Curt Schilling Tweet and Punishment

[cernjSHU]

What do people think about Schilling's Tweet which stated that "only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists.

In 1940, only 5% of Germans were Nazis. How did that work out?"

I guess ESPN fired him for that Tweet but I just don't see why? What was so offensive? He didn't say all Muslims were bad. It is true that there are Muslims extremists that are outright murderers. Isn't ISIS just as bad as the Nazis? So why is this offensive?

 

[Seton75]

A sports network wants its people to be about sports and be uncontroversial about the rest of the world, and I understand that. I am not sure I buy Schilling's percentages, and think the # higher in Germany.

But Schilling was awful, and sounds like a real dope (in general, my opinion every time I heard him)and I bet they were looking for any reason to get rid of him.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

It reinforces more unfair stereotypes & negativity toward an entire culture, one that is already marginalized and looked down upon by a majority of the country that is, ironically, completely ignorant of these people in real life. Sure it's just a meme being tweeted out, not a huge deal. But ESPN clearly didn't want any part of that. Not surprising, they have a track record with this stuff.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

I'm not sure he was actually fired though...just suspended. Am I wrong here? I did say yesterday I didn't think anything would happen, but I'm pleasantly surprised that he was. I can't stand fear-mongering shit like this.

 

[Pirate6711]

I'm not sure he was actually fired though...just suspended. Am I wrong here? I did say yesterday I didn't think anything would happen, but I'm pleasantly surprised that he was. I can't stand fear-mongering shit like this.

He's only suspended from the Little League World Series.

 

[Seton75]

It reinforces more unfair stereotypes & negativity toward an entire culture, one that is already marginalized and looked down upon by a majority of the country that is, ironically, completely ignorant of these people in real life. Sure it's just a meme being tweeted out, not a huge deal. But ESPN clearly didn't want any part of that. Not surprising, they have a track record with this stuff.

If there are 20 wars in the world, I bet Muslim extremists are in 18 of them. We read of beheadings, destruction of sacred places, and war, war, war. It isn't most Muslims, but the ones at it are causing so much destruction.

Around 95 I sold a project and the two engineers who were in charge of the installation were two smart young guys, one a Russian Hasidic Jew, the other a devout Muslim. They worked together with absolutely no issues. So sad it can't be that way all over.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

no one would disagree with anything you said. It's intelligent and thought-out. What Schilling did was not.

 

[cernjSHU]

no one would disagree with anything you said. It's intelligent and thought-out. What Schilling did was not.

Again, I am missing what was so wrong with his Tweet? He didn't condemn the entire Muslim religion. He was talking about a small percentage of Muslims that are extremists and the possibility of what they can do. Are you denying that there is not a small percentage of radicals muslims that are intent to wipe out not only Jew Christians and Western Civilization as well as other Muslims that are not part of their sect?

Even our so-called allied Muslim nations have significant populations that not only sympathize with this extremist point of view and their actions but are a part or encourage it ie Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia.

I don't think his post was offensive at all. This is an example of political correctness gone wrong. I am a Dem but this PC stuff bothers me to no end.

 

[hallgrad80]

There are 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide and the generally agreed upon percentage engaged or committed to terrorist Jihad is approximately 7% or 81 million people and that 25% of the Muslin population supports their terroristic mission and that amounts to 375 million Muslims. The estimates come from a number of highly respected think tanks and various global intelligence agencies. We've all seen their never- ending efforts to destroy America and other western civilizations as well as the outright genocide in the mid-east of Christians. One should never trivialize the threat they present because of their commitment to Jihad and I found nothing out of line in Schillings personal post as his estimates were fairly accurate.

 

[LonghornPirate]

The blatant racism on this board is unbelievable. If similar sentiments were used to indict other peoples, there would be unending condemnations on here (as there should be). It's amazing that there are posters on here who can spew this garbage and go unchecked.

 

[cernjSHU]

The blatant racism on this board is unbelievable. If similar sentiments were used to indict other peoples, there would be unending condemnations on here (as there should be). It's amazing that there are posters on here who can spew this garbage and go unchecked.

Hmm, sounds like you are a guy in his 20's who love to throw out words like racism without even knowing the meaning of it. Are we to ignore the fact that ISIS and Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups happen to be followers of Islam? Are we to ignore that these groups justify their actions as dictated by the words of the Koran? Are we to ignore that their religion or at least their version of it is the major reason for their terrorist actions? No one has condemned Muslims as a whole. But perhaps you cannot see the difference.

Perhaps the word terrorist is too offensive to your ears and we should call them organized groups of disruptors?

 

[SPK145]

I'm with cern and hallgrad80, this was much ado about nothing. Didn't infer that muslims were bad but that "extreme" muslims were bad. And they are. We have to realize this.

 

[donnie_baseball]

I'm with cern and hallgrad80, this was much ado about nothing. Didn't infer that muslims were bad but that "extreme" muslims were bad. And they are. We have to realize this.

