Sunday, January 29, 2012

A Better Way

Underlying the gun culture is a presumption of violence and a glorification of violent solutions to bad feelings and crisis situations.

What makes this applicable to a blog that is mostly about guns and gun violence is the threats, on twitter and otherwise apparently, that resulted from the unfortunate outcome of a STUPID GAME, not life and death serious reality - a GAME.

It is one of the good aspects of sports that games of all kinds, sports of all kinds, generates a lot of enthusiasm, or as one sports program used to state in their intro, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.   This is going back a few decades, but good ol' You tube has it archived:


So, I was looking for a thoughtful way to write about the terrible threats, the hateful wishes, in conjunction with our gun culture.  We see people shooting other people daily in this country because they lack perspective, they lack control, they act emotionally, irresponsibly and with immaturity.

And then I happened to come across this, which demonstrated an exceptional individual, a much better cultural value than our gun culture represents.  THIS is what sports and games and our culture SHOULD be teaching, this is what we need to see more of to replace the outdated, destructive gun culture that the reactionaries among us are trying so very hard to retain and enshrine with their claims about freedom, that takes away freedom from tens of thousands of people every year, along with their lives and safety.



And here is the link and the copy from fellow 'Young Turks' colleague Ben Makiewicz's article on Huff Po about this young man:

Forget the Twitter Hate: Little Boy Writes Beautiful Letter to Kyle Williams


Twitter is busy reminding us what's wrong with sports and more specifically, sports fans.

Thanks to Owen Shure, seven years old from Los Angeles, we have an example of what's right.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kyle Williams, 23 years old from San Jose, is now well known to even the most indifferent football fan. Williams showed his lack of experience in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game and carelessly allowed a punt to graze his leg. Fumble, Giants ball at the San Francisco 29 and seven plays later, a touchdown and a 17-14 Giants lead.

Then, in overtime, a more forgivable mistake, but one that cost the 49ers the game. While returning a punt, Kyle Williams had the ball poked away by Jacquian Williams of the Giants. A great play, but another fumble, Giants ball at the San Francisco 24 and five plays later, the Giants win, 20-17.

But this isn't another story about Kyle Williams and the stand-up way he's faced his football mistakes. Nor is it about the intentionally cruel, mean, and depressing response of some really bad people on Twitter. This is a story about Owen Shure, who's bigger at seven years old than any of these jackbags on Twitter.

First, in case you missed it -- and you're lucky if you did -- here's a sampling of the ugliness directed at Williams via Twitter:

@KyleWilliams_10 you should jump off the golden gate bridge for that one

@KyleWilliams_10 HOPE U RUN n2 A BULLET DA WAY U RAN INTO DAT BALL...

Jim Harbaugh, please give @KyleWilliams_10 the game ball. And make sure it explodes when he gets in his car.

@KyleWilliams_10. I hope you, youre wife, kids and family die, you deserve it

That last one is my favorite because Kyle Williams is single and doesn't have kids. Mean, cruel, vindictive and epically stupid -- it's a winning combination.

Owen inherited his love of the 49ers from his dad, Michael Shure, a political contributor to The Young Turks on Current TV. Michael is my friend and Owen, I should point out, is my godson. Sundays during the season, Owen races around the house in his Frank Gore jersey, cheering every Patrick Willis tackle ("P-Willie" to Owen) and referring to Alex Smith as "Alex." He's not just the quarterback. He's a friend.

So Sunday, as the Niners lost in memorably disheartening fashion, Owen became inconsolable. He was crying, saying of Kyle Williams, with the distinct sobs of a seven-year-old between each word, "But... why... did he... have to... fumble?"

I can relate to Owen's anguish easily -- as can every other boy who ever truly loved a team. When Roger Staubach and Tony Hill teamed up to beat Lamar Parrish on a little fade route from eight yards out with 39 seconds to play to give Dallas a 35-34 win over Washington in the last game of the 1979 season, eliminating the Redskins from the playoffs, I didn't cry. I broke a lamp. Then I cried. And I was 12.

So I get Owen's agony. Heck, I respect it. He's not going to start following the Los Angeles Jaguars when they finally move to town. He's a Niner fan for life. 2-14 or 14-2, those are Owen's guys.

Which is why, I imagine, it was easy for Owen to pivot from the agony of defeat to the thrill of loyalty. Trying to get his son to stop crying, Michael asked him, "If you feel this way, how sad do you think Kyle Williams is?"

Owen paused a second, then asked his dad, "Can I write him a letter to make him feel better?" And from that, an old-fashioned letter -- the ultimate anti-Twitter, the un-social media -- was born.

Here's the letter (how does Owen even know what a letter is?). I will leave his beautiful seven-year old grammar uncorrected.

