• zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      There's just a lot in American culture that makes this whole question fucked up.

      a) Black men being routinely portrayed as sex pests and rapists

      b) Athletes given a kind-of blank check to harass and assault whomever they like without consequence or coverage

      c) Celebrities being subjected to really low quality gossip coverage, while mostly being immune from legal consequences

      d) A general distaste for pissing on dead people over vaguely understood allegations

      In my experience, one's opinion on Kobe Bryant is as often simply a reflection of how much you like/hate the Lakers as whether you think screaming "Rapist" at a celebrity tombstone is doing anything for anyone he may have assaulted.

    • Sacred_Excrement [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah but he said he was sorry if the girl thought it was not consensual, after having his legal team drag her through the mud

      • Sklorp [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        "The left will never convince black people to support us if we condemn rapists. Screw rape victims."

        I'm sorry but I'm still kinda mad about that debacle.

        • Theblarglereflargle [any]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          Again, it wasn’t that. It was how POC users went “hey why is the response for this so much more then it was for other shirker people” and then those comments being downvoted voted and them told to fuck off or worst shit. Like legit racist language being used. The reaction to his death was more celebratory and ravenous then Herman Cain’s and other full on shit heads who died around the same time. It caused key members of the community to leave and never come back.

          Minimizing it to just “idpol overload” is minimizing the whole thing. We lost good legit members and organizers because assholes couldn’t admit that 90 plus posts in a few hours celebrating his death. Which got to a point mods started removing them for spam, all the while telling POC to STFU and laugh, wasn’t cringe.

            • Theblarglereflargle [any]
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              And it wa a mostly non Chapo people or stupidpol users who were stoking the fires but a huge swath of people got I cocked. There was A LOT of thinly veiled to completely out in the open racism in the posts.

              All Kobe posts were banned after a bit even because it got so bad. That’s what is pissing me off everyone’s acting like it was just rape apologia when the anger was at the scope and content of the messages not that he was a rapist.

              It scared off a lot of long time well regarded POC members of the community, but to some people they were just mad about Kobe being called a rapist.

              It’s the same as how the bunny cop memes started from a disabled dude making a serious post that lead to Chapo trolling him off the internet for a bit.

              The community has done awful shit. We gotta learn from it not just hunker down

        • ElGosso [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I don't think I've seen a post this edgy since well before the sub was quarantined :xi-clap: well done

          • WALLTHERICH [comrade/them]
            ·
            edit-2
            3 years ago

            honest pa, it wasn't meant to be. i didn't think it was controversial to suggest someone might pass their morals on to their offspring

        • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          Didn't he die in the helicopter with his daughter?

          This take is kinda fucked. Well done.

          • WALLTHERICH [comrade/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            yes, someone else made mention of that. file it under "things i wish i had known before i posted"

            doesn't really change my feelings on his death, but it is horrendously tragic that innocent people died as well

            • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
              ·
              3 years ago

              I mean, there's only so much good in a group of people who commute through LA by helicopter.

              But Gianna Bryant's only real sin was having rich parents.

              • WALLTHERICH [comrade/them]
                ·
                3 years ago

                getting excoriated for this take made me curious enough to look it up, apparently three children died in the crash

                fucking horrific

          • WALLTHERICH [comrade/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            sure, why not? being raised rich by someone who flagrantly violated the personal autonomy of others could easily lead to the same outcome being repeated; they'd just be statistical outliers since it's not usually black women doing sex crimes

            i wasn't aware he exclusively had daughters but it doesn't really change anything

  • AverageStudent [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I was on a school basketball team a number of years back, and we were playing a little scrimmage game, with the coach playing. Our best player at the time got his hands on the ball, took a shot and shouted ¨Kobe¨ . He swished a three pointer. Ball goes back in play, and he almost immediately gets the ball back and takes another shot. Coach shouts ¨rapist¨ over our players ¨Kobe¨ this time as he jumps up and swats the shot down. Interesting times

    • Dinkdink [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Oh yeah people did NOT like his rapist past brought up. Oh boy did they get angry. "But I like rape now," they said.

  • Animasta [any]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Probably one of the stupidest struggle sessions in my memory. Also a very stupid time on twitter.

    "Black people looked up to Kobe..."

  • Theblarglereflargle [any]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Ah you mean when a bunch of sub users who also were active on stupidpol celebrated his death like he was fucking Kissinger, got told to cool it by POC members of the sub, onlg for said POC members to be told take a joke and be quiet?

    Such proud moments

    Edit: or act like me bringing up a time the community was shit so we can grow is me dismissing rape… ok. You can not like the dude and realize that the reaction wasn’t great.

    • Sklorp [she/her]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      See I remember a bunch of people being really upset that people pointed out their favored millionaire sportsball player was a rapist, and telling us that the left will never succeed in America until we start to accept a little rape.

      We can both be reductive. But only one of us is dismissing rape.

      • Theblarglereflargle [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        I’m not dismissing rape pointing out a time the community acted like shit so we can be better isn’t denying that the dude was shit.

        Seriously It’s not a sum all game. Especially when the sum all game was people treating minorities voicing their opinions as shit.

    • Catherine_Steward [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      You should definitely be quiet if you think we should be crying over the death of a rapist.

