August 12, 2020 Issue, Page 4 of 8

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Wednesday, August 12, 2020 Opinion Page Mask message from a conservative “ElkCituNews The Oklahoman Every topic has a political in an email last week that he is concerned about what Geraghty’s source says cause when hospitals and clinics are preoccupied with that “shouting and conspir- Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 hue, it seems, during these he sees as a growing num- acy-mongering from the coronavirus, they can’t de- polarizing times. ber of conservatives who are right isn’t going to make the liver routine care,” the re- Remember when sports Responses to the CO- “reacting to the left’s effort coronavirus go away. We're searcher wrote. VID-19 pandemic are no to turn the pandemic into a stuck with it, it’s not our made us feel good? exception. The use of face political weapon by swing- fault, and we’re going to be The email continued: “Wear a mask (properly!) masks, in particular, pro- ing to the opposite extreme.” stuck with it for months to when you're at the store or By Dave Ruthenberg, Enid News & Eagle duces a red-blue divide, with “I'm talking about people come (if not years) ...” T feel like I owe you an apology. No, make that sports polling showing Democrats who argue that the lower The researcher said that in any other enclosed pub- owes us all an apology. generally are OK with being coronavirus death rates in while deaths are down, a se- lic space. Wash your hands Time was we could turn to sports - and our sports pages made to wear them and Re- Florida and Georgia com- rious public health crisis re- frequently. Stay home if you - as a respite, a reprieve from the world’s chaos and tumult. publicans the opposite. pared to New York and New mains. An example, the writ- feel sick and get tested if you Sports offered that much-needed opportunity for people of have symptoms. ... The head of medical re- Jersey prove that this virus is er said, is Texas, where there all stripes, beliefs and persuasions to coalesce under the banner of their favorite team. Setting aside politics, sports search for one of the coun- nothing worse than a bad flu are no fears about not having “Tf people on the right turn fans become brothers - and sisters - united against the foe try’s top 10 hospitals has a year,” the researcher wrote. enough ventilators or stories into paragons of responsibil- wearing the wrong jersey. message for his fellow con- “T’m talking about the peo- of medical centers running ity for the next four weeks,” Sports offered us a chance to cheer and bask - for at least servatives: Get over it. ple who feel that we should out of mask or sanitizer, but a short while - in community triumph, or engage in com- the researcher concluded, munal mourning, before we went back to our daily lives. This person is a regular open up football stadiums in the number of COVID cases “we can flatten the curve Are those days gone for good? It would seem so. correspondent with Jim Ger- the fall. But most of all, I’m is climbing and the surge in again, and that will make After having the pleasure of reporting on our summer aghty, senior political corre- talking about people who cases is “more than making people a lot more comfort- baseball season, which came off with nary a hitch with spondent and columnist for feel that if they wear a mask up” for the fact the average plenty of smiles around our beloved David Allen Memorial National Review. Geraghty when they go out shopping patient age is lower than able about reopening schools Ballpark, we have reached the point now where our focus allows this person anonym- or take their kids to the zoo, early on. and moving away from dra- is temporarily shifted to professional and major collegiate conian government-imposed sports and it’s downright depressing at times. ity, he says, “lest his assess- they’re letting take your pick “If we're not to the point Of course this year was going to be different once the ments cause headaches for — CNN, or Nancy Pelosi, where we’re running out of lockdowns.” coronavirus lockdowns hit. Sports shut down and is it re- his institution.” or the CDC know-it-alls — hospital beds this time, why It’s a message well worth ally a coincidence that once people were forced into lock- Geraghty’s pen pal wrote win. are we still worried? Be- considering. downs nerves began to fray? We clamored for the return of normalcy and sports is so much a part of that. We needed the kind of escape sports can provide. We soon realized how important sports are to our psyche and mental health. However, once sports finally began to resume it took on What’s in a word? Almost any word with power, especially these tones many find difficult to embrace. Watching the NBA with holographic fans in the stands inside “the bubble” is surreal enough, but something that happened recently was a perfect example of how different things have become. Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic made nationwide mews across every media platform when he stood, wearing days, has the potential to offend his jersey and not a “Black Live Matter” T-shirt, for the By Keith C. Burris, Pitts- thing. I have personally been No one ever said that clear Let’s look for the helpers national anthem. He was the only player on the sidelines to burgh Post-Gazette told: You are to say demon- language and a clear mind and teachers. stand. It was such a story that he was sought out to explain Recently a copy editor had strations. You may not say make for an easy mind. John Lewis taught us how himself. His coach and fellow players - who all took a knee a question about the word riots. Truth does not come with during the anthem - did make it clear they support him. schizoid. But they are not the same that guarantee. But the pur- to love America. So did Dr. “Kneeling while wearing a “Black Lives Matter T-shirt It was used in connection thing are they? pose of language is not to King. So did the soldier who does not go hand-in-hand with supporting black lives,” ex- with a public official being The March on the Penta- obscure life. It is to help us went to Vietnam for you plained Isaac, an ordained minister. all over the map on restau- gon of 1967 or the Poor Peo- see it more clearly. when you got some kind of The NBA has been Ground Zero for social just messag- rant closures during COV- ple Marches in 1968 were Let’s talk about the word ing, from painting messages on the floor to wearing social ID-19. demonstrations. “patriot.” deferment. So did the soldier justice messages on the back of uniforms instead of play- Was this the best word to What happened, a few Tt used to be said that “pa- who went to Afghanistan ers’ names (not all have chosen to do so), the league has use? Probably not. weeks ago, when people triotism is the last refuge of a for you because we have no gone all-in but when you choose to be overtly political you Was it being used in its lit- burned police cars, police scoundrel.” run the risk of alienating much of your audience. draft in America but a “vol- eral sense? No. stations and broke the win- But that is false patriotism The problem for the NBA however is deeper as its ties Was it a word readers dows of businesses and loot- - the patriotism of bluster unteer Army” in which the with China seem to belie the notion of equality as reports would understand in that ed those businesses, those and not service. poor fight our wars for us surfaced of young players being physically abused in an context? Probably so. were riots. And in my time it has because they cannot afford NBA-sponsored camp by Chinese coaches. The NBA final- ly severed ties with the camp, but only after it was exposed You could argue about all Have there been demon- meant the demagoguery of not to - they are not able to in the media. of that. strations in Portland and Se- fear mongering and division. acquire and cannot pay off It’s not the first time the NBA has come under fire for its But the objection was attle? Yes. In the 1960s. the George $100,000 or $200,000 in stu- coziness with the communist regime in China. none of that. Have there also been riots? Wallaces and Spiro Agnews dent debt. In October the league quickly worked to douse the flames The objection —_ was: ‘Yes. of the world held that any- of liberty when it distanced itself from comments made by The word could be of- And when rioters try to one who disagreed with A friend wrote me re- the Houston Rockets’ general manager when he tweeted fensive to some. burn the federal courthouses them hated America. cently to tell me he is vol- “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” It was in re- I want to suggest that the in those two cities, they are We are back to that to- unteering to be a leader in sponse to China’s brutal repression of democratic freedoms tisk of offense is not the best not engaged in demonstra- day: If you see the world in Hong Kong, which China finally overwhelmed, impris- the “Dialogue For Change” reason not to use a word. tions. They are engaged in differently than me, you oning many of those protesting to keep their autonomy. In some contexts, like an an assault on federal proper- “hate America.” The presi- movement in which people The NBA's response? It apologized to China. “We recog- op-ed page, it might be the ty and the rule of law itself. dent actually said that about of different classes, races nize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets general best reason to use a word. We need to be able to say the speaker of the House, and ideological tribes sit manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable,” it tweeted. Almost any word with that. something I never imagined down together to