Whether it’s drugs, thugs or a bruising football loss, the media find a way to forgive and forget.
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This was not a great week for white men. And what we may have learned is a lesson that should be obvious but is not always apparent, with the media spotlight usually affixed on people of color and their poor choices or misfortunes.
The lesson is that white men can succumb to drugs, even if they happen to be among the most celebrated actors in Hollywood; they can unravel and threaten lives of innocent bystanders without provocation, even if they walk the halls of Congress; and they can decisively lose a Super Bowl and not be attacked for a lack of acumen or intellect.
White men can do all this and still awaken with the protections of privilege and entitlement and, most important, the benefit of the doubt.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, a respected and talented white male actor, succumbed after a long battle with heroin, aka “smack.” He allegedly died alone in his apartment with a needle in his arm. A few months ago, one of the stars of Glee, Cory Monteith, overdosed in a Canadian hotel room. And though you don’t hear of many black men on smack, we are often exposed to images and statistics to show that black men are disproportionately abusing drugs or serving time for it.
Yet the reporting on these stars is more often than not tinged with sympathy over their angst-ridden struggles with rehab and relapse, a romantic longing for the lives they lost and the turmoil they lived. One died in a pricey hotel room, the other in Greenwich Village.
Last week we saw one of the most boorish displays of bullying by a white male politician, Michael Grimm, who also earned his “thug” stripes for threatening to physically injure a reporter. Contrast that with the boisterous response of Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman, whose name has now become synonymous in some circles with thuggery. Sherman will likely be hounded forever for his isolated “crime of passion,” but Grimm’s impropriety is already forgiven and forgotten in the annals of history.
This past week, the state of New Jersey served as a backdrop for poor leadership in politics and in sports. Gov. Chris Christie spent the week on the defensive for what he did or did not know about George Washington Bridge-gate, and there was a considerably poorer display of offensive skills shown by Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium during Super Bowl XLVIII. Manning was obviously out of sync with his team on Sunday night, and Seahawk Russell Wilson outwitted Manning every time he got the ball.
However, on Monday morning, the game’s narrative was more focused on Manning’s stellar legacy and his fifth MVP win, with not one major media outlet challenging his intellect or dexterity over such a woeful loss. And this is as it should be in an ideal world, but had the tables been turned and Wilson had lost, he and his team, including Sherman, might have suffered a tongue-lashing similar to what Donovan McNabb had to endure after Super Bowl XXXIX, when he could not lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a victory. His loss was only by 3 points, 24-21, yet immediately after the game, the criticisms flooded in from all angles, with little or no attempt to find his many redeeming qualities. Even McNabb himself admits that he is probably the most criticized quarterback in NFL history.
In support of the Seahawks’ victory Sunday night, there was a collective exhale heard around the world. For many men of color, the Seahawks’ victory served as redemption for the unsubstantiated hypothesis that has sullied the history of the NFL for years: the notion that black men have the brawn to play football but lack the brains to lead teams successfully as quarterbacks. Wilson proved to more than 111.5 million football fans around the world that a black man is not only capable of leading a team to victory but can also display the postgame humility that is not usually associated with black sportsmen.
Yes, this week was a bad week for white men, but this is not something to celebrate or even mock. Instead, the behavior and lack of leadership displayed by our white male counterparts this week, and the subsequent reporting, further prove that there is plenty of work to be done in the way of equality and parity for black men who are constantly under the scrutiny of an unforgiving media spotlight.
More from The Root:
Black Children and ADHD: Biology or Culture Clash?
In Defense of the Sensitive Black Man
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AP Photo
Corrections:
@Wes Carr, your hypothesis needs further testing. I did not compare Grimm with Vick. Vick did do something idiotic and paid for it dearly. My purpose for writing this piece was to address media bias. Now let’s look at another case: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/05/us/texas-affluenza-teen/…I am fairly positive that a young man of color with identical lucre would not have faired the same. Truth is confrontational and if you do not live this truth daily it is difficult to identify. Thank for being a part of this discussion.
Mikol, thanks for the reply. The media has ALWAYS been biased because before the Internet it had a monopoly on the flow of information. That’s why politicians want to shut it down. A prime example is William Randolph Hearst using his newspapers to whip up American support for WWI in collusion with Woodrow Wilson, who was a Socialist and a pious hypocrite. The sinking of the Lusitania by a German sub inflamed people even though she was secretly carrying weapons and was a legitimate target under the rules of war. But that detail never made it into the “news” of… Read more »
Michael Grimm and Michael Vick are just two sides of the same coin. They are both overpaid
idiots who got caught doing something stupid. Now Vick is supposed to be the ASPCA poster
child, but I don’t buy it. He was forgiven for his actions because he was a celebrity. Color doesn’t
matter if you have money and/or fame.
I will first admit that I am neither white or black so my point of view is as an outsider (I’m Asian American). I fully agree that there’s a slant to the media that needs work. I would also point out that the media can portray white males as “The Man” or the “Oppressor” so I know that there’s progress to be made there as well. I would also like to point out that Whitney Houston’s passing was framed fairly positive by the media even though she died from tragic and self destructive behaviors. Also, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith… Read more »
Oh, boo hoo hoo… now blow your nose and stop crying . No matter what color you are, you’re supposed to be a man. Stop crying “It’s not fair”, and get up and be a man !
@Dolly, thanks for your encouragement. I live in my manliness full out. I have served my country, I have put myself through college and consistently kept a job and support my family. Truth is often confrontational and this is my truth. Again, thanks for your encouragement and support of my being a man! God bless you.
Of course, Dolly<—– Nothing to say now do you? I am white, and I stand by just about every word in this TRUE article. I see this on a daily basis. You don't like or agree with the truth? Don't read or comment then. @Mikol – Thank You. For serving our country and for taking that comment in stride un like myself. I look forward to your next piece. Good Day
I’m a white woman and everything Mikol says is true.
Sorry everyone, if I had seen Dolly’s comment earlier I would’ve removed it. Now that you two have responded with such awesome, true comments I’m going to leave it so that we can all see that racism and anti-male sentiment are alive and well in this nation.
Cheers Joanna! (And John and Mikol!) ^_^
Dolly, you may not be aware of it, but “man up” has been used by some Feminists like Amanda Marcotte to shut down any rational debate. Like “Check your privilege”, “Mission accomplished”, or
“Yes we can”, it requires no real thought or effort. Let’s be civil.
“He looks white like me and all my friends” makes it really easy to assume the best.
I’d be more than happy for someone like Grimm to get a greater amount of criticism for what he did, certainly. It’s an odd bit of groupthink – the rate of a bad behaviour in one’s in-group is often seen as the reference level for the incidence of that behaviour among other groups. As an example with white people – they do drugs, commit crime, engage in terrorism. But that isn’t a justification for criticism, suspicion or patronising of white people entire. When another, out-group commits the same behaviour, but to a greater degree, that’s suddenly justification for broad suspicion.… Read more »
Another fine example of this mindset in play over here this week:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/04/ukip-mep-gerard-batten-muslims-sign-charter-rejecting-violence
Although this particular white dude does seem to be ending up in the shite for it.