The twitter ban on Keith Law has been lifted, and ESPN’s reputation sinks lower into the gutter. He was told to stay off Twitter after arguing with Curt Schilling about evolution (really, Schilling is an obnoxious idiot on the subject), and now ESPN says this:
Keith’s Twitter suspension had absolutely nothing to do with his opinions on the subject.
All I can say is,
But Law is back now, and his first twitter comment is perfect:
Eppur si muove.
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 24, 2014
Eppur si muove.
And here’s a good summary of the state of the nation.
Law may have been given a rather light sentence compared to the victims of the Catholic inquisition, but his experience still illustrates that science and rational thought are not always welcome in our society. After all, Schilling, for all of his blustering about the falsehood of evolution, was not punished at all. It was only Law that faced any consequences — his only crime telling his colleague that there is, indeed, a great deal of scientific support for evolution.
There is a vein of anti-intellectualism that runs throughout our society, and it insulates itself from criticism by punishing those who dare mention facts, figures, science, or data. Christians, especially this time of year, like to say that they are being discriminated against for their beliefs, but in reality the opposite is usually true.
I also notice that Schilling has been babbling about evolution less. He probably wasn’t told to knock it off, but there’s hope that maybe he felt a little embarrassed by having the press suddenly focus on his deeply stupid ignorance.
I suppose, though, it’s possible that ESPN’s statement was “true”, or perhaps, truthy. Perhaps it wasn’t so much Law’s having those opinions, but rather that he expressed them.
Or maybe how he expressed them. So strident!
That was a classy tweet from Keith Law.
Enjoyed the tweet and the probability that someone will need to explain it to Schilling. With small words. And pictures.
In other ESPN news, Bill Simmonds is owed an apology after a court judge pointed out that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was in fact lying about Rice’s suspension.
It is really hard to believe that ESPN would have intervened in the Law/Schilling dispute unless Schilling had complained. IE pointed out that he was the big shot name and he wasn’t going to have some no-name journalist type dispute his bigoted rants.
In other words the ban only makes sense if Schilling pulled a Dawkins on Law.
Unlike most of those who will comment on this issue, I actually know Kurt Schilling. I umpire NCAA softball in the spring, and work travel ball tournaments in the summer. For the past three summers, Schilling has coached his daughter’s very competitive team in several games I’ve umpired. We had pleasant pre-game conversations, always very professional. He’s a pushy coach who knows how to ride an official, but I’m used to that at this point, and it doesn’t bother me (been there, done that with other coaches). He seems to genuinely love the sport, and is generous in devoting his time to his daughter’s team. In addition, he will always have a place in the hearts of us Red Sox fans for his heroic role in the playoffs and World Series.
Having said that, in his public life, he’s a jerk. After retiring, he appeared frequently on Boston sports talk shows, always espousing a “small government,” free enterprise, conservative line. Then, after saying repeatedly that he opposed government handouts (to others!), he took a huge one in the form of a $75M loan guarantee to the state of RI. Hypocrite? Maybe…. and then when 38 studios went bankrupt, he left the taxpayers holding the bag to the tune of about $100M. Thanks, Kurt! (No, I didn’t bring that up at our pregame conferences!).
It’s hardly a surprise to me that he would spout off against evolution, just mimicking what seems to pass for “skepticism” in the conservative community these days. He’s just another science denier, given a platform only because of his fame as an athlete.
What is truly appalling is that ESPN would take ANY action against a reporter/writer who called him out on this! But then, ESPN also suspended one of its best commentators (Bill Simmons) for stating the obvious just a few weeks earlier, specifically by calling Roger Godell a “liar” with respect to the Ray Rice affair. What matters to ESPN, obviously, is money. They want to keep the cash flowing – and don’t want to alienate a whole league (the NFL) or to alienate viewers by challenging them on issues like science denial. Very disappointing!
ESPN has been a joke for years. They care more about info-tainment than any actual sports news. It’s sadly impressive when a sports network (the world leader) can even cover sports news without an agenda. The would rather have people yell at each other about which QB is “truly elite” or silly top 5 lists (brought to you by Coors Light) than actually talk about scores or stats. They also have Stephen A Smith who essentially said Janay was asking for it, then issued a classic not-pology. They want to discuss drama elsewhere, but anything that touches their brand is silenced immediately.
The also, have Gregg Easterbrook who is an elitist, conservative, pompous christian. His tediously long weekly NFL columns are filled with dogwhistles and he was suspended years ago for being anti-Semitic, but was reinstated because “freeze peach”. In short ESPN is People magazine level trash for sports fans,
Post hoc ergo propter hoc, much? ESPN has said that the suspension had nothing to do with his awesome tweet and while his come back tweet was equally awesome, he has not said otherwise.
So Graham, @7–what were the set of circumstances that led to Law being suspended, then reinstated, and why would he make his first post-suspension public statement be “And yet it moves?” It’s kind of an odd combination of events if he was suspended for improper use of the office supplies, don’t you think?
I posted “Eppur si muove” on my FB page in support of Mr. Law. Perhaps we can spread the word and have folks do the same all over social media.
@grahammartin
In this case there is every reason to believe that coincidence is causation. ESPN have been demonstrated to be liars repeatedly so there is no reason to accept their version of the facts here.
Of course they wouldn’t be able to reveal that Schilling demanded that Law be punished for having the temerity to contradict him. That would make the big bully look like a jerk and they have to protect their investment.
Incidentally, this sort of dispute would never happen in most countries. It is only the US where the lack of employment protection laws makes it possible for a jerk like Schilling demand that another employee be punished for making him look bad.
Smoke -> fire.
I wonder how long some facts have to be recognized before they move from the realm of the intellectual, to that of “well duh”.
As a long time fan of Keith Law’s (Check out his personal blog “The Dish” if you like cooking, reading, or boardgames,) I.m biased, but I’m fairly certain that Klaw’s turn in the Twitter penalty box was less for his “strident” defense of evolution than for the fact that he violated the networks pecking order. Schilling, as a former athlete (a legit Hall of Famer) simply ranks higher than Law with the network. ESPN depends on it’s former athletes for it’s image as industry leader… despite the fact that Keith Law is a former front office man for the Blue Jays, a talented self taught scout and someone who knows more about Major League Baseball than almost anyone. But Schilling is the famous dude so he gets precedent over the journalist.
Does anyone out there know the Italian word for “evolves”? (I have an idea for a t-shirt …)
Oh no no. Schilling is still babbling.
kenmiller@5:
Then you’d know it’s spelled Curt. ;)
Vulva. Course, my Italian is a little rusty…
@favog, #14:
“Eppur si evolve” would be the translation you’re looking for. And if you want proof that I’ve given you the accurate translation, it’s also the title of this article from La Stampa (“Darwin and the Church: And Yet it Evolves”).
Thanks, nullifidian. “Eppur si muove” on the front side, “Eppur si evolve” on the back.