Bent Corner

The smell of wine and cheap perfume.

Civil Rights

The NFL doesn’t care about gay people

The Oakland Raiders traveled down to Mexico City to play a home game against the Houston Texans Monday night. The Raiders beat the Texans 27-20, but the real loser that night was the NFL.

To schedule a game in the cesspool of a stadium known as Estadio Azteca is to embrace the homophobic chants from Mexican fans. In soccer, Mexico fans chant “puto” at opposing goalkeepers. The word is a derogatory slur for a gay man, specifically, one that has sex with other gay men for money.

FIFA, the corrupt organization that governs international soccer, has fined the Mexican football federation five times in the past 11 months for the chants. Their fans still do it. They do it at soccer games, and they do it at American football games. They did it Monday night, and they will surely do it the next time the NFL plays a game in Mexico City.

The NFL just doesn’t care. What are a few homophobic chants compared to the billions of dollars the league wants to make internationally? The NFL isn’t content with the billions it makes here in the United States. It wants to increase its already bloated revenue streams by marketing the game internationally.

The NFL plays games in London so that the games will air in China during primetime. Why settle for only selling overpriced replica jerseys in America when you can also sell them to football fans in China? Personally, I think this is why NFL jerseys are now made in Honduras and not China. It’s a lot harder to make quality fakes in China if the actual product is not also made there. If you’ve seen any of the fake NFL jerseys coming out of China lately, you know what I mean.

They’re really bad.

We know the NFL cares about fighting breast cancer because they sell pink colored merchandise with a portion of the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. We know the NFL cares about honoring US service members because they make military-inspired merchandise with a portion of the proceeds going to various military non-profits. We know the NFL doesn’t care about gay people because they play games in Mexico City.

The NFL doesn't care about gay people

The Oakland Raiders traveled down to Mexico City to play a home game against the Houston Texans Monday night. The Raiders beat the Texans 27-20, but the real loser that night was the NFL.

To schedule a game in the cesspool of a stadium known as Estadio Azteca is to embrace the homophobic chants from Mexican fans. In soccer, Mexico fans chant “puto” at opposing goalkeepers. The word is a derogatory slur for a gay man, specifically, one that has sex with other gay men for money.

FIFA, the corrupt organization that governs international soccer, has fined the Mexican football federation five times in the past 11 months for the chants. Their fans still do it. They do it at soccer games, and they do it at American football games. They did it Monday night, and they will surely do it the next time the NFL plays a game in Mexico City.

The NFL just doesn’t care. What are a few homophobic chants compared to the billions of dollars the league wants to make internationally? The NFL isn’t content with the billions it makes here in the United States. It wants to increase its already bloated revenue streams by marketing the game internationally.

The NFL plays games in London so that the games will air in China during primetime. Why settle for only selling overpriced replica jerseys in America when you can also sell them to football fans in China? Personally, I think this is why NFL jerseys are now made in Honduras and not China. It’s a lot harder to make quality fakes in China if the actual product is not also made there. If you’ve seen any of the fake NFL jerseys coming out of China lately, you know what I mean.

They’re really bad.

We know the NFL cares about fighting breast cancer because they sell pink colored merchandise with a portion of the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. We know the NFL cares about honoring US service members because they make military-inspired merchandise with a portion of the proceeds going to various military non-profits. We know the NFL doesn’t care about gay people because they play games in Mexico City.

If Black Lives Matter is peaceful, what’s with the fists?

Shaun King, civil rights activist and senior justice writer for the New York Daily News posted a tweet about Black Lives Matter.

If #BlackLivesMatter is peaceful, what's with the fists? - Bent Corner

Peaceful movement? Notice the three tribble looking things after the Black Lives Matter hashtag? That’s the official Twitter emoji for Black Lives Matter. Type #BlackLivesMatter in your tweet, Twitter adds the emoji.

The emoji is of three firsts. Here’s a larger image:

If #BlackLivesMatter is peaceful, what's with the fists? - Bent Corner

For a peaceful movement, it sure is an aggressive image. What other peaceful movement in history has been represented by a fist?

The fist was also used to represent the Black Panther Party back in the 1960’s. I don’t think a lot of people would describe the Black Panther Party as a peaceful movement. Eventually, I think the same will be true with the Black Lives Matter organization.

In the past two weeks, Black Lives Matter sympathizers have murdered eight police officers. How many more must die before most people realize the message Black Lives Matter is preaching isn’t very peaceful?

Henry Rollins is wrong about two Americas

LA Weekly published an article written by former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins where he engages in virtue signalling on race in America, claiming that there is a white America and a black America.

From the article:

If white America experienced a fraction of what black America deals with regarding law enforcement, incarceration, the court system, employment and countless other facts of life, they would immediately and collectively lose their minds.

There are at least two different Americas. They have existed in an environment of almost unbroken mutual exclusivity. That’s over now.

No. That’s wrong. There isn’t a white America. There isn’t a black America. There’s just America. We fought a civil war over two Americas, one entrenched in the concept of slavery, the other one not. The dying embers of that concept were finally curb stomped into oblivion with the passing of the civil rights acts in the 1960’s.

Anyone today who’s talking about two Americas either doesn’t understand the concept of linear time or they’re being willfully dishonest. Henry Rollins was born too late to hold the line against Picket’s Charge. Henry Rollins was born too late to travel to Mississippi in the summer of 1964 and register black people to vote. How then does he fight against the idea of racial superiority and inequality? He either has to travel back in time, or he has to pretend things are the same as they were a long time ago.

He continues:

I’m an educated, Caucasian, heterosexual male. Does this ensure I will have success and live the American Dream? Obviously it doesn’t, but it damn sure drops me on second base with a great opportunity to steal third.

How interesting that Henry Rollins conflated education with the fallacy of white male privilege. Education isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you must work for. You can go to a prestigious university, and if you don’t work and apply yourself, you’ll leave the school in worse shape than when you started.

Anyone who’s educated and benefits from that education isn’t lucky or privileged.

Speaking as a white male, I can attest that I’ve never benefited because of my skin color or my gender. Instead of giving people a baseball metaphor usually reserved for those born to wealth, Henry Rollins should provide a list of the privileges he’s enjoyed because he’s a white man.

I’d love to hear them.

When people like Henry Rollins say something stupid about the inherent advantage of being a white male, it makes some people think that if you aren’t a member of the exclusive white guy club, you’re getting screwed. That’s wrong.

Has it always been this way? No, of course not. Over time things have thankfully changed. It wasn’t easy. People sacrificed their lives to ensure all people would have equally. In the present day America, white males don’t enjoy any rights or privileges that other Americans don’t enjoy. To assert anything otherwise is both regressive and dishonest.

If one person believes the crap Henry Rollins is spewing about two Americas, it’s one person too many.