Like many, I was happy to see Tiger Woods return to winning important golf tournaments. He paid his dues anew, clearly he has worked very hard to return to a championship level, when his legacy in the sport was completely secure. He’s a flawed human being … so are we all, so am I, certainly! #pleasedontmakemeconvinceyouhatetooversell
That said, I wasn’t at all impressed with the political show at the White House with the award of the ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom.’ I wasn’t impressed that he went there and accepted it.
I’m not the only one.
In the #AskAlan section of the Golf Channel, a forum participant posed the question about Tiger declining it. “Alan’ demurred, saying:
Why should he? It’s a thrill to take your mom and kids to the White House to receive the highest civilian honor that can be bestowed upon an American. Tiger clearly has no issues with the President – he designed the golf course for Trump World Golf Club Dubai and they teed it up together just before the Masters. The ceremony was about Woods, not Trump.
More below.
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Well, listen up, ALAN. NO ceremony that Trump participates in is about anyone EXCEPT Trump, and it reflects terribly on the intelligence and integrity of anyone who suggests otherwise. While I might agree that there could be a ‘thrill’ in taking mom and kids to the White House, this was taking them to the TRUMP White House. All the difference in the world. I don’t know who the next president will be, but whoever it is will have huge work to do just trying to restore the honor to the place, to counter the stigma.
I don’t think about golf in this context. I think about THOUSANDS of exceptionally young children brutally stripped from their parents for the sake of one of the stupidest narratives our country has ever seen. It is impossible to overstate the cruelty of it, much less the illegality. What crime did those children commit for this cruel and unusual punishment levied on them without any due process? Without any provision being made to document their identities and their parents for reuniting them at some hypothetical time in the distant future, after the scars are made permanent?
There can’t even be any way to explain to them what happened, or why. I’m sure that very few have tried. (I like to hope there are at least a few human beings in those child prisons whose hearts aren’t Trump-hardened.)
A few years ago I wrote a diary about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar, depicted in the film, Gandhi. (Link to the wikipedia article about the massacre, not to that old diary.)
In one of what has to be the most chilling scenes in film history (fictionalized or not), a government advocate questioned the general who conducted the massacre about his actions.
Lord Hunter: General, did you realise there were children – and women – in the crowd?
Gen. Dyer: I did.
Government Advocate: But that was irrelevant to the point you were making?
Gen. Dyer: That is correct.
Government Advocate: Could I ask you what provision you made for the wounded?
Gen. Dyer: I was ready to help any who applied.
Government Advocate: General, how does a child, shot with a .303 Lee Enfield, "apply" for help?
Right! And, how does a child, cruelly stripped from her or his parents, apply for help?
You see, unlike the bloodthirsty general who slaughtered so many at Amritsar, NO ONE in the Trump Administration was ready or willing to help any who ‘applied. In my opinion, it is one of the greatest crimes I have witnessed in my lifetime, if not the greatest.
So, Mr. Woods, here is my question:
What does a medal of freedom mean, bestowed by a man responsible for stripping small children from their parents? With no thought to EVER reuniting them??? How would you feel if YOUR children met a similar fate?
No one capable of such a barbaric act should ever be permitted to use the word ‘freedom,’ nor any other word of honor or civility. And no ‘medal of freedom’ bestowed by such a person can conjure up images of anything other than tiny incarcerated children, crying themselves to sleep night after night, no hope of EVER being reunited with their parents again. Until, worse, they stop crying.
Sorry all, I’m pissed. And not impressed by what Mr. Woods did in the slightest iota. He gave the criminal huge political cover. Which is the reason he was given the medal. There is no other. FUCK.
On to tonight’s comments.
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