Lance convinces Kornheiser to apologize, apology oddly genuine
bikeradar.com/news/article/armstrong-cyclists...Posted Mar 19, 2010, 4:58 PM UTC
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bikeradar.com
The only way he could apologize is by resigning. Saying sorry, and then continuing to stand on your unmoderated soapbox means you aren't sorry. He's an idiot, and encouraging physical harm against real people. This week it was cyclists, maybe next week he'll rant about old ladies pushing shopping cars in grocery store parking lots. Is he going to push them with his car?
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I'd think a better apology would be for him to go out and start riding a bicycle on the streets with the cars.
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I'd love to see that, that's what Lance should have pushed for. One day in the streets as a target would go a long way as an apology. And it'd probably do more help to his mindset than a bunch of people blogging their anger towards him.
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He could put his money where his mouth is, and donate a more-than-token amount to a bike saftey program in the Wash DC area. $10,000 or more would be appropriate, given his stature, his platform, and the nature of the offense.
Why the ACLU or some other community legal stalwart is not all over this guy, I don't know.
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I hate to rain on your idea, but don't keep your hopes up that he'll resign in shame... Two radio hosts here in australia hosts pressured a teenage girl on air to the point that she revealed that she had been raped, which caused a huge uproar, but they both still have their jobs. Here's one of the articles on it.
So if radio shock jocks can get away with revealing rape live on air, I don't think they're going to get him to resign for inflammatory comments like that. But this is america we're talking about, not australia, so things could be different...
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Think again - harassing a girl so much that she says something she regrets, is not on the same level of inciting violence against innocent people. One is bad manners, the other is a crime.
It's unpleasant if the girl allowed herself to bring up a topic that she didn't want to. . . Not very nice. But... It's not the same as telling people to attack cyclists. You can see that, right?
The equivalent to what Kornheiser said, would be if the radio jocks advocated raping girls who "looked a certain way".
That should be very obvious.
If you think I am too extreme, then you haven't read Kornheiser's original remarks.
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Oh for fucks sake, are you serious?
I assume from your tone that you've never said anything stupid, or that you later regretted. While working in a forum that requires you to fill 10 hours a week with talk that people find entertaining. Golly, it must be nice to be perfect.
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You can't be a national figure and encourage violence against the vulnerable. It's beyond a nappy ass hoe comment, which, if I recall correctly, got someone fired.
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Exactly. Other people have been fired for similar statements. Should Kornheiser have been fired too? Maybe, but that doesn't really solve anything. I'd rather see him keep the job and be forced to evolve some of his ideals/thoughts so people don't get hurt by his suggestions.
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It was nappy headed ho, and it ended up netting Imus millions of dollars in the end.
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I don't care if he says stupid things, or if people listen to him fill 10 hours of radio time with whatever he wants. He can do that. People want to listen to it. I'm fine with that.
What I'm not fine with is actively suggesting that people cause bodily harm to other human beings for no good reason. That's what he was suggesting. That's what was wrong with what he said.
I didn't say that he should shut up because he just says stupid things all the time, nor do I really care if he says stupid things all the time. But he shouldn't use threats and dangerous ideas to fill radio time.
And are you 'seriously' suggesting that because he has 10 hours to fill a week that he can say whatever he wants without recourse? Are you fine with him spouting hate speech against minorities or people-groups (be they racial, enthic, gender, or athletic)? Because it sounds like you're rationalizing his actions because he has a job where he has to speak a lot. Poor him?
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And are you 'seriously' suggesting that because he has 10 hours to fill a week that he can say whatever he wants without recourse?
No, I'm saying that because he has to talk so much and in a way that is supposed to be entertaining (his standard vehicle is to go off on cranky old guy rants) that occasionally, something stupid is going to slip out. It did. He apologized. I'm also saying you sound like an even bigger idiot than he does if you believe that isn't the case.
If he had a history of making this kind of comment I'd agree with you that some kind of punishment is deserved. As far as I've seen he has no such history, have you? Or are you willing to condemn the man for one moment in time?
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His history with bad statements
A non-genuine apology doesn't really do much, even with ol' Lance there. And like I said, I'm fine with him saying stupid things, it's going to happen, and he shouldn't be punished for all of them because that'd be ridiculous.
I'm not saying he should be condemned for this one statement, but it should be handled with the seriousness of the threat he made. Making him resign is the extreme end of the 'punishment' scale. And a half-hearted apology made only because America's most popular cyclist appears on your show is the other end. I'd prefer something in the middle.
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I had that opinion, too, until I read his remarks. He told people: Run them down.
Repeatedly.
This was not a slip of the tongue, a faux pas. This is seriously anti-social behavior. For a person in Kornheiser's position, it's not acceptable.
Why is it unacceptable for Imus to say "nappy-headed hos", but it's ok for Kornheiser to say "Run bicyclists down." The former was an insult. (I understand the nature of the insult and the reason it got magnified attention). The latter - Kornheiser's remark - was incitement to violence.
Seriously, at first I thought "big deal! so he disrespected cyclists." Then I really read what he said. It was bad.
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Fire him. His words went beyond opinion and simple name-calling to a call for violence. Cars are deadly weapons. Telling people to use them against bicyclists is not okay.
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Can you explain why you felt the apology was "oddly" genuine? Are you just talking about public apologies in general not feeling genuine to you, or is it something else?
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Of course the apology is not geniune but his interest in keeping his job is. He didn't change his mind overnight. Him and many others hate cyclists and that is the way it is.
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Really? So you know for sure that he hates cyclists and wants to see them run over? Because that makes so much more sense than a guy known for his goofbag cranky old man schtick rants saying something stupid during one of his goofbag cranky old man schtick rants.
So... What number am I thinking of, mindreader?
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I think the point is that no one would say the things he said if they didn't have some form of resentment towards cyclists. Funny old man schtick or not.
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Really? I've said thinks like that before about both cyclists and drivers. And I am both a cyclist and a driver and I don't really harbor any resentment towards them. It's just that sometimes stupid shit slips out when you're in the moment.
Do I believe that he thinks cyclists should stay to the right out of the way of traffic and not take the lane unless there's an obvious reason not to? Yes.
Do I believe that he feels cats should rule the road? Yes.
Do I believe he hates cyclists? I doubt it. It doesn't seem that way to me.
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Relax silly, everybody loves cyclists, and he was just dicking around yesterday.
By the way, I had this nice tailwind on my way to office thanks to the marvellous unicorn flapping its wings behind me.
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Nope, just public apologies in general. When someone has a monetary incentive to apologize, there's very little reason to believe it's credible on it's face. Kind of depends on how cynical you are. Due to the obvious inflammatory nature of his comments, it's tough to believe he could reverse course that quickly, but as I said, it did appear, "oddly genuine."
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Kornheiser is a dick, I've always thought this.. but this entire cyclist thing confirms it! I will not watch or listen to anything he does on ESPN.
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He turned it in to free media exposure with the biggest name in the sport. Not only does he backpedal on his stance in just one day, but he gets free eyes and ears out of it. What a guy.
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Good for you.
But filing a complaint won't do it. A legal fight is required. Bring him to court. Sue him. Find a pro-bono lawyer willing to put in the time. Kornheiser and all the shock-jocks like him will learn that you cannot simply single out groups and recommend that people hurt or kill them. This is a civil society.
If a radio host called in and recommended running down soccer moms, there'd be an uproar. But bicyclists? That seems fine.
I don't know what it is, why cyclists don't cause the reaction. Maybe it's because cyclists are mostly men.