+2. 7% of 1.6bil is a lot of people. If anyone thinks we should stop talking about the problem because we're "offending" the other 93%, they're not worth listening to.

 

[HALL85]

+3...too big a problem to ignore.

 

[SnakeTom]

Here's my thought on Curt Schilling: He was a great pitcher and belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Like all of us he's entitled to his political views and we can either agree or not agree as we choose but he should not be censured, suspended or whatever because he expresses them. Like many things nowadays it seems like a big deal is being made about nothing.

TK

 

[BayonneRay]

+2. 7% of 1.6bil is a lot of people. If anyone thinks we should stop talking about the problem because we're "offending" the other 93%, they're not worth listening to.

The problem here is that Schilling was hired to comment on little league baseball and sports. If he wants to comment on world affairs then leave his sports job and go into appropriate venue to express them. People use sports as an outlet to get away from the realities of their life around them and they don't have to reminded about news not pertaining to sports. If they wanted that then they would tune to the appropriate venues.

 

[its haLL baLL]

The problem here is that Schilling was hired to comment on little league baseball and sports. If he wants to comment on world affairs then leave his sports job and go into appropriate venue to express them. People use sports as an outlet to get away from the realities of their life around them and they don't have to reminded about news not pertaining to sports. If they wanted that then they would tune to the appropriate venues.

He didn't say anything on air and it wasn't during an interview. It was a post to his personal twitter, although probably ill advised.

In regards to your point about people not wanting to be reminded about the news when watching sports - you must not have turned on ESPN lately. I feel exactly as how you mentioned, but can't watch one hour of Sportscenter without some political agenda being shoved down my throat and force fed to me. I don't even disagree with some of the message that they're pushing, but if I wanted to hear about those issues I would go elsewhere.

 

[Shuathelete]

I agree, but is it so hard to just not post these things on social media when you are a media personality?

 

[HALL85]

The problem here is that Schilling was hired to comment on little league baseball and sports. If he wants to comment on world affairs then leave his sports job and go into appropriate venue to express them. People use sports as an outlet to get away from the realities of their life around them and they don't have to reminded about news not pertaining to sports. If they wanted that then they would tune to the appropriate venues.

Then why is it okay for actors, music artists or anyone in an entertainment field to post similar thoughts without any consequences?

 

[BayonneRay]

Then why is it okay for actors, music artists or anyone in an entertainment field to post similar thoughts without any consequences?

There are consequences to artists. What happened to the cw group Dixie Chicks after their comments about President GW Bush ,they dissappeared from sight. When one is considered a media personality one should know that anything you do, say or post will be put under a microscope.

 

[HallLine69]

Schilling was a great pitcher. I think he's a lousy announcer. I know he's a right-winger so that turns me off. His tweet is not among the worst I've seen, but I don't like it because it is an oversimplification and is intellectually dishonest. ESPN (which I watch on TV but despise as a corporate entity) vigorously protects its brand and so they felt the need to slap him on the wrist. As for the subject of political correctness, the only thing more annoying to me than political correctness is right-wingers who whine about PC. That's my humble opinion and maybe it's time this thread moved to Life Off the Ship.

 

[HALL85]

There are consequences to artists. What happened to the cw group Dixie Chicks after their comments about President GW Bush ,they dissappeared from sight. When one is considered a media personality one should know that anything you do, say or post will be put under a microscope.

Dixie Chicks flamed out because of talent...what about Kanye West, Alec Baldwin, St. Louis Ram players (hands up, don't shoot), Seth Rogan (American Sniper)??

 

[Seton75]

Then why is it okay for actors, music artists or anyone in an entertainment field to post similar thoughts without any consequences?

Because the people in mgmt. who pay them don't penalize them for doing so. Come on. You are a capitalist. Money talks.

I know nothing about this, but I listen to Schilling for a half inning and I know I never want to listen to him again. I assume maybe ESPN wanted to find an excuse to deep six Curt.

 

[Section112]

He's a lousy announcer but he is working for a company that is owned by ABC and is the king of PC and has a very liberal bent. What he said was not so bad and actually true. But people can't handle the truth (said Jack Nicholson) in today's world and more importantly if you are a public figure you can hurt yourself with tweets that an insect may find offensive. He should have known better. Exercising your First Amendment rights are legal in this country but its also legal for a private company to take action if need be. If he doesn't make the tweet, he continues on as a lousy announcer and no one is talking about it.

 

[hallgrad80]

Actually ESPN is a joint venture that is 80% owned by Disney and 20% owned by Hearst Corporation. ABC is wholly owned by Disney. Now the creative wits on this Board can say who on ESPN reminds them of a Disney character.

