Race, said LeBron James, played a part in his criticism surrounding his moving to the Miami Heat this summer. After weeks of lambasting by basketball pundits like Charles Barkley, who called the claim 'stupid', some ESPN analysts who concede race may play a small role, but ultimately the backlash is due to the way in which he left Cleveland, on national TV, in an hour long special, something had to give.
Today, James revealed some of the racist tweets directed at him to shed some light on his earlier comments. I see the frustration and the offensive language, however, the larger problem is worse than even racism. After reading the tweets, it is plain to see that some fans have a very real disconnect between themselves and the sports world, and perhaps the world in general.
These people reveal through their words they feel they have a sort of stake or claim in LeBron James. They attack him personally, as if he had done some real harm. Not engaged with reality, people role play, to some extent, through heroes - fictional heroes - created and cultivated in athletes, actors and singers. There is a part of voyeurism that seems dangerous to the human psyche. At some point a line is crossed where fiction and reality start to blur. Inviting a person into your living room on a weekly basis, choosing to take time away from things like family, projects, personal growth or just other leisure is kind of a big deal; even if it's just a couple of hours two or three times a week.
Another issue is anonymity. With mediums like Twitter, anybody can anonymously say anything to almost anybody in the public eye. I wonder how these tweeters would react to meeting LeBron at a restaurant. I don't imagine for a second someone would say those comments posted on Twitter. Much more likely, they would be grateful for the experience of meeting James, a rich, famous, relevant American athlete, an identifiable face in a sea of nobodies. Twitter gives these base-thinkers a platform to be heard, and these visceral tweeters revert to plain attack.
Racism, it seems to me, is the scapegoat for this kind of outpour of hatred. Only because of a disconnect from reality is the racism even conceived, a 'normal' person would not verbally attack another person with no personal relationship, however here the connection is fictionally established. Disagree with, OK, denounce, yes; but to spew "U have til the end of the day to RT me and if u dont....tomorrow u will not wake up happy...or al i ve" shows an individual with a disturbed psyche. There must be others with the same disposition, so I can see where the racism issue finds a role in a free agent's move; without really being about race at all.
In any event, I can't wait for LeBron to remind the basketball watching world what he does on a basketball court.
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