Posted on 01/28/2020 9:18:21 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The ink was barely dry on headlines announcing Kobe Bryant’s sudden death in a helicopter crash Sunday before Twitter started buzzing with reminders about the 2003 rape allegations against him.
Just hours after news broke about the crash, which also killed Bryant’s 13-year old daughter and seven others, Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez tweeted a link to a 2016 Daily Beast story recounting the 17-year-old rape case.
In a series of follow-up tweets (now deleted) Sonmez unintentionally captured the depressing zero-sum spirit of woke cancel culture, writing, “Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality even if that public figure is beloved and that totality unsettling.”
Sonmez wasn’t alone. A host of blue checkmarks were eager to remind everyone about the 2003 allegations and how “problematic” Bryant was—lest anyone get carried away mourning his untimely death. Self-proclaimed moral philosopher Stefan Molyneux went out of his way to tell us he judges Bryant not on his athletic abilities but “morally,” and that we shouldn’t pretend “that the world lost some kind of moral hero.”
Well, Molyneux and the others can rest easy knowing that in 2020 no public figures can die without immediate condemnations of the worst moments of their life—or at least a stern reminder of how un-woke they were. (Hence the New York Times obituary earlier this month for former Cincinnati Bengals coach Sam Wyche that noted in the subhead and the opening sentence that Wyche was once fined by the NFL for barring a female reporter from the team’s locker room.)
This is a poisonous way of thinking, not just because it reduces complicated people to their worst blunder but because it implicitly denies the possibility of redemption, that people who have made mistakes, even terrible mistakes, really can turn their lives around.
The irony is that Bryant’s life was a testament to this great truth. In 2003 he was accused, at age 24, of rape by a 19-year-old woman who worked at a Colorado spa and lodge. The case that was widely publicized and ultimately dismissed, and a separate civil suit was settled with his accuser out of court. Before it was all over, Bryant made a tearful public admission of adultery, issued an apology to the young woman explaining that he thought their encounter had been consensual, and lost most of his commercial endorsements.
For those who feel the need to remind us of this case in the wake of Bryant’s death, what he did with the next 17 years of his life doesn’t matter all that much.
It doesn’t matter that he managed, years later, to save his marriage. It doesn’t matter that he went on to become a devoted father to his four daughters. It doesn’t matter that in middle age he seemed to have rediscovered his Catholic faith, which he credited with helping him through a dark time in the life of his family. It certainly doesn’t matter that he recovered from his 2003 ordeal and became one of the greatest NBA players of all time.
All that matters is that he was a famous and powerful man who was once accused of rape, and when we think of him, we should think only of that.
The same could be said of other famous public figures. Think of Tiger Woods, who in 2009 seemed to lose everything—his marriage, his career, his reputation. He, too, issued a gut-wrenching public apology, admitting to adultery and saying that he had “stopped living by the core values” he was taught by his parents. “I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply,” he said.
He, too, lost his sponsorships. But unlike Bryant, he left professional sports for a time, checking into a Mississippi addiction clinic. He was plagued by injuries and it looked like his career was over. A 2017 arrest on a DUI charge turned up a harrowing police mug shot of a haggard Woods—a shadow of the former golf champion.
Just two years later, at age 43, he staged one of the greatest comeback in all of sports, winning his fifth Masters last year—his 15th major title and the first in more than a decade. He celebrated with his two children, mother, and girlfriend. “To have my kids there, it’s come full circle,” he said. “My dad was there in 1997 and now I’m the dad with two kids there.”
The same could be said of any number of famous sports stars and celebrities who have at some point caved to their worst impulses or assumed the rules of life didn’t apply to them. Some, like Kanye West, have struggled through the dismay and disillusionment of their past mistakes in a very public and visceral way. Over the past year, West has taken heat for his countercultural views on everything from President Trump to Jesus Christ, and embraced the rediscovery of his Christian faith.
None of this means we should hold up NBA players and rappers as moral authorities or role models. But it does mean we should remember that public figures are human beings with complicated lives. When they fail, often they fail publicly—something most us will never have to face.
When they manage to put their lives back together and find redemption, whether in family or faith or charity, that’s something worth noting. Certainly, it’s far more important than the worst thing they ever did.
Yeah that’s how I feel about it too
I don't want to have a biblical discussion about him. I don't want to hold relics of him under a bright light until I see the mystical revelations that came to you.
You're such a great Christian, but don't know the name of his RAPE victim, or any of the other people who died in the crash - including someone else's little girl.
I have several people on my block who are dying. I've seen people die in the sand, nobody even knows them. People die tragically every day, your ball-bouncer just happens to be a celeb - which, unfortunately, is nearly god-like in modern America.
Fk "Kobe." Not sure how to make it any more clear.
RE: Maybe you’re dense, but I DON’T GAF ABOUT “KOBE” or your posts on the matter.
I always say to myself, if a person says he doesn’t GAF about someone and still BOTHERS to post about how he feels, then he does GAF.
RE: I don’t want to have a biblical discussion about him. I don’t want to hold relics of him under a bright light until I see the mystical revelations that came to you.
This article is NOT about making him a saint or discussing mystical revelations, it’s about REDEMPTION. How an individual, ANY individual, you and me included, can surmount past mistakes and leave a better legacy in his life. NOTHING MORE.
RE: You’re such a great Christian, but don’t know the name of his RAPE victim, or any of the other people who died in the crash - including someone else’s little girl.
