Tom Finneran: Fake News, Real Phonies

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Saturday, July 18, 2020

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Certain sportswriters tell us that Adam Silver, Commissioner of the NBA, is miles ahead of his fellow commissioners in his degree of wokeness. Don’t believe it. That’s totally fake news. He’s a fraud. And, he’s a toady to the following white guys:

George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, U. S. Grant, and Benjamin Franklin, the particular Franklin in question being the subject of the legendary phrase “it’s all about the Benjamins”.

For by now you’ve figured out that Adam Silver is all about the money he can gouge from fans, notwithstanding the company he keeps and the shameful fawning he does over the most vicious and totalitarian regime on Planet Earth.

He can talk about being woke, and social justice, and systemic racism all he wants but every night he crawls into bed with Communist China, a nation which makes the United States look like the world’s best model of integration, a bastion of freedom, of fairness, and of opportunity.

China of course is in the midst of the daily torture of its Uyghur minorities. China of course is in the midst of sending its “troublemakers” to concentration camps. China of course is in the midst of arresting, beating, and jailing thousands of Hong Kongers who simply yearn for the fresh air of freedom and democracy. China of course is engaged in a game of constant provocation and deadly intimidation of its Pacific and Asian neighbors.

Gee, what a swell regime. This is who Adam Silver sleeps with. This is who he drools over.

Recent reports inform us that Mr. Silver and the NBA will allow social justice messages to be placed on the back of NBA authorized game shirts. That’s fine with me as I’m a First Amendment guy and your opinion is as important as mine, with neither opinion to be squelched except in the case of profanity.

But lo and behold, don’t try to create a message that says “Free Hong Kong” or “Support Hong Kong”. That cannot be tolerated, according to NBA censors and their Chinese gauleiters. What is tolerated however is the opposite message of “bleep Hong Kong”, “bleep” being the only family-friendly substitute for the more explicit carnal verb. Anti-semitic messages are also reported to be allowed.

So according to NBA logic, it’s OK to insult and rank upon Jewish folks. And it’s OK to insult and rank upon bullied Hong Kongers. But it’s never OK to criticize Communist China, for fear of losing the cash spigot. How’s that for moral leadership? How’s that for social justice? Talk about “systemic”, this is systemic greed.

You might think that Rob Manfred of Major League Baseball is an idiot. You might think that Gary Bettman of the NHL is a fool. You might think that Roger Goodell of the NFL is a butt-kissing finger-in-the-wind fraud. And you are probably right in your assessments. But share a portion of your condemnation for Adam Silver.

And don’t ever forget that all these guys are mere hirelings, puppets on strings manipulated by the owners. Shame on the owners for their craven sellout of often frightened and desperate people. Don’t give them your money. Don’t give them your respect.

And yes, free Hong Kong.

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