Steve Kerr response to question about Chinese Human Rights Violations

Good answer. Chinese aren’t interested on his thoughts about America’s problems, but all of a sudden Americans want him to opine about China’s problems. For what? To feel superior?

It’s all horseshit. Good for Kerr for not playing ball.

When he’s in China, he’s there as an ambassador to the game. He doesn’t need to be delivering lectures on international human rights.

 

Difference is that if Kerr criticized China in China he'd be going to jail right now.

In America, we can openly discuss the problems in this country and that is how things get solved and how we improve as a country.

 

Deflecting about ar-15s is dumb. Very dumb. Citizens having firearms isn't the government abusing their power.

We might disagree over the pragamatism and safety of Individual citizens having semiautomatic rifles but that isn't the government violating human rights and it really makes me question Kerr's intelligence.

Kerr also doesn't understand the issue here. The issue here isn't Americans trying to change how the Chinese government functions within their boarders. The issue here is major US corporations with massive influence here in the States having to be essentially spokespeople for the Chinese government because the Chinese government are snowflakes who can't handle random citizens criticizing their government.

Any social issues these people express from now on is empty vapid rhetoric that means nothing. They only speak out when it doesn't hurt their bottom line.

 

Because he’s an American. Clean up your own house first.

 

This is playing coy now. We all know that isn't the real reason. The real reason is the profit margin. And it isn't about "fixing China". It's about the Chinese government not affecting speech in Western democracies because our corporations have sold out to them.

We are starting to sound like the 10 post Chinese nationalist trolls who were playing whataboutisms; all just because Kerr is well liked in liberal circles.

A reasonable answer would be "I have concerns over how influential the Chinese government is in controlling discourse amongst American citizens in our own country".

 

I don’t usually disagree with you, but I’ll have to do so here. Strongly.

How is Kerr being made into a spokesperson for the Chinese government? China isn’t the one asking him to speak out on their policies on their behalf. That’s not the nature of his relationship with China (if you want to call it s relationship). Its people here that are now forcing him to be a spokesperson against the Chinese government. He has good reasons to not want to do that. It could completely upturn his life, given the volatility of the situation (look at what a simple tweet from Morey resulted in for him — you don’t think he’d take that back?). It certainly doesn’t mean that he doesn’t actually care about social justice or domestic issues at home that he’s vocal about.

 

@fchowd0311

That’s not reasonable. What influence does China have on the conversation we are having right now?

The influence is not on Americans speaking amongst themselves, generically. It’s on Americans who have ties in China that can be broken off if they make public negative remarks against the Chinese government. That’s a concern, but it’s not a new problem. American businesses have been in China for decades dealing with this. It’s part of the deal when you engage in a global economy. Publicly condemning China might make you feel good about yourself, but it doesn’t move the needle in terms of helping people there and it probably only screws you or your company over in engaging with businesses in that country. Much easier to do the condemning on Internet forums when no one China knows who you are or cares about you think.

 

If you're a believer in civil rights, it shouldn't matter what country we're talking about. If Kerr is a leader rather than just a chirpy b**** then he should have no problem speaking to the notion that all people should have the right to free speech. Instead, he like a lot of the NBA, are cowering in fear because they've hitched their wagon to a communist country that uses censorship and intimidation to control its people and by extension any company that does business there. Apparently Daryl Morey's tweets have a huge impact on Chinese territorial sovereignty. Who knew?

 

The correct response by any player or coach is ' Giving my opinion on the subject would cost the NBA and my employer lots of revenue which affects my colleagues' salaries and employment. This is not a sacrifice I feel comfortable making just to give my political opinion and therefore, I will not comment.'

Kerr is a smug moron and cant help embarrassing himself like this.

 

Regardless of what else he said, his comments about the Office of the President are spot on.

 

And the point is that he's allowed to make those comments here in America. A Chinese citizen saying similar things about their government would be imprisoned or killed.

This was a disgraceful response by Kerr. To compare a few gun-related deaths perpetrated by American citizens to human rights violations sanctioned by the Chinese government including mass murder, organ harvesting, and concentration camps is beyond the pale.

 

Respect for anyone who would admit to such.

 

Yeah, thanks. I thought it was odd to take just a narrow slice of his comments.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...says-being-called-president-trump-was-surreal

"It was really surprising," Kerr said prior to Thursday's preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. "But mainly just because it was me. Then you stop and you think, this is just every day. This is just another day. I was the shiny object yesterday. There was another one today; there will be a new one tomorrow. And the circus will go on. It's just strange, but it happened."

"I was thinking about my various visits to the White House," Kerr said. "I've lived a privileged life and met, I think, the past five previous presidents prior to President Trump. The first one was in 1984, and Ronald Reagan was president. He invited my mom and me, six months after my dad [Malcolm] was killed in a terrorist attack. President Reagan and Vice President [George H.W.] Bush invited us into the Oval Office, spent about half an hour with us thanking us for my dad's service -- he was in education. Thanking us for my dad's commitment to American values in the Middle East. Trying to promote peace in the Middle East. And all I could think of last night was the contrast of what has happened in 35 years. There was no regard for whose side you were on politically. Political party, anything like that. It was just, you were an American. The office held such dignity and respect. Both from the people who were visiting and especially the people who sat inside it. It's just sad it's come crashing down. That we are now living this.

"I realize the horse was out of the barn a long time on this. But for me personally, this was my experience with, wow, has the office sunken low. My hope is that we can find a mature unifier from either party to sit in that chair and try to restore some dignity to the Oval Office again, and I think it will happen."

"Generally, my feeling is the things that I'm going to comment on are the things that I feel comfortable speaking about, things I feel well versed about," he said. "I comment a lot about gun safety. It's a cause that's very near and dear to my heart. It's very crucial for our country for our future. We face mass shootings literally every day. So I'm involved with four or five different gun safety groups. It's my pet cause. So I'm going to comment on it. It's my right. That's why I love being an American and love my country. I'm able to channel my energy and my resources to places where I want it to go. I feel really comfortable with that. There are places where I don't feel as comfortable. This would be one of them."

"The same people who are asking me to stick to sports are also asking me to expand my horizons," Kerr said. "I guess that's what I'm hearing. Again, I will speak on the things I'm comfortable with. I will do things I believe are helpful for my country. I love my country, despite what President Trump said yesterday. I work really, really hard on a lot of things off the floor. One of those things is I don't want people to feel what my family felt when my father was killed. I know what it feels like to have a family member ended by a bullet. So that's a passionate, passionate subject for me. So I research it, I'm involved with various organizations, I'm constantly meeting with people, fundraising. It's part of my life.

"As far as North Korea, I don't know much about North Korea. As far as the Ukraine situation, I don't know much about the Ukraine situation. We could just go around the world and maybe I can pinpoint a couple others I'm comfortable about, but this whole thing is so ridiculous. Again, we're fortunate in this country to have free speech. I exercise that. But part of having free speech is also electing not to speak if you don't feel comfortable about something."
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Overall, pretty damned thoughtful, especially about the shiny object, the dignity of the object, and going around the globe and picking things he knows not much about. Didn't realize he was so young when his dad was killed overseas.

I still think he's a smug coach for a team I loathe though.

 

It must be uncomfortable when your political thinking is so wrong that you would deny another American the right to express his own political opinions just because they differ from yours...

 

Kerr is like American royalty -- if he would have come out with a strong statement he could have changed the course of world history.

 

"Like a lot of the NBA" -- no, like everyone. Name a single notable person in a prominent position in a company that has business relationships in China that is freely speaking out about the lack of civil rights in that country. No one is doing this, and I'd venture to guess you wouldn't be either if in their position.