Political Correctness and the NCAA: Everything is Political

"The Left Is Weaponizing Sports" writes David French at National Review. Not sure if it's "weaponized", but is certainly is becoming very politicized. As Mr. French writes,

Social-justice warriors, however, can’t leave well enough alone. Is the trend now that major sporting events can only occur in progressive-approved locations? Will we now be subject to a parade of progressive-approved (and only progressive-approved) player demonstrations? And spare me any argument that our sporting culture is opening itself up to free expression. I’m glad neither the NFL nor the San Francisco 49ers are punishing Colin Kaepernick, but just ask Curt Schilling how much the progressive sports elite values dissent from the social-justice orthodoxy. I don’t mind if individual players or owners express themselves, so long as it is clearly understood that all viewpoints are welcome. I mind, however, when the sporting elite decides to turn professional and college athletics into a sweatier version of a progressive college campus, speech codes and all. I mind when social-justice warriors try to wield the awesome economic power of sports — built via the pocketbooks of all Americans — to punish conservatives, especially Christian conservatives.

Not that attempting to punish those deemed ideologically impure is anything new - Thomas Mann, the German writer is quoted from The Magic Mountain:

Everything is politics.

Yes, well, to be blunt, that sucks.

Back in the 60's folks similar to those who push this current agenda used to say:

The personal is political.

Which tracks back - sorta- to C. Wright Mills and his The Sociological Imagination which is summed up in this video:


In short, some things might be personal, but somewhere out there is someone willing to take those things from you and make them into society's issues, because all of us live in society and we all interact with society.

So your obesity becomes a problem for the state because it increases your use of health benefits provided by Medicaid/Medicare or whatever, and that bumps up the costs of the health system and causes a need for tax increases to cover your additional (presumably avoidable costs), so the state has the right and perhaps the obligation to tell you to lose weight. And, if you don't, perhaps to take away your benefits until you do. Just like the esteemed British Government Health Care System British Government Hospitals To Bar Smokers & Overweight Patients From Surgery, Due To Budget Constraints.

Now, if some person self-identifies with a gender different from that appears on the birth certificate, it seems now that that person's bathroom preferences have moved from being a personal issue into being a societal issue. This requires all those who would prefer, on some basis or another, that there continue to be single sex public bathrooms/shower rooms for the vast majority of the people and, perhaps, a public bathroom/shower room set up for those who feel uncomfortable using the single sex public facility corresponding with their birth certificate, to be "otherized" and to be punished for their attitudes and beliefs.

Why? Because, as set out in this 2013 Sonny Bunch article from The Washington Beacon A Political Life vs. a Politicized Life:

There’s nothing wrong with living a political life. That is, a life in which politics is one of your interests or your job, something you follow and keep track of and educate yourself on and argue about. The arena of politics is important; political decisions have consequences; and passionately arguing for your preferred political outcomes is nothing to be ashamed of.

A politicized life is a different beast, however. It treats politics as a zero sum game or a form of total warfare in which the other side must be obliterated. It alters every aspect of your being: where you shop; what you watch on TV; what sort of music you listen to; who you associate with. If you’re not with the politicized being, you’re against him—and if you’re against him, he is well within his rights to ruin you personally and economically. You, the political other, are a leper to be shunned, lest your thoughtcrimes infect the rest of society.

As I wrote, I find this to be more than a little disturbing. I don’t worry too much about growing partisan gridlock, but I do worry somewhat about an America in which each half the country hates the other so viscerally that they won’t even interact. That’s a truly dangerous state of affairs. One I seem to recall happening before…

"Thoughtcrimes" - I like that.

I've written the North Carolina House Bill 2 before here:

You might note the following: (1) the bill has no impact on private businesses (theaters, gyms, private schools, private universities, restaurants, coffee house, bars, private arenas where sports are played, hotels, motels, stores, shops, salons, barbershops, etc) which are free to allow their patrons to access restrooms and other facilities as they see fit)
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Now, some of rub comes when private activities occur in state or municipally owned facilities.

The NFL Carolina Panthers play in Bank of America stadium, which is privately owned. The ownership of that stadium would appear to be free to allow access to restrooms as they choose.

The NBA Charlotte Hornets, however, play in Time Warner Cable Arena, which is owned by the City of Charlotte. The area would appear to be barred from violating state law, either for basketball games or for any concerts held in this or other municipal arenas.

I leave it for you to decide whether the millionaire owners of sports teams should be subsidized in having arenas built at taxpayer expense and, thus, submitting themselves to state regulation of restroom usage.

And the same question can be asked of any city or county that owns such facilities.

and here:

"Militant open-mindness" really hates people with opposing views of "the right thing to do" doesn't it?

So, the NCAA decides to change the venues of 7 NCAA championships out of NC to some other more politically correct location, what's the message? Conform or die? Screw the fact that the law was put in place because the elected legislature thought was needed and that the people of NC can throw all those in favor of this bill out at the next election? Grant the "big money" that goes with these events to more compliant states?

Having decided to punish NC for its law put in place by a freely elected legislature, the unelected NCAA powers apparently can now punish other states for views that it decides are politically incorrect? "We don't like the fact that the Texas legislature has decided to allow concealed weapons are allowed on campus and in classrooms, so we are not allowing any NCAA championships in Texas?"

Oh, by the way, 29 other states do not provide any "discrimination protections for gay or transgender people". I guess were down to 21 states where the NCAA can hold its events.

The NCAA may suffer some, too, "NCAA may have to pay up for pulling championships out of North Carolina" according to Steve Berkowitz:

The NCAA may face financial consequences for its decision Monday to relocate seven championship events from the state of North Carolina, according to a review of contract documents and interviews with local officials.
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The lease and bid-specification contracts covering those events do not appear to allow the NCAA to terminate the arrangement for the reason it announced. USA TODAY Sports obtained the documents from the Greensboro Coliseum Complex under an open-records request.
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The bid specification document states that in deciding where to award the games, the NCAA will consider factors including a site’s “ability to promote an atmosphere of respect for and sensitivity to the dignity of every person.”

But the termination provisions of the venue lease agreement state that the agreement can be terminated by the NCAA without liability to the NCAA only if one of three conditions are left unaddressed after the NCAA provides notice and a 30-day period to remedy the issue. The conditions include the venue’s failure to “retain its status in the industry as a top-tier facility … through a deterioration of physical structure” and “material breach by any one of the entities that made representations relied upon by the NCAA in awarding” the events.

Not the NCAA leadership's money, it belongs to all the NCAA schools and will probably result in the loss of scholarship money for some deserving kid who might not otherwise be able to afford college.

But, what the heck, it's all NC's fault.