My team and this league just went through a difficult week,” LeBron ludicrously lamented after some well-deserved blowback to his initial comments, “I think people need to understand what a tweet or statement can do to others. And I believe nobody stopped and considered what would happen.”
What happened? 

The Chinese Basketball Association cut some ties with the Rockets, and it would probably cut ties with the NBA if players and managers had the decency to speak out.
I suppose it’s too much to expect NBA stars to back Hong Kong freedom fighters rather than agonize over rounding errors in their banking accounts. 

The NBA wants to make money in China. 

There’s nothing wrong with exporting capitalism. 

But if the NBA is going to start adopting and enforcing the illiberalism of the Chinese state to make money, it becomes a huge ethical problem.

Beijing's Ass Kissers

President Trump rips NBA's Steve Kerr over China response: 'He is like a 'little boy, he was so scared' of China
By Thomas Barrabi

Chinese ass kisser: Steve Kerr speaks poorly about the United States but when it comes to China, he doesn't want to say anything negative.

In his first public comments on the NBA’s ongoing rift with China, President Trump ripped Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on Wednesday for declining to speak out about the situation despite a history of public remarks on social justice issues in the United States.
“I watched this guy Steve Kerr and he was like a little boy. He was so scared to even be answering the question,” President Trump said at a press conference.

“He couldn’t answer the question. He was shaking. He didn’t know how to answer the question and yet he’ll talk about the United States very badly.”
Kerr, who has been critical of the Trump administration on several occasions in recent months, declined this week to comment on the NBA’s relationship with China. 

All of the NBA’s Chinese sponsors, as well as state-owned CCTV and streaming partner Tencent, suspended their business dealings with the league after Houston Rockets general manager tweeted support for pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.
Kerr referred to the incident as a “really bizarre international story.”
Asked for his reaction to China pressuring the NBA over Morey’s tweet, President Trump said the two parties “have to work out their own situation.”
“The NBA, they know what they’re doing. But I watched the way that Kerr and Popovich and some of the others were pandering to China, and yet to our own country, it’s like they don’t respect it.”
President Trump also criticized San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver “came out strongly for freedom of speech” after the Morey incident, but also fired what was perceived to be a veiled shot at Trump.
"Adam [Silver] said something that helps you understand what direction you need to go in rather than the cowardice of not being able to respond to something like the murder of Mr. (Jamal) Khashoggi," Popovich said, referring to the Saudi journalist who was killed last year after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. 

The incident received what some saw as a tepid condemnation from President Trump.
"There are many, many incidents like that where leadership and courage mean nothing (and) it’s all about personal aggrandizement," Popovich added.
“I watched Popovich, sort of the same thing, but he didn’t look quite as scared actually. They talk badly about the United States but when it talks about China, they don’t want to say anything bad. I thought it was pretty sad actually,” President Trump said.
Silver and other NBA executives faced bipartisan criticism earlier this week from U.S. lawmakers who argued that league had favored its business relationships over American values.
In a second statement, Silver clarified that the NBA supported Morey's right to freedom of speech and expression.
"Daryl Morey, as general manager of the Houston Rockets, enjoys that right as one of our employees," Silver said. 

"What I also tried to suggest is that I understand there are consequences from his freedom of speech and we will have to live with those consequences."