Comments on I Need More Cowbell *: Hate, Murder, and Small Town Football

Wow! I hadn't heard about this at all till now. Th...

2008-10-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

Wow! I hadn't heard about this at all till now. Thank you for sharing this important info. It goes to show you... the media is REALLY selective about the types of story that are deemed worthy to spread around the country. True trajedy. Thank you....

Just catching up with you after a summer away (I d...

2008-09-07T12:46:00.001-07:00

Just catching up with you after a summer away (I didn't go anywhere; I was just "away" ...) -- but reading this makes me awfully sad. Doing what I do for a living, no -- I can't say I'm surprised that the attack happened. It does sort of surprise me (that is, it does and it doesn't) that the authorities were so lax about calling out the motives for what they are ... but all the stuff you share about small town high school football makes sense, too. I don't excuse the vile behavior at all, but I feel for any high schooler who carries that kind of weight in his entire community. Being idolized by your parents, their friends, your grandparents, their friends, and everyone else you know -- too much for someone in the 11th grade, I'm thinkin'.

I live in a town like this -- now it is 9000 but s...

2008-08-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

I live in a town like this -- now it is 9000 but still the silent majority thinks this way-- it hasnt happend here yet and maybe it wont because more of us city folk are moving in.

Firday football here is still a town thing (we only go because my son is now in band) but the whole town come out---

Arrrrr I wish you lived in my town, at least I'd feel like I have one other person who understands me!

Okay, back to work.

2008-08-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, back to work.

Living in a small town I get this sadly. I do rem...

2008-08-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Living in a small town I get this sadly. I do remember football in the "bedroom" town of Alhambra growing up and the white jocks that got away with things unspeakable. That i married a guy with the last name of Padilla when i was 17 and pregnant sealed my fate from then on with the kids I went to school with. "It" is alive and thriving.

Have to add my voice to the choir and say no it do...

2008-08-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

Have to add my voice to the choir and say no it does not surprise me in the least. This flawed assumption that all of the social ills of society like racism and sexism etc. are over because a black man and a woman ran for president is patronizing.

We won't get there until we have an honest discussion. That begins with acknowledging when things are described as racially motivated, nine times out of ten (or more) they are exactly that. Aggressively so.

The other aspect of this case is fascinating to me. As someone who has always been heavily involved in athletics, it's interesting to look at the potential that sports has; it can be without a doubt one of the best ways to teach young men positive attributes of masculinity. It is also one of the institutions that grotesquely subverts and perverts that same masculinity through a sort of caste privilege, a sense of material and sexual entitlement, aggression, virulent heterosexism, unspoken misogyny, and flawed underlying motivations and intentions for participation.

The competing dualities of sport are obvious and painful, and until those who are in leadership positions (grassroots as well as national figures) tackle this head on, this is a scenario that will sadly play out all too often.

You always know what time it is in Shanendoah,Penn...

2008-08-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

You always know what time it is in Shanendoah,Pennsyvania...1850.

Sickening!

2008-08-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

Sickening!

Stupid, scared people are everywhere. Thanks for c...

2008-08-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Stupid, scared people are everywhere. Thanks for calling them out. Tough to forgive them, make them confront the fear that makes them hateful (didn't, like, Yoda say something about that a few Star Wars ago?), but you can't get through to folks unless they're listening. Gandhi did a pretty good job of fighting hate with love. Tough sledding, though.

rodger: I think it's everywhere, it just presents...

2008-08-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

rodger: I think it's everywhere, it just presents itself in a different way in a small town environment. I know when I went back home years later (when I still married to the Ex), I definitely felt like we were in a fishbowl, and we were followed and questioned by a police officer.

Elizabeth: My kids get mistaken for other ethnicities as well. TD has been mistaken for Latino lots of times. Awful that it's reality to wonder if being perceived as one "minority" over another is going to get you hurt.

YDG & DL & MC: That is the real shame -- that people aren't surprised.

Anonymous/temple: You're right -- I'm in no way saying we're "post racial" anywhere the US -- I had something to write about concerning small town life because that is part of my personal experience. Your point about there being more POCs in cities so people can't get away with as much is true in many cases, and even in cities that aren't very diverse, there's more chance for the system to work. Chances are your mom wasn't the judge's school teacher, and your grandma didn't babysit the Sheriff, you know? Small towns, in my experience, also tend to be more conservative, and more protective of their way of life not changing.

Law enforcement is the informal gatekeeper of white supremacy. Spot on with that.

Willym: Exactly. Once you demonize a group of people, rather than talking about the role, say, US corporations outsourcing and the effect that has on US and local foreign economies, it's easy for the average to just swallow that party line and kick the shit out of the scapegoats.

RG: Weird, I just heard that saying for the first time yesterday. Yes, shit rolls downhill, and our current administration is piggybacking right on the Reagan idolizers with the fear tactics and with distracting people from looking at where the problems are really stemming from.

Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh on one side, Philadelphi...

2008-08-08T02:46:00.000-07:00

Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh on one side, Philadelphia on the other and Alabama in the middle.

I read about this, and just cried. But to tell the truth, I'm not surprised. We've had eight years of a government that has been saying, "Be afraid of brown people with accents."

My heart goes out to that young family.

I am living in a country where a Prime Minister an...

2008-08-08T01:15:00.000-07:00

I am living in a country where a Prime Minister and his ultra-conservative party have just been given a majority based on a campaign that demonized Immigrants. There was no crime here before they allowed those Romny, North Africans, Eastern-Europeans in - no robberies, no murders, no rapes. If they are all deported back to where they came from the country can return to its peaceful, crime-free state. And if you believe any of that I have a slightly leaning tower to sell you - and a party you can vote for!

Yeah, america is soooo post racial!Try going about...

2008-08-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah, america is soooo post racial!
Try going about your day in the 'big city' with any skin that's not white. You'll see how 'small town' the thinking is in the 'big city'. The only difference between the big cities & small towns is there's a greater number of POC in the big city & that makes it harder to commit this kind of abuse unquestioned...well unless you're an officer of the law. Law enforcement is the informal gatekeeper of white supremacy.

temple

Nothing human beings do to one another suprises me...

2008-08-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

Nothing human beings do to one another suprises me anymore - but still must fight against it. I grew up in a small town, and the boot was in to any one who fell out of the "norm" be it race, religion, poverty etc

Its a sad refecltion on humanity. We haven't learnt much really but still I believe that there are many more good people than bad... but too many turn away.

How sad for the young couple - its tragic.

I haven't the words to truly express myself in thi...

2008-08-07T04:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't the words to truly express myself in this regard- sadness, revulsion and many other.. But shock? Sorry to say- no.

Doesn't surprise me either. Two of my daughters a...

2008-08-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Doesn't surprise me either. Two of my daughters are ethnically Southeast Asian, so that they have darker skin and rounder eyes than most East Asians. People often think they're South or Central American. In this anti-immigrant climate, I worry about them.....

this is not surprising to me at all...it's patheti...

2008-08-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

this is not surprising to me at all...it's pathetic and sad, but not surprising...i could see it happening here in my little town of west...don't want to think that it could, but narrow minded small minded people are every where...sad sad sad...

Again I'm surprised at the comments. I guess I've ...

2008-08-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

Again I'm surprised at the comments. I guess I've lived in the big city far too long to understand the mentality of these small town folks. A good thing for me and those I know but a sad, sad commentary on the state of this country.

Thanks MC for reminding me what lurks in small town America. I certainly don't want to visit them anytime soon or I may be the one left to die on the sidewalk.