World On Fire, Why Does Golf Want In?

NOTE TO READERS:  The rant below started life as part of a typical catchall post, but after finishing it decided to separate it from the more typical golf content.  It basically features some known voices arguing that golf needs to become increasingly politicized, which I find the most depressing prospect possible.  Feel free to skip it if you're not in a mood to wallow further, and I'll move on to a post that can function as a safe space... Well, as safe as things get here in this forum.

It'x been a tough week to be an American, and I'm actually relieved to have not been at the keyboard for a few days.  I'll try hard to focus on our little game and not make what follows overly-political, but you'll see quickly that that's an impossible undertaking.  Why?  Because so many in our game think just the opposite, to wit, that the game of golf was invented for the sole purpose of confirming their worldviews....

There's no style book to which I can refer for guidance, so let me try to sort my way through the miasma.  The story from Minneapolis was obviously quite horrid, but it doesn't help that folks are insistent on drawing exactly the wrong conclusions therefrom.  Let me just give one ever-so-small example, this from the ever-so-woke Eamon Lynch:

To be fair, seeing golfers join #BlackoutTuesday is a little like watching those last few kids climb on their desks at the end of Dead Poets Society, when the lack of repercussions is clear, when it’s not just the right thing to do but the popular thing to do. But taken alongside Rory McIlroy’s recent criticism of Donald Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, these posts hint at a watershed moment when some Tour pros finally voice sentiments that run counter to the fact-free, Fox News Channel echo chamber in which so many of their fellow golfers reside. 

Statements of convenience? Sure, but also of conscience.

Nicely done, Eamon, because MSNBC and CNN have so distinguished themselves during this crisis.  Oh, and if you want to something that's actually fact-free, that would be Rory's criticism of Trump's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Not only did he fail to articulate any logic for his criticism, as in what he might have done differently, but apparently no state governors were involved in the Covid protocols....

Now, Eamon (who, like Rory, is an Ulsterman), is very quick to make clear that there is only one approved narrative:

The murder of yet another unarmed black man—in this instance, George Floyd, who died at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer—has brought the country to a reckoning with its persistent, ugly shortcomings on matters of race, a bench-clearing brawl in which not even professional golfers could remain on the sidelines.

Eamon, you're new here, so we have lots of these.  The problem is, that approved narrative hasn't always proven out to be true.  Submitted for your approval, Governor Lockdown herself is captured in this one, pitch-perfect header:

Video: Gretchen Whitmer Violates Own Social Distancing Order During Protest, Chants ‘Hands Up Don’t Shoot’

You get everything going on there?  Not only was the lockdown and social distancing necessary for the survival of the species only until it came into conflict with liberal political needs, but she's continuing to parrot the Great Lie of Ferguson.

 'Hands up, don't shoot' ranked one of biggest 'Pinocchios' of 2015

But Eamon is on a crusade...  The game needs to make a stand, and by game what he really means is....

Of course, the voice many of us wished to hear was that of Tiger Woods, and on Monday evening he joined a long line of African-American sports figures who had spoken out.

He released a statement in which he expressed his pain for the suffering of George Floyd’s family, before quickly pivoting to his admiration for law enforcement and a plea for progress through education. Those are all noble sentiments, but Woods’s statement was notable for omitting a single mention of the fetid racial injustice that underpins the story of George Floyd and the many others like him. 

Woods has spent his career avoiding taking stands on divisive issues, which is fair enough. There is an unreasonable yoke of expectation placed on African-American athletes to take public, principled stands on non-sporting matters. Not everyone has the courage or passion of a Muhammad Ali, an Arthur Ashe, or a Colin Kaepernick, but even the original corporate cipher Michael Jordan didn’t disguise his anger about where we find ourselves today.

Why?  Where is it written that black athletes generally or Tiger specifically have to opine on the issues of the day?  More importantly why, in these hyper-polarized times, do you think this would be a good thing.  And, it needs to be asked, why would you assume that to be a good thing? 

Eamon is virtue signalling his woke bona fides, about which he demonstrates absolute moral authority.   That's great, Mr. Floyd's death is obviously highly troubling and Orange Man is quite obviously bad, but where does one go from there?  This keeps happening in cities controlled by the opposition party to Orange Man, so how's that accountability thing going?  Oh, and how are we feeling about Police unions that continue to protect the cops perpetrating the outrages?  I know, the world is really complicated...

Then there's the issue of distinguishing between protesters and rioters...  How's the media been doing there?  I especially loved this quintessential 2020 header from the lovely folks at MSNBC:

MSNBC's Ali Velshi says situation not 'generally speaking unruly' while standing outside burning building

I intentionally linked to the Fox account of that bit of silliness, which I judge to be not fact-free....

Fresh off his successful sponsorship of the Chainsmokers Tour, Jay Monahan wants to get into the morality business:

“This past weekend, I – like many of you, I’m sure – spent a lot of time trying to

understand and process the civil unrest that has engulfed many cities across the United States, following the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis,” read the memo, according to Golf Channel. “The hardships and injustices that have and continue to impact the African-American community are painful to watch and difficult to comprehend. And as a citizen of this country and a leader of this organization, I must admit that I’m struggling with what my role should be. But I’m not giving up.” 

Monahan also wrote that in recent days he has had conversations with members of the black community to better understand the current crisis and the systemic racism that they grapple with on a daily basis, and that process continues. The commissioner did not announce any specific actions the Tour will immediately take, but instead suggested that this is the time for “listening and making a commitment to understand.” 