It is better that the rape victim’s name is anonymous. This protects her identity.
1) Kobe apologized to the woman.
2) Kobe SETTLED with her and she accepted the settlement.
3) Kobe did his best to make things right with his wife and family over a decade after the incident and in this, we succeeded.
As Christians, why should we dwell on past sins and past failures when we can move on?
Oh, I used the pronoun, “we”, I’m not even sure if I should use this pronoun in discussing this with you...
RE: I have several people on my block who are dying. I’ve seen people die in the sand, nobody even knows them. People die tragically every day, your ball-bouncer just happens to be a celeb - which, unfortunately, is nearly god-like in modern America.
It is sad and tragic and they should be helped, but what this has to do with Kobe Bryant and this article, I don’t know.
RE: Fk “Kobe.” Not sure how to make it any more clear.
This remark tells me more about what’s in your heart than anything else. Yes, you’ve made it quite clear.
Unless Kobe was just going through the motions of being a Catholic and was not a believer, we Christians have to rejoice he is now in heaven. Kobe lived a sinful life just like all of us flawed humans.
Jesus Christ died for all of our sins so we can have eternal life. It will be interesting to see who will be in heaven when we arrive. I expect to run into Kobe when that time comes.
Much less a church going Catholic. Doesn’t fit their agenda.
You're right. I'm nothing like you, and don't wish to be. I have no use for whatever version of Christianity you think you're practicing - where your brain is all full-o-fk yet you insist on Sunday school type lectures.
You're not a priest - you're some sentimental dope on the internet, with a grasp of theology that is beyond horrific.
Go piss off someone else, and don't forget to take me off your ping list, which I never asked to be on.
No offense, serious, no offense, but you really need to brush up on your catechism. We have to rejoice in NOTHING - as we have absolutely no idea of his disposition.
"He was a believer thus he is saved" is a entirely heretical notion.
RE: You’re right. I’m nothing like you, and don’t wish to be.
I never said you should be like me.
RE: I have no use for whatever version of Christianity you think you’re practicing - where your brain is all full-o-fk yet you insist on Sunday school type lectures.
I’m not sure what version of Christianity you’re talking about. I only refer to what is written in the Bible. If you don’t like that version, then I guess you’re practicing a different form, or don’t call yourself a Christian at all.
RE: You’re not a priest - you’re some sentimental dope on the internet, with a grasp of theology that is beyond horrific.
One does not have to be a priest to understand what thew Bible teaches. I don’t know what theology you are referring to, but it certainly isn’t a Biblical one.
RE: Go piss off someone else, and don’t forget to take me off your ping list, which I never asked to be on.
I never pinged anyone. You were the one who took time to come to this thread. Perhaps you confused me with someone who did ping you.
^^^^^^^
Says the babbler - who reads scripture then thinks he's ordained, or even qualified to teach anyone anything. I wish you knew how dumb you sound.
No you didn't ping me here, but yes, you've had me on some ping list for YEARS now - despite this being my very first interaction with you.
Please remove.
Amen to that - and to the good news of the Gospel that saves us from what we deserve.
First of all, I’m not a Catholic. I’m a Lutheran.
I believe that my belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will allow me to go to heaven when I die. Simple as that. I don’t consider that heretical. You can choose to view it as you believe. Have a good day.
I just don’t understand why people like AAAABEST HATE the idea than a person can be redeemed and get past a former life of sin.
There are many threads like this. Threads which display the good, positive and Christ like qualities of Kobe. He is not the same man who had consensual sex all those years ago.
Yet people will come to these threads with such vulgar hatred and anger. I don’t get it. Perhaps they themselves are lost and without redemption.
I’ll pray for the victims. And for people like AAAABEST.
I never pinged anyone. It’s not my way.
So, asking me to remove you is asking me
to do something I never did in this forum.
But should you want to discuss what the Bible teaches about forgiveness and redemption, you are more than welcome. Maybe by doing that we can see who really has reason on his side.
Name calling like you’re doing tells me more about your psychological makeup than our ability to reason.
+100!
You're right. It was someone else with a similar screen name. I was wrong and apologize to you. I mean that.
Name calling like you’re doing tells me more about your psychological makeup than our ability to reason.
You're talking to someone who would think seriously about having heretics FLOGGED if it were legal. Upsetting you on an internet forum is sooooo 21st century.
You'll get over it.
Do I sound as if I were upset?
I simply invited you to a Biblical discussion on forgiveness and redemption. You seem to see the inquisition in our exchange.
I so hope that Kobe’s heart was regenerated and that he and his daughter were saved. However, if he was saved it certainly wasn’t because he was baptized into the Church of Rome. The catholic church isn’t going to save anyone.
Its not worth getting upset over, settle down fellow old timer, or just leave the thread.
Nice straw man - something I never alluded to or come even CLOSE to believing.
He is not the same man who had consensual sex all those years ago.
Yeah, that's how all her blood got on HIS shirt, and why she immediately went to the hospital with multiple vaginal tears - then got a huge settlement.
But to hell with the victim(s), we have a sports star to suckle. I love all of these stellar self proclaimed "Christians" on FR.
I’ll pray for the victims. And for people like AAAABEST.
You don't even know their names, and I don't need prayers from some ass using his supposed prayer time to make a point on FR.
Anymore phony BS you'd like to deposit here?
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