As a former sports editor at the college newspaper at a major sports powerhouse ((1968-’9, Michigan), I certainly appreciate the passion fans bring for events like March Madness.
Plus I remain a big fan myself. Almost every day, old friends and I exchange messages about how our alma mater’s teams are faring.
The tournament and bowl games are especially exciting as young athletes compete in what for the vast majority of them will be the final and highest level of their athletic careers.
That’s because they’ve worked hard to get this opportunity to shine in a national spotlight, and fewer than two percent of NCAA student-athletes will go on to be professional athletes.
Meanwhile, the age of social media has brought with it an unbelievable level of verbal abuse aimed at college athletes when they fail to play at their best.
An AP report, “A Different March Madness: Online Hate for the Athletes,” details the current state of the situation, including the experience of one of Michigan’s star basketball players, Terence Williams II.
When Michigan’s season ended with a tournament loss, the online abuse of Williams included a post that he should end up “dead in a ditch.” Williams’ father was justifiably outraged and unleashed what the AP described as a “profanity-laced response to all the haters.”
He explained his perspective about those who attacked his son to the news service, “(They) actually root for them when they’re good. But then they make a mistake, and a game doesn’t go (their) way and (they) turn to hate. That’s unacceptable.”
The unhealthy relationship so many Americans seem to have with social media makes me reluctantly sympathetic to calls for much stricter government control. Although I’m a free speech proponent, frankly too many individuals seem incapable of exercising their free speech rights responsibly.
They simply cannot be allowed to threaten to kill somebody, for example, much as they aren’t allowed to yell “fire” in a crowded theatre or storm the U.S. Capitol when they don’t like an election result.
There comes, finally, a time even in a full democracy that certain limits on free speech need to be imposed. It worries me that I’m afraid that time is now.
LINKS:
Manhattan Trump grand jury set to break for a month (Politico)
Trump’s Legal Jeopardy and America’s Political Crossroads (NYT)
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How to test what an AI model can — and shouldn’t — do (Vox)
Generative AI Is Already Changing White-Collar Work as We Know It (WSJ)
Surprise! ChatGPT Turns Out to Be Terrible at Wordle (ScienceAlert)
A different March Madness: Online hate for the athletes (AP)
Hospitals Are Increasingly Crowded With Kids Who Tried to Harm Themselves, Study Finds (NYT)
A new Idaho bill seeks to limit minors’ ability to travel for abortion care, including abortion pills, without parental consent by creating a whole new crime called "abortion trafficking." Those found guilty would face up to five years in prison. [HuffPost]
No one needs an AR-15 — or any gun tailor-made for mass shootings (Edit Bd/WP)
McConnell Comes Out Swinging Against Authorization of Military Force Repeal: Terrorists ‘Aren’t Sunsetting Their War Against Us’ (National Review)
U.S. Border Policies Have Created a Volatile Logjam in Mexico (NYT)
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Netanyahu rejects Biden's call to drop Israel judicial overhaul (BBC)
U.S., Israeli tensions flare after Biden says Netanyahu won't get White House invite in 'near term' (USA Today)
Ukraine struck a railway depot and knocked out power in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, deep behind the front line, amid growing talk from Kyiv of a counterassault against Russian forces worn out by a failed winter offensive. (Reuters)
Ukraine's Zelenskyy: Any Russian victory could be perilous (AP)
Torture and Turmoil at Ukrainian Nuclear Plant: An Insider’s Account (NYT)
Zelensky invites China’s Xi to visit Ukraine (The Hill)
The Only Realistic Answer to Putin (Atlantic)
Unseen Taliban Leader Wields Godlike Powers in Afghanistan (VoA)
External pressure will not stop Taiwan engaging with the world, President Tsai Ing-wen said as she left for the United States, hitting a defiant note after China threatened retaliation if she met House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. (Reuters)
A new flu is spilling over from cows to people in the U.S. How worried should we be? (NPR)
Office vacancies in San Francisco soared to nearly 30 percent in the first quarter of 2023, nearly eight times the level before the pandemic. (SFC)
Florida Teachers Explain How They Teach History Without Mentioning Race (The Onion)
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