08-27-2020, 08:25 AM
(08-27-2020, 08:05 AM)fifteenth Wrote: I wish the rest of players didn't feel like they have to follow Lebron, or follow the Clippers. I wish they didn't all think they have to think the same thing. If all the teams voted to keep playing, except the Lakers and Clippers, then let each of the Lakers and Clippers forfeit their playoff series.
(08-27-2020, 04:04 AM)Derek Nowitzki Wrote: I’m not a smart man, and I’m a white non-America, so I can only give my thoughts on this as a true outsider, but here goes:
Firstly, well done Fifteenth, I think you’ve moderately this thread very well, politely dealing with some people who are being deliberately difficult. It’s such an emotive topic, and I think it’s clear what you’re trying to achieve.
To the people asking what you’re allowed to say, I think Fif’s point is that this is principally a forum for basketball, and specifically the Mavericks. I think we’ve got a good community here, and share the same passion. It’s ok to disagree with topics related to the Mavs, because we’re all on the same team at the end of the day. When you start getting into these divisive political discussions, that’s when people start to get emotional, and we don’t want to introduce elements into the forum that are going to create non-basketball related factions, because that’s the stuff that makes people leave, and we want to keep people here. Unfortunately this is an issue that spans various topics, so I think Fif is happy for things to get discussed politely with regards to the NBA, but if you want to give an opinion related to bigger topics, that has the possibility to anger others... let’s just leave it, and keep things politically vanilla.
To the people asking “What is this justice they speak of? What are the specific changes that they’re asking for?” I can’t be sure, but I believe it’s a change in attitude they want. Legally, I’m pretty sure there are no differences between being white and a minority, so you’re right, it’s hard to think any legislative changes are going to do any good... so it has to come from people’s hearts and views. For example, when I first heard about this shooting, I thought “let’s hear the facts first”, but then I realised, the man got shot SEVEN times in the back... realistically, what could he have been doing to warrant SEVEN shots? I think they want people to change their thoughts on whether this is an acceptable thing we’re happy to live with.
To the people complaining that teams are jumping to conclusions and putting messages out there without hearing ‘the facts’ first, I understand your point, and I’d completely agree with you... if this was an isolated event; the point being though, is that it’s not. Especially at this specific time, there are just so many cases of black people being killed, it’s something that needs to be talked about and highlighted.
I hope nobody was offended by any of this, just wanted to try to give my personal (probably uninformed) answer to some of the questions people have asked. And most importantly, go Mavs!!
Thanks for the thoughts, DN. I'd do it differently if it happened again. I don't actually want to stop people from talking about issues outside of basketball. This community has had some really great conversations about topics outside of basketball. I just thought that it should happen in different threads. I thought that if an argument about the details of the shooting broke out that it would take away from a good thread about the players potentially boycotting.
Agreed. I personally feel that the most important thing in a community such as this, is ‘civility’. If we have that, then as far as I’m concerned, nothing is off limits.