 

[HALL85]

He's a lousy announcer but he is working for a company that is owned by ABC and is the king of PC and has a very liberal bent. What he said was not so bad and actually true. But people can't handle the truth (said Jack Nicholson) in today's world and more importantly if you are a public figure you can hurt yourself with tweets that an insect may find offensive. He should have known better. Exercising your First Amendment rights are legal in this country but its also legal for a private company to take action if need be. If he doesn't make the tweet, he continues on as a lousy announcer and no one is talking about it.

Well put!!

 

[Halldan1]

ESPN punished Schilling for telling truth about Nazis and extremist Muslims

By Phil Mushnick

August 31, 2015 | 12:18am

Curt Schilling Photo: Getty Images

I wonder if those entering the Dark Ages knew it. “Hey, who turned out the lights?”

ESPN last week suspended its lead baseball analyst, Curt Schilling, not for talking games to death, but for a social-media message equating Nazis with current, extremist Muslims.

“Curt’s tweet was completely unacceptable, and in no way represents our company’s perspective. We made that point very strongly to Curt and have removed him from his current Little League assignment pending further consideration.”

Completely unacceptable? Out of line with ESPN’s perspective?

So, then what — very strongly, no less — is ESPN’s perspective?

I could see if Schilling were told by an executive, “Hey, just stick to baseball, OK?” But what was “completely unacceptable” and “in no way represents our company’s perspective” was not only historically true, Schilling under-tweeted the truth. Islamists and Nazis were teammates!

Despite their master-race genocidal crusade, the Nazis, during World War II, recruited, inducted, trained and armed at least 25,000 Balkan Muslims into an Islamic arm of the SS. Tens of thousands more eastern Muslims fought for Nazi Germany. Their mutual attraction was a shared desire to murder Jews.

After the war, “rat lines” that provided escape and sanctuary to Nazi war criminals led to safekeeping in Islamic countries, especially Egypt and Syria. And little about radical Islam, as it today festers and explodes, has changed since the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century.

So what Schilling tweeted was (a) true, (b) a vast understatement, and (c) intolerable to ESPN, so at odds with the company’s position that ESPN had no choice but to publicly censure and punish him.

Now that’s unacceptable! Yet it rhymes with the media’s selective outrages and selectively quiet pandering. And pandering continues as the frightened media’s path-of-least-resistance substitute for hard, unfortunate truths.

MORE
http://nypost.com/2015/08/31/espn-p...ling-truth-about-nazis-and-extremist-muslims/

 

[Burnsly]

Dixie Chicks had mad talent.

 

[Halldan1]

ESPN shelves Curt Schilling for rest of season
By Justin Terranova

September 3, 2015 | 6:17pm

Photo: AP

ESPN further distanced itself from baseball analyst Curt Schilling on Thursday, announcing the former pitcher would not appear on its airwaves through the rest of the baseball season.

Schilling tweeted a meme comparing Nazis and Muslims last week before immediately deleting it and later apologizing for it. ESPN yanked Schilling from the Little League World Series and last week’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast before before taking further action Thursday.

“At all times during the course of their engagement with us, our commentators are directly linked to ESPN and are the face of our brand,” ESPN said in a statement. “We are a sports media company. Curt’s actions have not been consistent with his contractual obligations nor have they been professionally handled; they have obviously not reflected well on the company. As a result, he will not appear on ESPN through the remainder of the regular season and our Wild Card playoff game.”

Schilling likely did not help his case when he sent a few angry emails to Awful Announcing, which the site published. Schilling slammed the site for what he considered unfair reporting on his tweet and also took a shot at ESPN colleague Chris Mortensen, likely for the reporter’s questionable Deflategate report.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

What do people think about Schilling's Tweet which stated that "only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists.

In 1940, only 5% of Germans were Nazis. How did that work out?"

I guess ESPN fired him for that Tweet but I just don't see why? What was so offensive? He didn't say all Muslims were bad. It is true that there are Muslims extremists that are outright murderers. Isn't ISIS just as bad as the Nazis? So why is this offensive?

from someone who works in sports media, disney/espn never consistent in how an on-air talent gets punished

curt doesn't have the email back and forth with awful announcing he is back in the booth this week

 

[SnakeTom]

What do people think about Schilling's Tweet which stated that "only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists.

In 1940, only 5% of Germans were Nazis. How did that work out?"

That quote may have been true in 1930, but certainly not by 1940.

TK

 

[hallgrad80]

That quote may have been true in 1930, but certainly not by 1940.

TK

The maximum number of Germans who were members of the Nazi party peaked at 8 million or 10% of its 80 million population during Hitler'e reign.

 

[SnakeTom]

The maximum number of Germans who were members of the Nazi party peaked at 8 million or 10% of its 80 million population during Hitler'e reign.

There is a difference between actually joining the political party and being a supporter of it. In the 1933 elections where Hitler took over power the Nazi Party received 37.4% of the vote to become the dominant political party in Germany. By the time Hitler led Germany into WW2 their support was much greater. It's the the power of demagoguery. Hitler found a scapegoat and repeated the charges over and over until people began believing him & supporting his policies.

TK