You can't say that

I sure many of you have heard that John Amaechi, former Jazz player, has recently revealed to the world that he is in fact gay. It apparently came as no surprise to his teammates, (though it did seem to surprise Jerry Sloan in how accurate some of the slurs he threw at Amaechi really were). The fact that John Amaechi is gay doesn't bother me at all. I have known a few gay people in my short time on this earth and they tend be like any one else. Some are cool, some are jerks, and some fall somewhere in between. Religiously I think it is wrong, just as wrong as two heterosexual people getting it on out of the bonds of marriage. Premarital sex is premarital sex. But there are some things about this that bother me.

First, why does it have to be such a circus? I don't really care that Amaechi is gay. Lots of people are gay, but they don't feel the need to spread it around the world and hold a press conference about it. Let us not forget that for all the things that Jon Amaechi is, he was a crappy basketball player (by NBA standards at least. I am sure he can take me). He was also lazy, which was why Sloan hated him so much and why they ran him out of that organization on a rail. You could put Gandhi on the Jazz, and if he was lazy on D, Sloan would still call him a f*gg%t.

But now the whole world pushes cameras in his face so he can tell his story, because it must have been so hard for him to live in that world and prefer the company of men. Does the NBA have exclusive rights to bigotry? No one else gets hassled at their job for their lifestyle? I would think that this would be the gay man’s dream. I mean how many of us heterosexuals get to hang out in a place where a whole bunch of girls get naked and take showers together? I try to maintain a certain chastity of my thoughts, but given the opportunity to hang out in such a place may make impossible for my brain to overtake the pull of my hormones. Amechi talks about it like he was living in prison, but according to his book, Greg Ostertag knew he was gay (Amechi apparently told him after a practive when Tag flat out asked him if he was gay), as did AK47, who invited him to his Christmas party and told him to bring his "partner or whoever you want to bring." So if your whole teams knows, and they are for the most part cool with it, then how are you living in a prison there Johnny Boy?

Second, why is there all the hubbub about Tim Hardaway. Hardaway said on the air that he "hates gays."

"I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

And of course since there is nothing going on right now in the world of sports suddenly this is big news. Now, I think it is clear to say that there are smarter ways to go about saying what you think, but this is a perfect example of something that drives me insane. Let me just say that I am deeply disappointed in Tim Hardaway.

Hardaway was asked a question, and like a fool he did something we didn't expect. He told the truth, and he told it explicitly. Suddenly, the world is on fire. I just watched a clip on ESPN.com of a cameraman and reporter on his Hardaway's driveway peppering him with questions and demanding an apology. And then he did the thing that I think is most disappointing in this whole ordeal.

Hardaway apologized.

Keep in mind that Hardaway is independently wealthy. Even if he never got another endorsement he could live his life in comfort and never suffer for what he said, except from the grief he might get from Joe Blow when he goes out on the town. So there is no economic reason to retract his statement. He caved from pure peer pressure.

This is something that really bothers me about America. Tim Hardaway hates gays. I am neither surprised nor shocked. Lots of people hate homosexuals. Lots of people hate Christians or Muslims or Hare Krishna as well. Name any group, religion, or mode of thought and there is somebody who hates it. I hate Communists. I hate Sean Hannity. I hate HATE Micheal Jordan. I hate the Yankees with an undying passion. I could go on and on.

But even though there are diverse, passionate people in America who have strong beliefs about one thing or another, we can never talk about it in the open. It is always in whispers behind closed doors to close friends. You have heard this. It’s always prefaced with some statement like "Now, I am not a racist, but..." and then they go on to tell you how they hate all Hispanics and are pissed they won't learn English.

There is no real free speech in America. Mind you, no one will throw you in jail for saying you hate Homosexuals, but they will camp out in front of your house and try to embarrass you in front of every Tom, Dick, and Janice with Direct TV.

In the 1930s George Orwell wrote 1984, a book about a nightmarish fascist society where the government monitors citizens at every turn and kills and tortures those who dare even think against the state. At the end of that book, Orwell wrote a rather lengthy aside about how his imaginary government would go about taking words out of the English language that would incite any emotion. Orwell insinuates that if speech could not contain passion (good or bad passion) then no group of people could ever be incited to rebel. There could be no revolution because no leader could ever move people to break out of bondage. There would be no concept of freedom or bondage, because there would be no words to express pain, fear, rage, or peace. We can all thank God that such a regime never can about, but I feel like there are thought police today. There are all sorts of things "you just can't say," in America today. You can hate the president (in fact it is cool to hate the president), but you can't hate homosexuals. You can hate religion, but you can't hate religious people. You can hate hicks (ah poor white trash. It’s the last thing that TV can still make fun of without repercussion). You can't hate a race. I am not even sure who sets the rules of what is fair game for slander and hate, and what should be holy and protected, but somehow we all know what those things are.

You may hate Homosexuals, you may not. I am sure you have things that you hate. However, you cannot, and should not, gag those who disagree with you. I don't care if you think Tim Hardaway is wrong when he says he hates gays (though tomorrow in a press conference Hardaway will cave and try to convince you he doesn't). You solve nothing by gagging him. Preventing him from speaking, or shaming him for speaking does not take away his hate. All it does is bottle it up, so it can come out later in an outburst.

But, if you let the homophobes, racists, bigots and speak their thoughts, then suddenly there is a dialogue. Suddenly, if you listen to them, no matter how wrong you think they are, those thoughts are out there. They leave the back room and we face them as a society. And maybe... just maybe if you listen to them, they will listen to you. Gagging them will never change their mind.

But talking, honestly talking, once in a while just might.

After all, they have to listen to you. They are free, you are just the tool holding the microphone, letting someone speak because you won't. You won't speak because you are afraid, because Big Brother is Watching You.