Political Commentary Political Commentary by Ken Welch
Let's think about a less than extremely serious matter for a moment. A few
days ago, the controlling owner of the Cincinnati Reds major league baseball
team agreed to accept penalties imposed by the league that prohibit her from
involvement in the running of her ball club.
The suspension through the 1998
baseball season is the result of a series of remarks Marge Schott has made in
past months. Reportedly, these remarks have been critical of Jews, Asian
Americans, and even working women. Considerable discussion has ensued over her
saying Adolf Hitler started out good but then went crazy.
While the media and
owners of other baseball teams in the league were quite concerned about the
comments, informal and non-scientific surveys indicate the majority of the
people-in-the-street in Cincinnati, and in the ball park, think the punishment
was not necessary and that there was too much made of her comments. Some talk
about her freedom of speech, others of her ignorance, but it seems that perhaps
only a minority think she deserved the punishment the league handed her.
How
many of you can remember the last time you looked at a sports franchise owner as
a history professor? How many times have you considered such a sports figure a
reasoned sociologist to whose comments great credibility should be attached? If
you can remember any, that's probably too many.
While the "rights" of
citizens of the United States of American in a legal sense are not involved (the
Constitution prohibits government's restrictions on free speech, not private
enterprise's), the philosophy is. A founding concept is that the free flow of
ideas and debate of those ideas helps to inform and assists in the making of
wiser decisions.
So let Marge Schott speak to any issue she wishes and hold
any viewpoint she wants, without intervention by major league baseball. Anyone
who gives substantial weight to her comments regarding figures in history, our
social condition in the USA, or science, for example, is showing a greater
ignorance than that which her critics say she has demonstrated. Let's get real.
This is a baseball owner, who, as far as I know, has never offered any
credentials in any of these areas. One might as well ask a air conditioning
repair person about foreign policy. Now there's nothing wrong with that question
to anyone, and the answer from anyone might be enlightened and worthy of
exploration, maybe even brilliant. That's for the listeners to decide. The
answers might also be based on ignorance and poor reasoning. Now if someone
wanted to give greater consideration to Marge Schott's ideas about running a
baseball team, business in general, or investing, that might be another matter
entirely.
Trying to restrict peoples' ideas and comments in our society by
formal penalties is unwarranted. Simply give poor ideas no weight. Let society
shun them if it is such a terrible comment. Forget the formal penalties, that's
just as foolish as any poorly reasoned thoughts the "offender" may have
expressed, and it's a contradiction to the philosophy we say we hold
dear.
Who is Marge Schott? She's a baseball franchise owner. So who cares
about whatever commentary she has about history or sociology? Unless she
provides a basis for her comments with sound reasoning, nobody should. That
includes the other baseball team owners and the league. Her own ideas and
thoughts on subjects other than baseball are none of their business. They should
ignore them if they are unworthy. And so should we all.
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