Controversy? Me?

I am not one who thrives on controversy. I don't believe that attention should be given more to stories and events that ruffle the feathers of a few to the point that the whole bird is squawking. I prefer to have the information presented to me, without the input of pundits and "experts", whose opinions have a nasty habit of clouding one's own perceptions. In short - I want facts, not opinions.

At the risk of turning into a hypocrite, I feel compelled to throw in my two and three quarter cents regarding race in athletics. From the South Carolina flag controversy to CBS firing Don Imus, it seems that politics is interfering with life and sports in such a way that I can't even watch NASCAR -not because it's traditionally a "redneck sport", but because I'm sick of the word "race".

Right now I wonder why anyone is piling more manure on this molehill of an issue.

For the record, yes, I am white. No, I do not know what it is like to be a black American. Those facts in and of themselves, however, do not invalidate my opinions. I am also a very intelligent individual who has lived in several "multicultural" neighborhoods and who has travelled outside my own country. I have a relatively unique world perspective. That fact in and of itself, however, does not validate my opinions. I make no pretenses either way. I just call it like I see it.

Enough set up, let's get into the conflict. Act II.

As reported on ESPN's Outside the Lines, South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier made some unsolicited comments regarding the Confederate flag.

"It was embarrassing last year when [game day commentators] were doing the Gameday, and some dude was waving that Confederate flag behind the TV screen. It's just embarrassing to me, to our team, our school, our state. That's my opinion."

Anyone unaware of the South Carolina Confederate flag controversy should look here. If you add "NCAA" to the end of that search bar, you'll see how ugly it truly gets. Basically, the NCAA banned postseason play in the state of South Carolina until all Confederate flags are gone.

On one side, there is a proud people who feel that history is best served by preserving and admiring a major part of their cultural identity. On the other side, there is a proud people who feel that history is best served by removing and forgetting a major part of their cultural identity.

The flag proponents say that the flag represents the soldiers who fought and died for their country under it. The opponents say that it is a symbol of slavery.

Now, I could be mistaken on this, so don't sue me if this proves to be inaccurate. But it seems to me that the other flag - the Stars and Stripes - has been flying over this country in one manifestation or another ever since Betsy Ross was commissioned to construct something that would inspire Francis Scott Key to write a poem that would become our national anthem. It is the flag that served as the national symbol when slavery was OK even in the northern states. Subsequently, it was the flag that waved over a land of over 100 years of post-Civil War segregation, subjugation, murder, rape, torture, and denial of blacks, as well as their citizenship and equality.

So, the way it's been presented to me, the argument goes like this...

The Ku Klux Klan uses the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate, therefore the flag symbolizes all that is wrong with this country.

The U.S. government uses the Stars and Stripes as a symbol of freedom and equality, despite its overall actions to the contrary, therefore that flag symbolizes all that is great about this country.

Again, that's MY take. The truth is, no one ever brings up the Stars and Stripes flag in these arguments - probably for that very reason. It would expose the hypocrisy and ignorance of the entire anti-Confederate argument. Not that the NAACP doesn't find a way to do that, anyway.

I don't have a direct quote because I don't have the OTL video for the segment, but a prominent member of the NAACP suggested that students on South Carolina school campuses aren't as outraged because they're used to seeing the flags. According to the gentleman, "They don't know any better," and it's up to others to tell these students better. In other words, 'these kids don't associate the Confederate flag with slavery, so we have to make them in order to perpetuate this conflict'.

Again, that's just my interpretation.

So who's to blame for the controversy? Is it the KKK for using the Stars and Bars as their personal calling card? Is it the southerners who maintain the flag's pride and dignity despite it's bastardization? Or is it the people who simply refuse to let it go?

I'll admit, I buy into the argument that the flag represents something good. I believe that the Confederacy was right in principle, if not in practice. The Federal government has usurped so much power from the States, that we've become dependent on the Federal for everything. That's exactly what the Confederates were trying to stop. (Slavery was just the flint spark that lit the powder keg.) And the fact that thousands of men fought and died for their principles should be commended. After all, isn't that what the government is asking kids to do to this day? Why deny those men their honor on the basis of dishonorable men who simply are not representative of an entire ideal?

But that's what this country has turned into. A nation of presumed individualism that has become dependent on this ideal that people should act in the most inoffensive manner so that we can coexist as a nation. Think about the irony for a moment - individuals conducting themselves in a group manner. Worse, people seem to be confusing groups with individuals. That is to say, everyone in a group is expected to act the same, therefore the group is representative of the individual just as the individual is representative of the group.

It just doesn't work that way. As much as the idealists (really, people who want everyone else to think like they do) would like everyone to get along and share the same ideals, if not the same beliefs, it just doesn't happen. Hell, Christians can't even agree on a belief system. And what happens when one member of a belief system disagrees with the system itself?

CONTROVERSY!

Controversy sells newspapers and brings the spotlight of attention on those who would otherwise go unnoticed. Like the Rutgers Scarlet Knights second place basketball team. No one remembers the losers of the big game, unless something incredibly stupid or spectacular (or spectacularly stupid) happens. In this case, it DID! Thank you, Don Imus.

By now, we've all heard the comments he made days after the Rutgers women lost in the NCAA tournament. It was sickening, it was stupid, and it was unwarranted, but it shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone. We are talking about talk radio - the bastion of bigotry, sexism, and religious intolerance. Even aside from that fact of free-to-air life, this should not have come as a shock to anyone.

I ask again, whose fault is it, really?

Is it the old, rich, white bigot? Is it the network that employs him? Or is it the legions of black "artists" from whom Imus ever got the idea to string those words together?

What old white person speaks like that?

Yes, there is a certain amount of hatred and/or ignorance that underlies his comments. Yes, he claims that he simply made a bad joke. But "nappy-headed hos"? Where was the NAACP's outrage with John Singleton? After all, he is a black man that is presumably representative of the so-called race, isn't he? Why should he be exempt from his use of such hateful language in his movies when it so clearly influences white culture?

There is a small history of black leaders condemning rap music for its inherent misogyny and liberal use of the word "nigger". But usually the argument against the music (and black comedians, for that matter) is quashed because the people using the language are "keeping it real" or "expressing themselves the only way they know how". Whatever. I'm not a big fan of double standards, and I'll never understand why groups that praise black performing artists for their representation of the culture as a whole will just as quickly condemn a white person for repeating what they hear. And to get someone who is guilty of perpetuating or condoning a double standard to acknowledge it is like pulling teeth with Teflon tweezers. I won't even go there, except to throw it out there for argument's sake. This is about accountability.

Too many times we have seen white people sacrificed as scapegoats for the behaviour of those who are not white. I acknowledge that the United States has a history of racism, and I believe that we still have a long way to go in making reparations for it. But what's the sense in ripping out the stitches to remind us that we cut them? When does the hurt stop and the healing begin?

I know that my opinions sound racially driven, and in part they are. As I said, I am white. But that does not invalidate the argument that the recent history of racially charged negative behavior by white people can be traced directly to the actions of the victims of racism. We have been disarmed by programs and philosophies such as Affirmative Action, so why keep handing stupid people the bullets? You should know by now that some idiot out there is going to fire into the air aimlessly, and eventually someone is going to get hurt. Just ask the Scarlet Knights.

So it's my opinion that something needs to happen on both sides of the argument before any of this stops. Take care of your own before trying to deal with ours. That goes for the southerners who let the KKK get away with using their flag for despicable purposes, just as well as it goes for the NAACP for letting their own "race" create roadblocks to its own cultural reclamation.