Sean Taylor - RIP UPDATED

[93Devil]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

Jemele,

If I go to a couple's house for a Christmas party and I see a machete in the bathroom for home security, my wife and I walk the fork out.

I have never pulled a gun on someone and then pistol whipped them.

I have never had a friend shot and killed.

I do not have a friend who is a violent felon or in prison.

What is accepted in the one community and what is not accepted in another community gets wider and wider every day. This is a real problem.

 

[Jemele Hill]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

93 Devil,

I concur.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

The facts as we know them in this case. Sean Taylor was shot by an intruder and is in critical condition. All else is bullshirt speculation. The facts, whatever they may be, will come out in due course.
Whatever their race, people who've had previous run-ins with authority are assumed by very many people to be guilty of SOMETHING in a situation like this. That's an unfortunate fact.
Sketchy information is a poor structure for socioeconomic discussion.

 

[heyabbott]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

Forgive me for actually thinking an earnest, journalistic discussion could actually take place without personal, immature attacks.

In most newsrooms, there are always discussions to make sure that black and white victims are portrayed fairly and equally. Countless media studies have been done about this disparity. A black kid gets shot, it's on 11B. A white kid gets shot, it's 1A. That sort of thing.

My point in bringing up the race element was not to blame anyone, or pull the straw man routine. But as has been noted, we have seen more than a few instances of black athletes being victims of crimes. I wondered aloud -- or one this board -- how much Sean Taylor's trouble with the law would affect not only how this troublesome incident is viewed, but how it's being reported. For the record, I am not saying that his past skirmishes should not be reported.

I pointed out the Eddy Curry, Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce incidents because it's my OPINION -- I'm allowed to have one, right? -- that these incidents were somewhat glossed over because African-Americans are portrayed/framed/(enter the appropriate word) by mass media as perpetrators of crimes more than victims. Simon pointed out how there is barely any coverage when minority women are missing. That only reinforces my original point. When the images scattered across CNN and local news media mostly are of black folks committing crimes, it desensitizes the masses to when they are victims.

I'm not blaming anything on The Man. Sorry for trying to add to a professional discussion. Let's get back to hitting below the belt.

I'm curious, what will be said if the people targeting young black male pro athletes are young black male non-athletes?

As for your 11A black victim and your 1A white victim, isn't that just the dog bites man theory of journalism and not institutional racism?

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

Forgive me for actually thinking an earnest, journalistic discussion could actually take place without personal, immature attacks.

In most newsrooms, there are always discussions to make sure that black and white victims are portrayed fairly and equally. Countless media studies have been done about this disparity. A black kid gets shot, it's on 11B. A white kid gets shot, it's 1A. That sort of thing.

My point in bringing up the race element was not to blame anyone, or pull the straw man routine. But as has been noted, we have seen more than a few instances of black athletes being victims of crimes. I wondered aloud -- or one this board -- how much Sean Taylor's trouble with the law would affect not only how this troublesome incident is viewed, but how it's being reported. For the record, I am not saying that his past skirmishes should not be reported.

I pointed out the Eddy Curry, Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce incidents because it's my OPINION -- I'm allowed to have one, right? -- that these incidents were somewhat glossed over because African-Americans are portrayed/framed/(enter the appropriate word) by mass media as perpetrators of crimes more than victims. Simon pointed out how there is barely any coverage when minority women are missing. That only reinforces my original point. When the images scattered across CNN and local news media mostly are of black folks committing crimes, it desensitizes the masses to when they are victims.

I'm not blaming anything on The Man. Sorry for trying to add to a professional discussion. Let's get back to hitting below the belt.

I'm curious, what will be said if the people targeting young black male pro athletes are young black male non-pro athletes?

As for your 11A black victim and your 1A white victim, isn't that just the dog bites man theory of journalism and not institutional racism?

The abducted-female coverage is grotesquely imbalanced.

 

[heyabbott]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

Whatever their race, people who've had previous run-ins with authority are assumed by very many people to be guilty of SOMETHING in a situation like this. That's an unfortunate fact.

Hypothetical: You're looking for a baby sitter for your 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter. You interview a 2 people and find that one woman, a former preschool teacher with a degree in early childhood development has 2 prior arrests and no convictions for child abuse. Outside of the the arrests, she is uniquely qualified to be a babysitter, more so than the 16 year old neighbor girl.

Do you hire the more qualified woman, who has never been convicted? or the high school student from around the corner?

 

[Oz]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

I guess I don't understand much of what has been said; I thought the only thing Taylor was guilty of was getting shot.

Same here. If this were Wes Welker, Brian Urlacher, Jeff Hartings or anyone else other than Taylor, my response would be the same. You feel for them and hope for the best.

 

[heyabbott]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

I guess I don't understand much of what has been said; I thought the only thing Taylor was guilty of was getting shot.

Same here. If this were Wes Welker, Brian Urlacher, Jeff Hartings or anyone else other than Taylor, my response would be the same. You feel for them and hope for the best.

Just following up on Mr. Gee's and Ms. Hill's lamentations that people are unfairly held to their past. I posed a question to sharpen the focus on that point.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

I guess I don't understand much of what has been said; I thought the only thing Taylor was guilty of was getting shot.

Same here. If this were Wes Welker, Brian Urlacher, Jeff Hartings or anyone else other than Taylor, my response would be the same. You feel for them and hope for the best.

Just following up on Mr. Gee's and Ms. Hill's lamentations that people are unfairly held to their past. I posed a question to sharpen the focus on that point.

Someone's past, certainly more often than not, is where a seasoned police detective looks very early on in an investigation of a crime that has no eyewitness.

The past DOES matter.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

Well, you delete a post thinking "I don't wanna jump in on this," and you get quoted.

Just when I thought I was out . . . .

Sorry, heyabbott. Your question is as out of nowhere as Jemele Hill's introduction of racial questions, and Simon's subsequent mention of her unfortunate blog entry.

I do agree with Cowbell that if investigators look at Taylor's past associations for possible suspects, that's just wise police work. So his past matters, to an extent.

I understand that it happens in this business where we spend way too much time examining our navels, but I think a good newsroom wouldn't have to have a discussion of how to handle a black athlete's misfortune vs. a white athlete's. The key in the decision regarding coverage level is clearly How big a star is this person, both locally and nationally? If Tom Brady got shot in the groin, you bet it's on the front. If Kobe Bryant were, same thing.

I don't think Paul Pierce's injuries were downplayed, but at the time I happened to be living among the suburbs he grew up in. Got plenty of coverage in SoCal, and I would guess, Lawrence, Kansas and Boston. Didn't read much about Eddy Curry or Antoine Walker, but A. neither one is a big star and B. I was living far from where those gentlemen were playing at the time.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

Just following up on Mr. Gee's and Ms. Hill's lamentations that people are unfairly held to their past. I posed a question to get the answer I want to hear.

 

[Pancamo]

Re: Sean Taylor: shooting victim

News reports are saying he has squeezed the Doctors hands and has responded with facial expressions.

Positive news.