“We might not know exactly what to do right now,” Monahan added, “but we shouldn’t be deterred. We should communicate and learn. We should talk to our family, friends and colleagues in an open and compassionate way. We should grow as individuals and as an organization. And, most importantly, we should demand better,” Monahan said.

Let me be clear Jay, not knowing what to do should always be a deterrent.... It's all PR pablum, but there's never a downside to shutting up.

Oddly, there is one guy I'm willing, even anxious to hear from:

“We’re going to be the first sport to really get back going and … we’ll be spending a lot more time than we usually spend together,” Varner said. “There’s going to be conversations like this. You know, the most amazing thing about life is that there can be a lot of good, even though it’s not on social media, it’s not on this camera. There’s going to be conversations.”

You mean good things happen that aren't on Twitter?  Big, if true....

“I think as an athlete you play a huge role but the biggest role you play as a human is knowing what’s right and wrong, and how much wrong we saw,” Varner said. “I’m going to fight the good fight and I think it was time to say something because I’ve always had an opinion on something. I always have, and probably always will, but the people who think that we shouldn’t say anything, that’s their opinion. I want to do what I can for the betterment of this world — that’s my job as a human, as a person in society. I’m going to speak up.”

But that's because Varner has made it clear that he's not part of the racial grievance industrial complex, which per the rules of Joe Biden means that he's not really black. 

Also on this topic, Shack and Dylan Dethier joined in the big sad over the harsh reaction some golfers received on Twitter.  Apparently, the U.S. Constitution guarantees them a life free from conflicting opinions or something.

So, let me confess that I'm not exactly sure what that blackout was really meant to support.  Here's an explanation that I found online, though others may differ on its interpretation:

On Tuesday, social media was flooded with symbolic black squares. Instagram. Blackout Tuesday is an initiative to go silent on social media, reflect on recent events, and stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

So guys like Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka bought in and posted in support of this meme.  But these posts hit during a morally tenuous period, one in which we obviously had many folks emotionally distraught over a seemingly needless death.  Fair enough, but in the midst of these protests we also find anarchists looting, burning buildings and throwing Molotov cocktails at police cars, so how are we to react?  Apparently, nothing screams justice quite like torching a black man's home or business....

Young Dylan and the older but equally-granola crunching Shack find the response to those tweets alarming and counter-productive.  But shall we look at a few of these responses?  First, a couple directed at Brooks:

"You don't care but you just took a stance I disagree with. Good look with your career. It has been fun...until now." 

"Brooks oh boy I was a fan of yours but not now you need to stick to golf and get out of this type of arena with your post for your information all lives matter young man please stick with golf."

Oh, the inhumanity!  That Brooks should be forced to deal with, or even see, a dissenting opinion when we all acknowledge that there is only one acceptable, approved narrative.

Let's agree that the first response is of limited interest, but that second one is actually worth Brooks' consideration.  Obviously the contention that black lives matter wouldn't be controversial, except for the niggling detail that those espousing it shout down any response that hints at all lives (or, dare I suggest it, that blue lives) matter.  That distinction might seem to matter in a moment when cops are being targeted, at least to some of our citizens....

And one each to JT and Rickie:

To Thomas: 

"Can’t you just stick to golf?" 

"JT you should bring that message to Chicago’s south and west side. Agreed-All lives do matter. It starts in the communities. Stick with Golf." 

To Fowler: 

"Stick to golf but you can’t win a major anyway. Blue lives matter too!" 

"Disappointed Rickie...Your post were always about golf..."

What's the common theme?  A theme that Dylan and Geoff find beyond the pale?   It's the highly incendiary thought, "How about you boys stick to golf"?  Do you think that those comments delivered on Geoff's blog post header?

"PGA stars receive backlash, hate after 'Blackout Tuesday' posts"

Geoff, you think that's hate?  Geoff, did you catch Al Sharpton's eulogy yesterday?  Are you familiar with his extensive qualifications in the world of actual hate that has consequences?  Ever hear of Steven Pagones?  How about Freddy's Fashion Mart?  That's actual hate, but in the service of their preferred narrative, so nothing to see here.

My purpose is simple.  Like those commentators, I'd strongly suggest to the game that I love and it's people and leaders, that we simply give the culture wars a pass.  There is no scenario under which golf will benefit, and encouraging golfers to enter the fray is just self-destructive.

So, what's really going on here?  My guess is that folks like Eamon and Geoff are seizing on an opportunity to express their frustration over something far different, which is the general conservative nature off professional golfers.  Why are professional golfers so conservative?  Here we go back to a familiar resource, Robert Conquest's first law of politics:

Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.

My take on the last week of news is to suggest that we skip the preliminaries and head straight to the forthcoming civil war.  I see a left that's itching for and will not be deterred from that civil war, they are simply unwilling to live in a world that dares to differ from their worldview.  We see that in these stories above, but also in the reaction to the Covid virus as well...  Think about the reaction to those brave souls that protested the lockdowns....  No dissenting thoughts will be tolerated, Oceana has always been on lockdown.

Is this what we want for our game?  I just can't see how Goeff and Dylan think this will play out in any favorable way....  We may not be able to avoid it with the mother-of-all elections on the horizon, but don't we want golf to remain a refuge from this crap?