Mike Schmidt, Major League Baseball hall of famer has just publicly admitted that he would discriminate based on language/native English speaking ability if forming a ball club. "My honest answer to that would be no because of a couple of things.
First of all, it’s a language barrier. Because of that, I think he can’t
be a guy that would sort of sit in a circle with four, five American
players and talk about the game. Or try and learn about the game or
discuss the inner workings of the game. Or come over to a guy and say,
‘Man, you gotta run that ball out.’ Just can’t be — because of the
language barrier — that kind of a player."
In the associated picture Schmidt is still seen using defensive body language with his arms crossed but the fact that he said anything at all along these lines in public is proof that attitudes about political correctness are changing rapidly. Schmidt is a hero to many young men in the US and he is essentially saying its easier if you stick to associating with your own kind. Schmidt is not being a hater here. What he is saying is just conservative and practical, at least in his view. He's saying that his idea of a successful team involves deep camaraderie which is most easily found when there are not cultural and language barriers. This is not hate speech, it is common sense that has been stepped on by the rise of liberalism.
The article tries to mock Schmidt but it falls short of landing the punch line IMO. You leave the article, which was obviously a nod toward liberalism, feeling that Schmidt's not a bad guy. He didn't say that non English speakers should not be in professional ball. He simply said that you need the team captain to be "one of us".
I'm not saying it is good or bad and in fact what I personally think of it doesn't matter. My main interest in it has nothing do do with baseball either and I don't care about sports. I'm looking at it as nothing more than yet another sign in what I already know is happening: the pendulum swing back toward conservatism. And I will say for the record that while the current level of societal liberalism is enough to make a thinking individual puke, once the swing back to far right conservatism has completed in 40-50 years we will all be absolutely sick of it as well. Both sides have something good to offer if provided in moderation. It is only during the extremes like today that the herd has such horrible infighting.
The good news is that we need to pass through center before we can get too far right.
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