Dear Mr. Williams:

We just watched the Playoff game. I feel really bad for you but I wanted to tell you that you had a great season. you sould be very proud, so I wanted to say thank you.

I am your #1 FAN!

Owen Shure
Los Angeles, CA

p.s. your awsome

Next season I'll have a new favorite player. It's Kyle Williams. I'll also have an old favorite little boy. It's Owen Shure.


2012-01-26-owenatgame.jpg 2012-01-26-photo2.jpg
Now I have to admit that I am an admirer of the commentary of this little boy's father on the Young Turks.  His dad doesn't foam at the mouth or yell, and he seems careful to be accurate and thoughtful in what he says.  I like that.

So it shouldn't surprise me that he has raised his son to be like this, but it is still lovely to see.

It was all the more poignant when in researching this piece to find out that this quarter back had been targeted by the opposing team because of his history of concussions.

I hope that whoever thought it was a good thing to tweet the threats doesn't own a gun or other lethal weapon of any kind.  The tweet itself was an indication of poor self-control, bad impulse behavior.  I feel badly for all the other potential gun owning bad sports who may have had their hands on a trigger instead of tweeting at all.

I liked this story not only because it was topical in view of the superbowl approaching, but because it is such a lovely window into that dichotomy of good and evil in people.

I find the concept of the good in people that is expressed by our commenter Greg to be on a par with all the depth and complexity of a three year old's coloring book picture, which is frightening in someone who presumes to be involved with great literature.  It is shallow, it is simplistic, it is not closely related to objective reality.  There IS genuinely good in people, a mix of good and not good.  This young man was an excellent example of the good.  The tweets, presumably from adults far older than this seven year old boy, shows how people - who presumably also have some good in them - are not always directed by that good when faced with frustration or disappointment or any other negative emotion.

14 comments:

  1. No matter how much spin you put on it, sport is fundamentally practice for war. We have civilized ourselves to the point that many forget this, but that doesn't change the nature of sport.

    Regarding your comment about my understanding of human nature, you continue to mischaracterize what I've said, but that comes as no surprise.

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    1. GC writes:

      Regarding your comment about my understanding of human nature, you continue to mischaracterize what I've said, but that comes as no surprise.


      No, that pretty much is an accurate characterization, and far more accurate than yours tend to be.

      You want us to believe that we are all safe with many guns owned by many people because people are basically good.

      I counter that all people - even bad people - have some good in them, but that because people are a mix of good and not good, that it is stupid to RELY - as in no regulation, no testing - on their judgment and goodness being in control when the trigger is pulled.

      My version is supported by the statistics. Yours is stupid.

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    2. Greg, you say, "No matter how much spin you put on it, sport is fundamentally practice for war."

      But when I say shooting targets is simulated killing, you object don't you?

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    3. That's certainly a part of what is going on. The difference here is that you have a problem with it, while I don't.

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    4. Well, yes and no. I disapprove of shooting sports for the reasons I gave, but I don't think or preach that they should be abolished. I also object to those who say they have nothing to do with killing or aggression. But, again, I don't call for their removal.

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  2. GC writes:

    No matter how much spin you put on it, sport is fundamentally practice for war.

    Bullshit.

    This is clearly more of your ignorance. You might expose yourself to actual knowledge of the topic. I'd suggest beginning with Homo Ludens by Johan Hizinga. Sport is a form of play.

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    1. Once again, you point me to someone's opinion, as if that is the only right one. Tell me this: Why do humans play? I say that it's the same reason that wolves play--learning the skills of fighting and winning. The fact that we add many other layers to it doesn't remove the original purpose.

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  3. Dog- This story was dispicable. Williams is a kid, and a human at that. He's gonna make mistakes. The 49er's were a young team going into the game. That's why I picked the Giants. The 49er fans should be elated over the season they had, especially considering how young the team is. They may very well end up dominating this decade. To the dorks with the twitter accounts. Get a F##king life, losers. You weren't playing in an NFC Championship game. DA Bears.

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  4. We all know that violent ground acquisition games are just a crypto-facist metaphor for nuclear war.

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    1. 'We all' is a lot smaller group than you think it is.

      In fact it is tiny, and insignificant.

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  5. Baseball is a civilized sport, swimming too.

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    1. Mike- You've obviously never been hit in the face with a 90 MPH fastball....OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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  6. That's true, but you reminded me of a time in summer camp when I was forced to play catcher. The others were all bigger and better than me especially that kid who came barrelling down the third base line and slid into home practically killing me.

    So, you're right, swimming is a civilized sport.

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    1. Unless you're swimming around sharks or crocodiles. As a matter of fact, it's probably best to stay in bed. . .

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