On another note, tone down the personal barbs. Revisit the moderation policy here for our stance on flaming: http://z11.invisionfree.com/Kasama_Threads/index.php?showtopic=427. We want to have an open civil discussion amongst progressives and revolutionaries, and need to build a culture of respect along with principled critique.

Actually they wouldn’t, since they’re all foreign born.

Interestingly enough, there have been two forms of racial discrimation in the NBA.

The first is discrimination against blacks. Charles Barkeley once remarked that the 12th man on any NBA team is always white. John Stockton was a great basketball player, but Isiah Thomas should have been on the original “Dream Team” instead. In 1997, the Seattle Sonics recruited a mediocre white center named Jim McIlvaine and paid him more than they paid Shawn Kemp.

But in the early and mid 1990s there was some discrimation against East European players entering the NBA. Drazen Petrovic, for example, didn’t make the All Star team in 1993, when he was easily one of the best shooting guards the NBA had ever seen. But the East European players eventually broke through without the need of an all white league to help them.

I think you are mixing apples and oranges here.

Yes, athletic leagues select their players based on athleticism and playing ability.

But that is not “discrimination” – it’s a bona fide job requirement.

Not the same thing at all.

There is a very precise meaning to the legal term “discrimination”, Stanley – and hiring the most qualified candidate, by definition, is not “discrimination”.

In the case of a basketball league, the most qualified candidate would be a tall and muscular young male.

Moose Lewis wants to build a basketball league where only White athletes would be allowed to play – in other words, he’s imposed an illegitimate job requirement.

But, even within the framework of that racist and discriminatory job requirement, Lewis would still be imposing legitimate job requirements such as age, gender (i.e. since this is a men’s basketball league no woman player would be hired), height, musculature and playing ability.

As it happens, there are lots of White men who are excellent basketball players – Dirk Nowitzki, David Lee, Manu Ginóbili and I could go on – and I’m sure they’d be welcomed in Lewis’ racist league.

Now that is totally separate from Zack’s body snark.

I was calling Zack on his ridicule of Moose Lewis solely based on his weight.

Lewis weight and personal appearance are absolutely irrelevant to this discussion.

There are no physical fitness requirements for basketball league commissioners or other management officials – they don’t play the game, they just supervise the people that do – so a fat man is perfectly qualified to hold that job, provided that he is an expert on basketball theory and management.

Lewis is a professional wrestling promoter – and, as an executive in an athletic organization, he is qualified to hold his post, irregardless of his weight, or his politics.

His physical appearance is irrelevant.

Now, perhaps to 10 year old schoolyard bullies and others with a similar level of emotional stuntedness and thinly concealed insecurity, belittling a fat person for their weight is acceptable – and for those with an inadequately developed sense of humor, it might even be “funny”.

But it’s not communist to ridicule a person because of his or her appearance.

That is the mentality of the oppressors and has no place among those seeking liberation.

Yeah, I know I’m a killjoy who “spoils the joke” – but not all “jokes” are funny and, in fact, much of American “humor” is thinly veiled bigotry and hate speech, targeting the weak and the “less than” and no, I don’t laugh at those jokes either.

So, no Zack, your fat joke was not funny

Beyond that, I think folks might want to take note of the fact that Moose Lewis is a professional wrestling promoter – and, since his league has neither investors nor franchise cities nor players, this is probably what wrestling fans call “an angle” – that is to say, he put this story out to attract attention and get publicity and it’s not a real sports league.

Their have been times when wrestlers and wrestling promoters have worked angles like this on the general public – like the famous fake public feud between Jerry ‘the King’ Lawler and Andy Kaufmann almost 30 years ago, or the fake same sex marriage angle between World Wrestling Federation tag team wrestlers Billy and Chuck back in 2002.

In other words, this is a very elaborate practical joke on Moose Lewis part.

Now, the fact that Lewis would stage such an openly racist practical joke says a lot about his personal racism (and the world of pro wrestling is notorious for it’s open racism – something that has always distressed pro wrestling fans of color like myself) – but that’s still no excuse for ridiculing Lewis for his weight.

Incidentally, despite his weight, Lewis has spent most of his adult life as a pro wrestler, so whatever Zack may think of his physical appearance, I’d bet that Lewis is far more athletic than Zack (and would probably be willing to demonstrate that physical superiority in the back alley or bar parking lot of Zack’s choice).

How about “racial collectivist”?

Capitalism, in the form of the individualist style of some African American players, offends him.

This doesn’t mean that overweight people don’t deserve to be treated with respect. But there are organizations which can, and should, discrimate on the basis of physical size and strength.

What Moose Lewis is suggesting is that there be a professional basketball league with affirmative action for white people, that a fat, out of shape white guy should have the same opportunity to play professional basketball as Kobe Byrant.

No, I’m not going to “lighten up” here.

I’m a communist and, since you’re posting at a revolutionary communist website, I suspect you are too (or, at the very least, somebody who believes in social change).

How does it make the world a better place to ridicule somebody just because they are fat?

Basically, what you are saying is, this guy would be fine with you if he was skinny, despite his White supremacist politics – but, since he’s fat, you despise him, and you would feel the same contempt for him even if he were to renounce racism and become a communist.

For that matter, do you feel the same way about me?

Look at my icon – that’s a photograph of me, and yes I’m fat.

I’m also a communist.

But what do you see when you see me?

A comrade?

Or a horrible fat person you hate just because of my weight?

That’s a prejudice, Zack – not as socially toxic as Moose Lewis’ negrophobic racism, but still a form of bigotry nonetheless and frankly not that far from how he sees the world.

So no, I’m not going to “lighten up” about that – the same way I wouldn’t “lighten up” if Moose Lewis made a racist joke about Black people.

Camouflaging bigotry as “humor” doesn’t make it socially acceptable – or revolutionary.

I would however pay to see him teach Kobe Bryant the “fundamentals of basketball” in a one on one.

Actually the issue is his uncanny resemblance to Christopher Hitchens.