share their As it continues its close ties with a nation accused of em- power, especially these days, George Orwell was per- I would witness in my life- worldviews and search for ploying slave-labor and/or child labor in manufacturing, has the potential to offend. haps the most famous and time. the authenticity the NBA’s claim of promoting social jus- But where would Mark astute observer of language The left says if you don’t common cause. He said this tice is questionable. Twain or Lenny Bruce or imperialism: He who con- see it exactly their way you kind of structured dialogue The truth is sports have always played a leading role in Martin Luther King Jr. be trols the language has essen- are stupid, probably tooth- (and there are several mod- promoting racial justice, or undoing racial injustice. without words of power? tial control over the norms less, and should be canceled. Think of Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, els now cropping up) is the A collection of words and values of society - and The right says you hate the or Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major without power - an assem- maybe even over what we country. only way forward. League Baseball in 1947. Enid can even claim some credit when Enid native Don Haskins coached Texas Western to blage sanitized in behalf of perceive as reality and truth. So, if you demonstrate for In this time and place, in the NCAA basketball championship in 1966, daring, for correctness left or right or George Carlin plowed this justice you hate America? which one is simply not al- the first time ever, to put an all-Black starting lineup on the simply neutralized to avoid field in his way. (“How is Maybe if you riot or call lowed to say Black lives and floor in the championship game and defeating the Univer- offense - is likely to be pret- it possible to have a civil July 4 a white nationalist blue lives matter or in which sity of Kentucky. ty useless. Such an assem- war?”) holiday you don’t under- Those were genuine, real, tangible and transcendent mo- blage just takes up valuable ‘We need to insist on hones- stand America. Maybe you we talk about white privi- ments. What we are seeing now in the NBA feels manu- space on a page or precious ty and plainness of language have not yet learned to love lege but never the responsi- factured to appease rather than unite and is seen by many oxygen ina room. and speech to establish, first, it enough. I fear that many bility that privilege implies as polarizing and divisive, particularly the response to the We need to be able to ar- agreed-upon reality. That’s a young people lack deep un- national anthem. (see the Roosevelts and the Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be much hope gue about words to be able common ground necessary derstanding and love for the Rockefellers), I agree with with other sports delivering us from our current state of to a) be clear about what we to the function of a society country. sports malaise. We are seeing Major League Baseball be- are actually discussing, b) both open and tolerant. But if you love justice, him and I salute him. ing played to empty stadiums with cardboard cutout fans. define our cultural norms Remember “terminate you love the idea of, and Keith C. Burris is execu- Its season now appears to be on the brink because of play- and choices, c) occasionally with extreme prejudice” dur- will eventually love the real- tive editor of the Pittsburgh ers testing positive for the coronavirus. But baseball, in a move our society forward. ing the Vietnam era? That ity of, the USA. Post-Gazette, and vice pres- tush to get in 60 games, has altered its rules to the point of Let’s talk about the word meant to kill. Let's bury this “hate resembling a Friday night softball beer league. “riot.” Just as to “terminate the America” canard once and ident and editorial director Is anybody even watching? Although I will admit it was According to the Ameri- pregnancy” means to end a for all. Let’s stop judging of Block Newspapers (kbur- amusing to watch Dr. Anthony Fauci throwing out the cer- can left, there is no such life. each other’s hearts. ris@ post-gazette.com). emonial grounder between home and first before the Wash- ington Nationals’ home opener. The NFL's season is in question as it grapples with the coronavirus. College football is teetering on the brink be- cause of its timid response to resuming play. Have a letter to the editor to share? Send your letter to the editor The good news is, at least for now, we have the prospect of high school sports resuming. It also means reporting on what sports is supposed be about and what is most desper- to [email protected] ately needed: a break from the grind of daily life. Sounds refreshing, doesn’t it? Dave Ruthenberg is sports editor for the Enid News & Eagle. Contact him at [email protected].