Monday, November 18, 2013
Anthony Cornwell, Jr. Why NBA center Jason Collins is coming out now
As we all know, Jason Collins is the first openly gay athlete in men’s sports. It’s a shocker to some, but not to all. The funny thing to me is that it was a shocker to his twin brother but not to his aunt. I personally feel that maybe since his aunt is a female, she would be able to notice certain things about Jason that his brother couldn’t. In the article Jason mentioned that, “He (his twin brother) was downright astounded. He never suspected. So much for twin telepathy. But by dinner that night, he was full of brotherly love” (Collins, 2013, p. 15). I personally feel like this is Jason’s fault though. He was living a life giving everyone the wrong messages. He made the world think that he was something he wasn’t. Everyone now looks at Jason like he is some kind of hero but I don’t. He made a woman think that she had found the one person that she would spend the rest of her life with and he faked his image. That makes him a fake person. If he really wanted to be a hero/real, not just for the world but to himself, he would’ve said something when he was around 12 years of age or even earlier than now. Since he hasn’t owned up to it when he was younger, he has put himself through countless sleepless nights, years of misery, and has withdrawn a ton of energy from himself. I also think that if he would’ve come out years ago, he may still be in the NBA. But for right now, I don’t think anytime is ready to deal with this kind of publicity.
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Anthony,
ReplyDeleteThe point that you brought up about his twin brother being shocked to hear that Jason Collins was gay and not his aunt, I thought the same thing about twin telepathy. It is shocking how some twins can literally know what the other one is feeling, thinking and other aspects and then this example comes and completely disproves the theory of twin telepathy. I also agree that no deal will be mad e for Jason Collins in the near future, not because of him coming out as gay but because of the time of his career. As discussed in class, his stats and performance the last season he played were not impressive. However, some people think that it is because he came out as gay that he wasn’t resigned to another team. I believe it is because of the stats.
- Billy Nowak
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Jason Collins is gay didn't shock me at all either but however one thing that did stick with me about what you said is how he can also be blamed for this. The gay and lesbian community spends so much blaming everything and everyone in society for their fear of coming out but yet they still end up doing it anyway. Jason Collins didn't realize that spthis whole time he had been living a lie it affected a lot of people around him. The woman that he was engaged with suffered. All the other women he dated suffered. All the men that he was probably involved with that didn't want to be on the down low suffered. I don't think people realize that life would be much easier when you come to means with who you are. I don't feel sorry at all about the sleepless nights and the agony he suffered because not coming out earlier was a choice of his. He could've avoided all of this by just being himself he hurt a lot of people, disappointed a lot of other people who didn't deserve it. Being gay in America is a challenge and playing in the NBA doesn't help but if that's who you are that's who you are. Come out, and face what is next.
Jude