Heya Kossacks, how's it hangin'? I am wallowing in bliss, as usual. No matter what goes on around me, my arrow points straight up. Even when the media is steady trying to drag me down.
The Miami Herald published my letter to the editor last week. That's what made me write a diary for the first time in a long time.
Yes, the letter is about the Miami Heat basketball team. Yes, I think we can all relate.
Follow me over this beautiful fold for all the details.
A CLASS ACT
I have been teaching in Miami-Dade public schools system for 30 years, and I have never seen a better group of heroes for my students than the 2011 Miami Heat. No team in the history of American sports has been attacked so unfairly by the national media and the jealous fans from around the country.
Unfortunately, in modern America we live in a culture of hate. Our children are immersed in it, and their basketball role models were the biggest targets ever. They always rose above, and we learned how men should act in trying times. With my students watching, the Miami Heat stayed strong together and weathered the storm. They never stooped to the level of their detractors.
We watched endless acts of class and honor in the face of pathetic ridicule and hypocritical pettiness from everywhere. Our hometown team was deep in our hearts, and we felt the hate personally. They lectured us, judged us, and belittled us. We bore it like no one could have, thanks to the example set by the players and coaches.
They taught us how to be stronger than the hate. They will be our heroes for all time.
Rian Fike, North Miami Beach
Obv, I was doing a hyperbolic performance art piece based upon a tragic truth. The media is out of control. All hate, all the time. Just in case you think I am way too biased being a resident of the Magic City, here is an article in Forbes called The Demonization of Lebron James.
And I wonder whether there is another dynamic from this demonization that is taboo to discuss in mainstream America. I suspect there are some hate-speakers with social baggage. There is overwhelming support for LeBron from African Americans not living in Miami from my unscientific polling. They expressed a cultural compassion not shared by the national media. That media of reporters and sportscasters is over 97% white as are the majority of fans in America. They apparently see the same events quite differently in emphasis and expectation.
It bears repeating that the media has a choice as to what to emphasize. In this instance, they chose poorly. They appealed to the worst among us, undeserved cheap shots that are myopic in scope. The best in us is the part that says, “Let’s reflect prior to demonization. Let me look at the body of work before I impugn his intent, his character.” We, as fans, would want the court of public opinion to do the same for us. To do otherwise, we would loudly cry, is a flagrant foul.
As I view the 2010-2011 NBA season the biggest foul created was not on the court. And it was not committed by players. It was committed by haters and media moguls of controversy against LeBron James.
So that's the little corner of my world that overlaps with Daily Kos on this glorious afternoon. No matter how loud the Culture of Hate becomes, I will always love this life with every fiber of my being.