Tuesday, April 29, 2014
I listened to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver lay down the hammer on Donald Sterling just after 11 a.m. today. It's really something to watch a billionaire lose his own team. He's entered OJ territory as an untouchable pariah in society. I listened to the tapes yesterday, then listened, to of all things, those Mel Gibson tapes of a few years ago. There are several similarities between the two tapes. They both remind me of my parents' late-night arguments as a child after they came home from a night of partying. One thing that hasn't been mentioned about Donald Sterling is his crazy, hateful thoughts sound like they're coming from the mind of a diseased drinker. That's what alcoholics sound like, especially powerful ones who feel they're not getting the respect they deserve. It's all so familiar. In the tape, Sterling turns the tables a few times, blaming his young female partner for hurting him and disrespecting him. He's saying all this hateful racist garbage while still making himself out to be the victim. That's classic drinker talk. It's all about everyone else making life difficult for the poor, pitiful white male billionaire. Mel Gibson did the same thing on his full blown drunken insanity tapes, and way back when, my dad was just as crazy, just as insane, just as hurtful and narcissistic and verbally cruel to my mom back in the 70s when he was tanked up and totally irrational. He was a drunken monster, just like these two. That crazy, diseased alcoholic frame of mind is all too familiar to me. It's really quite sad, but it sure makes great drama. Richard Yates wrote all about men like this. I have zero pity for them, which I guess is my own issue and something I might need to work on. Donald Sterling isn't just a big fat ugly white male billionaire racist. He's a sick, broken man with a diseased mind. What's scary about this crazy country is there are undoubtedly others just like him who have just as much money and wield just as much power and influence. Today's action by Commissioner Silver was a big step in the right direction.
I listened to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver lay down the hammer on Donald Sterling just after 11 a.m. today. It's really something to watch a billionaire lose his own team. He's entered OJ territory as an untouchable pariah in society. I listened to the tapes yesterday, then listened, to of all things, those Mel Gibson tapes of a few years ago. There are several similarities between the two tapes. They both remind me of my parents' late-night arguments as a child after they came home from a night of partying. One thing that hasn't been mentioned about Donald Sterling is his crazy, hateful thoughts sound like they're coming from the mind of a diseased drinker. That's what alcoholics sound like, especially powerful ones who feel they're not getting the respect they deserve. It's all so familiar. In the tape, Sterling turns the tables a few times, blaming his young female partner for hurting him and disrespecting him. He's saying all this hateful racist garbage while still making himself out to be the victim. That's classic drinker talk. It's all about everyone else making life difficult for the poor, pitiful white male billionaire. Mel Gibson did the same thing on his full blown drunken insanity tapes, and way back when, my dad was just as crazy, just as insane, just as hurtful and narcissistic and verbally cruel to my mom back in the 70s when he was tanked up and totally irrational. He was a drunken monster, just like these two. That crazy, diseased alcoholic frame of mind is all too familiar to me. It's really quite sad, but it sure makes great drama. Richard Yates wrote all about men like this. I have zero pity for them, which I guess is my own issue and something I might need to work on. Donald Sterling isn't just a big fat ugly white male billionaire racist. He's a sick, broken man with a diseased mind. What's scary about this crazy country is there are undoubtedly others just like him who have just as much money and wield just as much power and influence. Today's action by Commissioner Silver was a big step in the right direction.
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