International I Hate Sports Club

Topic:
Baseball
Friday, Aug 6, 2010 21:01 ET
America's stadium-mob mentality
One man's constitutional rights are trampled, and thousands of fans cheer

By David Sirota


Matt Bellamy being removed from
Cleveland's Progressive Field.

One thing you can confidently say about 21st-century America is this: Our icons of seemingly frivolous spectacle often embody deeply significant and disturbing truths. What was Balloon Boy but a deadly serious commentary on national gullibility and misplaced priorities? What was Joe the Plumber but a fun-house reflection of our destructive deification of ignorance? And what was Matt Bellamy last week other than proof that much of our country could care less about its Constitution?

The instantly famous image of police removing the 29-year-old from Cleveland's Progressive Field was largely presented by the media as hilarious and justified â?? and the predictable applause, blog comments, talk-radio calls and Facebook posts embraced that portrayal. Bellamy, the logic went, deserved to be tossed because he was wearing LeBron James' new Miami Heat jersey in the city that James deserted. And not only was Bellamy wearing the jersey, he dared to flaunt it by pointing at it, prompting boos from fans and physical assault via projectile foodstuffs. In response, police say they ejected Bellamy for his own safety.

Before you chime in with a fist-pumping "Good riddance!" remember that Progressive Field is not some private club â?? the taxpayer subsidies that built the stadium effectively make it a public space, ostensibly subjecting it to the Constitution. Also remember that police officers, as taxpayer-funded instruments of state power, are sworn to uphold that Constitution â?? and specifically, the First Amendment's requirement that the state refrain from "abridging the freedom of speech." And remember, too, that Bellamy's jersey didn't run afoul of the few court-authorized exemptions from the First Amendment â?? it didn't, say, violate obscenity statutes or endorse violence.

So while Bellamy was undoubtedly being provocative, that's his constitutional prerogative â?? one that the police officers were obligated to protect. Instead, they removed him, to wild applause, making this event perfectly illustrative of a nation that, for all its pro-Constitution rhetoric, increasingly ignores its founding document.

The First Amendment, after all, doesn't say you have the freedom to say only things that others approve of (or, in this case, wear jerseys that the hometown crowd likes). Nor does it say that, despite your right to free speech, fellow citizens have an equal right to physically assault you if they don't like what you are saying. It doesn't say these things because the framers knew that if government restricts speech on the basis of content, freedom ceases to exist. They also knew that freedom of speech can survive only when government intervenes to defend â?? rather than silence â?? speech.

But in an America that has largely succumbed to the stadium-mob mentality, those are apparently outdated notions â?? even beyond the ballpark walls. This is a country that didn't flinch when the Bush government's spokesperson warned citizens to "watch what they say" â?? just as we didn't flinch when the Obama government's mouthpiece menacingly told Americans to be "exceedingly careful" with their speech. During the 2004 election season, few noticed USA Today's report that "dozens of people" were "banished from or arrested at Bush political rallies," many "simply for holding signs or wearing clothing that expressed opposition to the war and administration policies." In most election campaigns since, just as few citizens seem to care that authorities now confine party convention protesters to "free speech zones" â?? the implication being that there is no First Amendment outside the police-designated cage.

Simply put, we are a country that no longer expresses the outrage that Bellamy rightly voiced after he was ejected from the game.

"I don't understand the reason why they kicked us out," he told reporters. "We paid like everybody, [and] they kicked us out for me wearing what I want to wear."

His anger is warranted. Our silence and cheers speak volumes.

* David Sirota is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, bestselling author and host of the morning drive-time radio show on KKZN-AM760.

The Imperialist wrote:Ah yes, but he has every right to do that, and the mob has no right to attack him anyway. That is called assault.

i_like_1981 wrote:

The Imperialist wrote:Ah yes, but he has every right to do that, and the mob has no right to attack him anyway. That is called assault.

Safety has a point. By wearing that new jersey, he is provoking the fans there. And I'm pretty sure he was aware of what he was doing. Why would a person go to a game wearing clothes that could most easily get them punched or worse? This guy either lacked common sense or desired an angry response. I'm sure he was more than aware of how belligerent sports fans in city areas can be. This just seems to me like "real life trolling".

Best regards,
i_like_1981

Safety wrote:I agree that people shouldn't act so harshly over some sports-related situations, and that people have the right to wear whatever they want, but the kid definitely knew what the crowd's response would be. If you watch the video of him being escorted out of Progressive Field, you can see him shouting back at the crowd, instigating the heckling. You can also see him pulling his jersey out, taunting them.

This video pretty much sums up my point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaMGGWTD_dw

Fat Man wrote:

Safety wrote:I agree that people shouldn't act so harshly over some sports-related situations, and that people have the right to wear whatever they want, but the kid definitely knew what the crowd's response would be. If you watch the video of him being escorted out of Progressive Field, you can see him shouting back at the crowd, instigating the heckling. You can also see him pulling his jersey out, taunting them.

This video pretty much sums up my point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaMGGWTD_dw

Yeah! Well, I'm going to go out into the streets of El Paso Texas, and ride the city buses wearing a Charles Darwin T-shirt.

Or I might even have something like this printed on a T-shirt.



Now, isn't he cute!

Safety wrote:

It's not that he wore a LeBron James Miami Heat jersey to a baseball game, it's that he wore it at a baseball game in Cleveland. Wear that shirt into a church and you might get the same reaction.

Fat Man wrote:Yeah, well, that guy had a legal and constitutional right to wear any kind of jersey he chose, and if the sports fans in the bleachers were merely shouting insults at him and calling him names, then they too would have only been expressing themselves under freedom of speech.

But they crossed the line when they physically assaulted him by throwing stuff at him. Then they went way too far.

i_like_1981 wrote:

Fat Man wrote:Yeah, well, that guy had a legal and constitutional right to wear any kind of jersey he chose, and if the sports fans in the bleachers were merely shouting insults at him and calling him names, then they too would have only been expressing themselves under freedom of speech.

But they crossed the line when they physically assaulted him by throwing stuff at him. Then they went way too far.

Well, yes, obviously he was not breaking the law by wearing that jersey. He does have his freedom of choice to wear what he wants. But not wearing the new strip of one of the area's top players who has recently moved somewhere else is just common sense. It was an inappropriate decision. Just because something's not illegal doesn't necessarily mean it's wise to do. Over here in England our football fans are touchy about their top local sports players and their plans. If I were to go into the home ground of one of our top football teams doing something along the lines of what that guy did, I wouldn't expect to be arrested. But I sure as hell WOULD expect to be assaulted. And I expect the people there would not interpret it as a simple mistake of putting the wrong shirt on inadvertently, but as trying to provoke them into getting angry. Besides, I know for a fact that people over here keep a very close eye on what they choose to wear at football matches. Wearing the wrong thing can get you punched. It's illegal to assault someone over what clothes they wear but at a football match, it's most likely to happen if you wear the wrong shirt. You HAVE to tread carefully. And people know what they're getting into when they go to one of these football matches. Football matches over here are rowdy. Riots start. We have a "hooligan" subculture of people who go round trying to start as many fights as they can. To sum up, I'm not surprised that this guy in the new Lebron James jersey didn't get a nice reception, and although the reaction of the home fans wasn't admirable, it was provoked.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

Lewis wrote:I was once told that a man in Liverpool was stabbed to death, because he wore a Manchester United shirt. What a terrible thing to happen, there are some evil people in the world.