Tom Brady – Doesn’t shake hands after a loss – “He’s such a fierce competitor who hates losing. Look at his passion!”
Cam Newton – Doesn’t shake hands after a loss – “This guy is a classless thug who doesn’t appreciate the opportunities he’s been given. He should be benched until he learns his lesson.”
Two men, two professionals, two competitors, one a league favorite and one apparently not. Tom Brady, like Antonio Brown doesn’t like the new NFL regulated helmets. Yet those headlines were presented completely differently.
Why is that?
Richie Incognito has been suspended multiple times for absolutely horrible reasons – including calling his former teammate a nigger. Yet, the Oakland Raiders signed, and have now suspended him the first two games of the season for wanting to decapitate his deceased father and threatening to shoot funeral home employees if they didn’t let him. But we don’t talk about that.
Then of course we have Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid and Kenny Stills who have all been said to have “given the NFL a bad name with a senseless and selfish protest.” With Kaepernick still not having an NFL job although he is just as, if not more qualified than most of the active QB’s in the league. And Reid being under a microscope after finally being signed last season.
It baffles me that the country we live in decides pick and choose what to get upset over especially when it comes to the narratives. I want to challenge everyone to not be a media pawn. From sports to politics, the narratives are controlled and orchestrated by the media to the point that we often don’t even think about what we’re getting upset over. We just get mad to be mad. It’s tearing us apart. I’m not talking as a liberal or conservative here either. I’m talking as a man who honestly is annoyed with the stupidity of narratives.
Recently, we’ve seen multiple mass shootings in less than a month. But the outrage on the killings in Dayton, El Paso & Riverside are no longer the talk of the town since a man shot six cops in Philadelphia. Matter of fact, I am seeing more of an uproar over this than I did with the first three mentioned instances.
Connor Betts (Dayton shooter), according to investigators and his family, was fascinated with violence, including keeping a list of people he wanted to rape and murder.
Patrick Wood Crusius (El Paso shooter), wrote a four page anti-immigrant manifesto that was published 19 minutes before the shooting occurred. These are narratives that the media won’t push too heavy.
In 2014 though, a focal point that was heavily pushed in the murder of Terence Crutcher was that his autopsy revealed traces of PCP and TCP in his system. Not that the officer who killed him got off and although she resigned from the Tulsa PD she was hired quickly by Rogers County Sheriff’s Office.
The media is pushing the Philadelphia shooting of six police officers, heavily, making sure we know the shooter was a violent felon with a lengthy criminal history. Yet, for whatever reason still won’t shed light on Ryan Twyman, a future veterinarian who was killed by Los Angeles Co. Deputies, who went against department policy when firing on the car Twyman was in.
From sports, to politics, to who we follow on social media, media narratives shift and force preconceived ideals on us. Cam Newton is no different than Tom Brady outside of skin color and what team he plays on.
People hate being called sheep but we act like it based on who we like or don’t like instead forming our own opinions. Even down to Carmelo Anthony who right now, is only being remembered for saying “they want me to come off the bench.” Not for willingly taking a 3rd-4th option role in OKC after being the man for his entire career. We have a lot of ‘On the Couch’ ESPN Analysts and a lot of ‘Keyboard Warrior’ politicians who don’t sound like they have an opinion outside of what tv says. It’s a shame. And to the media, it’s a shame we in the media focus so much on our own agenda instead of pushing an equal side.
I’m far from perfect but I always try to see both sides of the equation before forming my opinion on what’s happening. I’d encourage you, the reader to do the same. Following narratives does nothing but hold back progress in all areas. It’s sad that the good outweighs the bad only when it’s convenient.
