OT sort of..What were they thinking?

[Kaizen]

Vanity Fair is a magazine. You don't even have to read the magazine because I linked to a page full of them. Here's that link again.

Not interested in Vanity Fair at all, thanks.
My question is what wrong with DT in SI?

 

[TFintheMix]

I've been ambivalent about this whole "Caitlyn Jenner" issue since it has been such a media event. My mind was changed somewhat last night after discussing her with a group of older mothers volunteering at a high school event. It was refreshing how open minded and kind they were. If this issue leads to more compassion to people than I applaud Caitlyn Jenner despite the media frenzy.

 

[Adesmar123]

I've been ambivalent about this whole "Caitlyn Jenner" issue since it has been such a media event. My mind was changed somewhat last night after discussing her with a group of older mothers volunteering at a high school event. It was refreshing how open minded and kind they were. If this issue leads to more compassion to people than I applaud Caitlyn Jenner despite the media frenzy.

Were they in favor of giving the Arthur Ashe Courage award to Caitlyn over Lauren Hill? That is the real topic here although it seems to have been hijacked.

 

[Alydar]

I don't think they would be exploiting her death, but celebrating the courage she displayed while she was alive. As far as making profits, that is what business' do.

I agree. I also think that ESPN is acknowledging the courage Jenner has shown. My objection was in portraying ESPN's motives as altruistic in one case and commercial in the other.

 

[Alydar]

Were they in favor of giving the Arthur Ashe Courage award to Caitlyn over Lauren Hill? That is the real topic here although it seems to have been hijacked.

ESPN has never mentioned who was considered. This is a pseudo-fact issue you invented in your mind. If you can source the list of people who ESPN considered I will stand corrected.

 

[Adesmar123]

ESPN has never mentioned who was considered. This is a pseudo-fact issue you invented in your mind. If you can source the list of people who ESPN considered I will stand corrected.

Ok..Got it...Its ok if they didn't consider her. But it isn't ok if they did consider her?

 

[Patrick Lilly]

Somehow I don't think Arthur Ashe would approve.

PalPa, I don't know that I agree with your assessment. Arthur Ashe went public in 1992 that he had contracted AIDS. The stigma around AIDS at the time was severe and it took great courage on his part to bring his personal struggles into the public domain. I see a similar stigma around transgender folks and the public could have reacted quite negatively to Caitlyn. It is possible that Ashe would have seen the similarities with his life and have been supportive. Courage comes in many forms.

 

[UcMiami]

While I find media frenzies about pretty much any topic to be disturbingly shallow and mindless, I do recognize that on large social issues it can and often does have a very positive effect on general perceptions and in creating useful societal discussions. Ashe and Magic changed how AIDS got discussed and to some degree the amount of public funding directed towards treatment and research. Billie Jean King's match made a difference in the discussion of financial compensation in Tennis, Navratilova and others in the perceptions and discussions of lesbians, Sam more recently for gay men. And negative frenzies are also just as useful - Rice and Griner/Glory - for domestic abuse. The spate of police killings of unarmed men is forcing a re-evaluation of policing across the country. And Jenner is likely to have the same effect.
Not being a member of a marginalized group, it is sometimes difficult to perceive the benefits that accrue within those groups of a positive story, or a negative story about one's oppressors, but they are real. And the media frenzy can be a positive.

There were lots of comments here and on other boards about Griner publicizing her situation her first year out of college, and some of them were of the 'I wish she would just live her life and keep quiet'. In some ways that is the same reaction to Jenner, and to others that have publicized their 'minority' existence. But no one complains in the same way about the media frenzy associated with majority choices - like which Kardashian is marrying _____ or what some super model is wearing. They may complain about the coverage because it is so over the top, but not about the 'lifestyle' being publicized.

 

[UcMiami]

Just as a follow up ... I actual think of Lauren and Noah as 'media frenzy' creations as well. They are both 'feel good' stories of a 'mainstream type' as was the South African runner (until the shooting) and they are certainly inspiration in their ways, but exceptional? What is Dancing with the Stars but 'media frenzy', it is certainly not the best ballroom dancing available for broadcast. And Lauren was a DIII basketball player who like many other young people (athletes and non-athletes) was struck down by cancer and died with dignity.