4 Things: President Trump, Social Media, Network Television & LeBron James
After watching the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, I have come to realize that as a society our social media habits are WAY worse than I thought. Unless we make some serious changes Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc., will destroy our civilization as we know it. A former Facebook executive compares the platform’s addictiveness to nicotine. The political division and idealogical radicalization will only worsen. One can only imagine what will happen if Trump or Biden win the election and the other refuses to concede defeat.
Enough of my apocalyptic dribble. On to 4 Things.
1) Best wishes for POTUS Trump
Despite how one feels about the President, or how their friends and family feel about him, at the end of the day he is a human being. It is important to remember that. Trump is 74-years-old and is in the high-risk age group. The vast majority of the COVID deaths in this country have been of people in the 70 or older age group. I will not hope or wish death upon another individual, regardless of how I feel about that person. Here’s to a speedy recovery for POTUS 45.
2) The behavior on social media is irreprehensible
As I browse my timelines on social media, one word repeatedly pops up in my head: radical. Facebook and especially Twitter rewards patrons for vile, outlandish and, dare i say, evil discourse. The more repulsive the post, the more likes, shares, retweets and emojis that feed the dopamine rush. People will use any moment to try to gain a little bit of clout and acceptance from complete strangers. People could not pull their phones out of their pockets fast enough to rub Trump’s COVID diagnosis in his face:
The celebrities were just as petty:
“BET YOU WANNA” wear a mask now 😩😩😩 https://t.co/jp6NTiGztO
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) October 2, 2020
Rona grabbed him by the p*ssy ??
— Wale (@Wale) October 2, 2020
3) Network television is worse
Saturday Night Live returned after a roughly 4-month hiatus. The name of the episode might have well been titled “Ha Ha. Trump Has COVID”. Nearly the entire episode consisted of Trump-bashing “humor”.
Chris Rock on SNL:
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) October 4, 2020
“President Trump is in the hospital from COVID and I just wanna say my heart goes out to COVID”
I’m not surprised. pic.twitter.com/0vhMXQrOId
Video thread: After SNL's Cold Open and Chris Rock joked about/celebrated Trump being hospitalized with coronavirus, SNL, 'Weekend Update' makes clear they too are happy and would like to see his condition take a turn for the worse. (1/) pic.twitter.com/WbXskDLlyK
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 4, 2020
Do these celebrities really feel this way about Trump, or is it just a money grab? Saying anything negative about him has turned ordinary people into instant celebrities and generated millions of dollars for companies. The return of SNL showed a 27% viewership increase compared to this time last year.
4) LeBron is one of the greatest...sore losers of all-time
The Lake Show lost last night to the Miami Heat in game 3 of the NBA Finals. Not a surprise, there was no way an Erik Spoelstra/Pat Riley-led team was going to get swept. Jimmy Butler put forward one of the best performances of his career. Also, not a surprise. Butler is at the peak of powers. The arrow will only start to point down from here on out. In what might be his only Finals appearance as a star player, the Marquette University product is going to show out.
LeBron, in an obvious defeat, walks to the locker room with 10 seconds left in the game. He doesn’t shake hands with the opposition in a show of good sportsmanship. James later in a post-game interview said he left in frustration:
LeBron on if he walked off the court early because he thought the game was over or out of frustration “Both” pic.twitter.com/vH61O4rDCS
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) October 5, 2020
James has done this in the past. In 2009, when the Orlando Magic defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers to advance to the Finals, LeBron left the court without acknowledging his teammates, opponents or the fans. LeBron even showed poor sportsmanship in the 2012 All-Star game, when the Western Conference defeated his Eastern Conference squad 152-149. His discontent showed in the post-game interview with TNT’s Craig Sager.
As great of a resume he has put together, LeBron has some nasty blemishes on it. His lack of sportsmanship being one of them.
Like color commentator Mark Jackson said at the end of game 3, “This is not a good look”.
