Highly Overused Metaphors

Bryant Gumble recently compared David Stern and the NBA owners to plantation owners... yada yada yada. For whatever reason, people LOVE to use the most tragic examples of world history and compare them to current events- no matter how ludicrous the analogy may be. Let's look at this analogy and two other recent ones to decide how much merit these comparisons have.

Bryant Gumble does NOT mess around.

Bryant Gumble: NBA Players = Slaves (Workers) and David Stern & The Owners (Owners) = Plantation Owners

Workers Avg. Pay - Slaves ($0 + barren living expenses), NBA Players (just over $5 million)

Percentage of business revenue going toward workers - Slaves (0%), NBA Players (under the recently expired deal, 57%)

Hmmm...

Look, I agree that my blog is not the haven of informative research (and it never will be) but I know off the top of my head that Michael Jordan and Jay-Z are both involved in ownership groups of NBA teams. Now, that's at least two more African-American owners in the NBA today than were plantation owners back before the Civil War.

A more proper analogy would one of a giant business pushing around its highly valuable employees. The NBA makes zero money without the players, however owners put a ton of their cash on the line as well to bring the product to the masses. They should strike a fair deal that works for both parties, but laying the "plantation" comparison on the situation is simply not fair.

Hank Williams, Jr.: President Obama = Hitler

BOCEPHUS!

I know, I know. This isn't a political blog, but off the top of my head, this is another unfair comparison. You can absolutely hate Obama's political views or actions, but a Hitler analogy is just not correct. Hitler took control of Germany using a Nazi force of Gestapo, then began to wipe "undesirable" races off the face of the European continent. Obama was voted in via a democratic process and still has to work with checks and balances in the three branch governmental system.

I agree that when inspecting Bocephus' statement, he's not exactly calling Obama "Hitler" in context, but he needless dropped the "Hitler" card on top of the Uno pile. He could've said, "They go together like Larry and Balki from 'Perfect Strangers!'" Or alternatively, "They go together like Felix and Oscar from 'The Odd Couple!'" His main point was to say that it was odd that Obama was playing golf with a notable Republican and that he was not for it. Now, besides the fact that having no tolerance for bi-partisanship is small-minded, the Hitler comparison was not necessary. Enjoy not singing for Monday Night Football (AKA his only stream of revenue for the last 25 years.)

Adrian Peterson: NFL Owers (Slave Masters) and NFL Players (Slaves)

Adrian Peterson putting in work on the Cotton (Bowl) field.

AP used a similar analogy to Bryant Gumble. Most of my arguments from the NBA comparison apply here, though I can't think of any Black owners in the NFL. I will give AP some credit, the slave comparison is at least more valid in this situation due to the fact that football players literally destroy their bodies playing this sport which is not the standard in the NBA (I'm not saying it never happens, just that football is a more brutal game than basketball.) While it is more valid, it is still way off. When people use slavery as a comparison to any business where the workers average over $1 million dollars in average salary, they are trivializing the history of this country. Slavery was an awful mark on our country's history with plenty of stories of bravery from both Black and White people to finally outlaw its practice. Professional athletes are not slaves. They are being paid handsomely to play a game that they theoretically love (or at the very least, they make tons of cash working hard.)

Politics and business can be unbelievably contentious. It is important to keep some perspective in today's modern age and realize that your slavery and Hitler comparisons are probably not applicable any longer (if they ever where.)