Morally reprehensible behavior by the Chicago Cubs
By Scott Tibbs, May 15, 2019
I sent this e-mail to the Chicago Cubs on May 10.
Note: This is not a call to abandon all discernment. There are people in this world who are morally depraved, and obviously we should call our people who legitimately have bad motives. But our first reaction should be charitable, especially since we would want that from others.
Greetings,
After a fan made a morally neutral gesture that means "OK" at a Cubs game, certain segments of the internet erupted and accused the man of making a "white power" hand gesture. However, this is not generally used as a "white power" gesture. In fact, President Barack Obama has made that same gesture on several occasions, and I am confident that our nation's first black president is not a white supremacist. You can see examples in a Google Image Search here: http://bit.ly/2Jfu4XI
That the "OK" gesture actually means "white power" is a hoax cooked up by Internet trolls to provoke the same kind of reaction that you made. The trolls have won, obviously.
The Chicago Cubs - an internationally famous sports team with fans all over the world - could have been the adults in the room. You could have said that you will be charitable and assume that this man did not act out of evil motives. Instead, you bowed to the pitchfork mob and banned him for life from Wrigley Field. This is an obscene overreaction to what is likely an innocent gesture.
Now, you know how this works. If he has not been "outed" by now, he will be soon. His life will be destroyed when that happens. A measured, charitable and mature response by the Cubs could have mitigated the damage that will be done to this man's life. You chose not to do that. You chose virtue signaling instead. It does not matter to you whether this man is a racist or not. You will ruin his life to puff yourself up. This is shameful.
This kind of attitude is poisoning our culture. We immediately assume bad motives far too often, instead of making the most charitable assumption. I will admit I am just as bad, and I have to my shame done this far too often. I need to do better, and so do you. Sadly, the Chicago Cubs have furthered this poisonous atmosphere with your immediate decision to ban this man from Wrigley Field for life and demonize him as a white supremacist with absolutely no evidence whatsoever.
I have been a Chicago Cubs fan my whole life. That is over now. I cannot in good conscience support a team that behaves in such a morally reprehensible manner.
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