      • Theblarglereflargle [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        I’m fucking not idiot, rapists deserve no praise but at the same time pretending that there wasn’t a fuck ton of minority users that got shat on and fucking left. Many prominent posters, is also ignoring what happened.

        It’s not a sum all game.

        • activated [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Your point only makes sense if you think that celebrating rape is inherent behavior from minority users.

          This is obviously reactionary racist thinking. What actually happened instead of "a fuck ton of minority users that got shat on and fucking left" was "a fuck ton of rapist defenders that got shat on and fucking left"

          If you take your ball and go home because you are a hog who can't handle a rapist being treated as such, you don't belong here anyway.

          • Theblarglereflargle [any]
            ·
            edit-2
            3 years ago

            The fuck does your first point even mean other then some big brain whatboutisim? None of the POC people pissed at the reaction were outright defending Kobe or trying to say he wasn’t shit they just said how uncomfortable the ravenous hate towards him was especially when it got racist (which it did).

            Stop acting like it’s a sum all game you yourself are the one saying shit like all the people who had complaints are instantly rape apologists and that racist shit is ok to say if it’s about a rapist.

            • activated [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              None of the POC people pissed at the reaction were outright defending Kobe or trying to say he wasn’t shit

              Hmm, I wonder if this is true, let's continue:

              they just said how uncomfortable the ravenous hate towards him

              Looks like it's not true. Trying to police peoples' justified hatred of a rapist who was able to escape justice through wealth is rape culture in action.

              especially when it got racist (which it did)

              No it didn't.

              all the people who had complaints are instantly rape apologists

              If you have complaints about people hating a dude for being a rapist, then you are by definition a rape apologist

              and that racist shit is ok to say if it’s about a rapist

              Racist shit was not said. Criticizing someone for raping != criticizing him for being black. It's utterly wild to me that you would even try to conflate the two. Just ridiculously reactionary.

              • Theblarglereflargle [any]
                ·
                edit-2
                3 years ago

                Racist shit was said. Posts got banned for racist Shit. Things like talking s out absent blsck fathers and number of kids were said a lot during that whole thing. As well as worst shit I don’t feel like repeating.

                And yes POC said they felt uncomfortable with how the ravenous hate was going towards racist shit and how people with similar shit who were white weren’t getting that level on the sub . But again just pretend it was all rape apologia and that everything is a sum total game. You can discredit the dude for being a rapist and be uncomfortable with the level of outrage compared to other similar shit and the level of racism that was poking through the posts.

                That’s what most people were doing

                • Redbolshevik2 [he/him]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  Who are some comparable white people who died that the subreddit didn't celebrate the death of?

                  • Theblarglereflargle [any]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    I don’t have it anymore but a mod said that there were more posts about Kobe’s death then there were about Bush Sr’s in such a short span of time or some shit like that.

                      • Theblarglereflargle [any]
                        ·
                        3 years ago

                        Yeah it makes sense since Kobe’s was so sudden and probably why certain opinions seeped through because people were just reveling in it without thinking. But that’s my point people are acting as if the struggle sesh was all people doing rape apologia when it wasnt.

                        Hell I DESPISE Kobe I fucking gave speeches to my students about why they shouldn’t go see his movie when the school offered to take them for free. Most of the people not ok with the level and gravitas of the posts were the same way.

                        and also to be fair not all the celebratory posts has racist shit. But it came off as super weird and uncomfortable to a lot of marginalized people to see the black rapist get a larger celebration that other more monstrous monsters.

                        Like I said it’s not a sum all game. Pure idpol or pure classism is dumb. It’s a mix and it includes understanding why people are upset (especially marginalized people who are speaking out) . Not just telling them how to feel

    • Animasta [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      ...as the actual stupidpol was making fun of the chapos for it.

    • truipolose [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Honestly most people here are smart enough to know a bunch of rose emojis crusading against random basketball fans after a horrific crash that killed children was counter productive. Unfortunately people are also smart enough to come up with mental gymnastics to do it anyway.

  • FidelCashflow [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    As a man that died in on a helicopter ride we should feel some solidarity with it.

    • Dinkdink [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Kobe was killed by "get-there-itis", a condition where either a pilot gets overconfident or the paying passenger orders the pilot around despite dangerous conditions. Kobe had already fired two other pilots, one for "due to being disliked by the customer" (i.e. he probably talked back to Kobe when ordered to do a dangerous action) and the other for an unscheduled landing for fuel. Yes, this happened.

      He had his "favorite pilot", the one who flew a perfectly functioning aircraft into a hillside. This pilot well knew you didn't say no to Kobe. The day's weather was so bad the LA sheriff's department grounded all its choppers. And, well, you know the rest.

      Just in case you don't, here's a report on the NTSB's preliminary report on the crash . Blancolirio knows his shit.

      A recreation of Kobe's last moments using Flight Simulator with air traffic control audio added.

      • DashEightMate [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        The FAA fucking loves saying "get-there-itis". For something that's so often a factor in devastating aviation accidents you'd think they would come up with a term that doesn't sound straight out of a Doctor Seuss book.

        • Dinkdink [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          It's general aviation pilot slang. It's a very American culture. They have all sorts of down-home neologisms. I'd say get an airplane and start participating if you want to change, but then I'd get dogpiled because general aviation is what landlords and small business owners do.

    • zxcvbnm [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      if i feel like i'm flying straight and level, that's good enough for me. VFR = Vibes Flight Rules