To say that elitism was on public display for all to see and hear last week would be the understatement of the year.
Elitism is defined officially as “The belief that certain persons or members of certain groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their superiority, as in intelligence, social standing, or wealth.” Casually, it means that certain groups of people ae not only better than others, but deserve to be treated better and play by different rules. Basically, think of anyone in Hollywood and you’ll have thought of an elitist (with rare exception).
Many of us are still trying to recover from the audacity shown by Derrick the cyclist who called in earlier this week and justified riding along rural country roads that have no bicycle lanes, thus holding up literally dozens of cars (each with families and people trying to live their lives as well) with a resounding “too bad, that’s life, we can do what we want” His brazen arrogance and dismissiveness was shocking to even those who have already decided that cyclists have an entitled mentality and are, all thing being equal, horrible human beings. This was the same day, you may recall, that another cyclist said that the reason cyclists like to ride on country roads and knowingly endanger and inconvenience motorists is because using the various riding trails available to them is no fun because people walking on those trails endanger them and make the ride more inconvenient for cyclists. I’m not making that up; re-read the sentence until your reaction is something akin to “you’ve got to be kidding me.”
And then came Tom Brady being suspended by the NLF for four games as a result of it “being more likely true than not that Brady had a general awareness of the deflation of footballs,” and for his “failure to cooperate fully and completely with the investigation.”
Citing both equally, the league took away 25% of a person’s livelihood. What should have been a chilling moment for all, was dismissed in one of the most horrifying displays of what I call reverse-elitism I have ever witnessed.
Tom Brady is, by all accounts, one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game. If you somehow dismiss that notion, you cannot dismiss his four championships, charming good looks, gorgeous wife and seemingly perfect life; all things that used to be revered if not respected in American society and are now demeaned, bemoaned, envied and, in some quarters, despised.
Apparently, Tom Brady’s good fortunes are reasons why he should lose various rights guaranteed him by the United States Constitution. That’s what many, if not most of you said.
Rather than being outraged that an employer was engaging in clear bullying and arbitrary punishment absent any proof, most of you echoed the thoughts expressed in the following email sent to the show by some coward unwilling to sign his name:
Brady is paid very well to have integrity, ethics and honesty. You try and compare him to the average Joe, when in fact there is absolutely no comparison. Tom Brady lives in a world that he chose and gets paid ridiculously well at, that make him a public figure, an Idol and keeps him in the spotlight at all times. Rob, you spin this like he is one of us simple stupid minded maggot listeners that is having our privacy invaded for no reason! If Brady had nothing to hide, then he should have complied because that is part of what he is paid so well for, it would clear his name and put this to rest. Instead he chose the invasion of privacy avenue. If his feelings are so strong about his privacy, then he needs to use this opportunity to make a statement and sue the NFL, take a stance and stand up for his belief, otherwise he is the cheating piece of crap he is being accused of in my book.
It is beyond scary how stunningly naïve, ignorant, and wrong such thinking is. The only thing more terrifying is that it seems to be the popular opinion.
Tom Brady’s “choice” to become a rich, famous, idol, in no way precludes or bars him from maintaining his basic civil rights and privacy protections. When his employers asked him for his personal emails and cell phone records (items the NFL did not need since they already had the recipients of note records) Brady had every right to refuse, and he should have. “People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing,” is a wonderful bumper sticker and a great Dr. Phil catchphrase. It also quite literally means that you are in favor of random house checks of your property at any time by local law enforcement. You can’t have it both ways; if people who have nothing to hide, hide nothing, than you won’t mind if your sheriff brings the S.W.A.T. team and dogs by your place unannounced each week. The premise is the same whether dealing with an employer or a figure of state; civil rights cannot be signed away, so either Tom Brady has a right to privacy just like you do, or neither of you do. Pick a hole and lube up, asshole.
There are rumors that Brady will take this all the way to court; I don’t believe them for a minute but I pray that they are true because he has the means and the case to take the narrow minded views expressed by the idiot who wrote the above email and turn them on their head. Success, fame, fortune, and the like are not tickets to lose the things that this country was founded on. Just as having a desire to pursue your hobby on two wheels isn’t a license for you to endanger and inconvenience others just because you can.
Hypocrisy has a funny was of biting this country in the ass. For decades millions of you screamed in agreement as we pilloried adults for choosing to engage in a totally legal, if not unhealthy vice, known as smoking. It was for the “greater good,” and protected people from themselves and it made the health care system better. And now as the same minded folks want to limit, ban, monitor and eliminate your access to fatty foods, alcohol, guns, sugar, and other forms of choices that you make, all of which can be shown to have some sort of effect on “the greater good,” and the healthcare system, you want to jump up and down in protest. Sorry, you lost that battle long ago.
You are Tom Brady. I’m terribly sorry you don’t have his money, his looks, or his wife, but in this country you and he share the same basic set of rights and protections. Demanding his be limited or taken away as a result of your petty envy makes you worse than him; it makes you un-American.
