New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco got schooled recently but not on the football field.
Football star Chad Ochocinco recently got into a bit of Twitter heat for tweeting that he was reading conservative blogger Glenn Beck’s book “Broke.”
He tweeted the following:
“Gotten through 3 chapters in @glennbeck book and so far everything he’s said is either common or his opinion based off research.”
“I don’t agree with a lot of this s— but nonetheless its interesting reading the views n opinions from what I’d like to call the other side.”
(...)
Therefore upon sending out the tweets, Ochocinco was heavily criticized by followers—some even un-followed him.
One follower responded: “unfollowing [you] after two years because you’re a Beck fan. Disgraceful and disappointing.”
(...)
Since when did [black people] put a limitation on whose book we could read, or what types of books we are entitled to read? It is a very sad day in modern America when a Black man is ostracized for reading a book. Seems very reminiscent to the days of slavery when Blacks privately read (for purposes of knowledge) in hopes that the slave master wouldn’t catch them, or worse.
Right. In the days of American slavery, it was often legally forbidden to teach a slave to read and those who did so were punished with jail time or worse--along with their students. Refusing to follow the Twitter feed of an athlete who reads certain books is a response clearly not in the league of the legal proscriptions of the Bad Old Days. However, the mentality is identical. The person displaying either response has one goal in mind: control.
"Do what I want or I'll kill you."
"Do what I want or I'll ostracize you."
One wonders how many black people are no longer fans of Mr. Ochocinco due to his reading material. I'm sure that the number would blow the lid off the irony caldron.
Side note: I'm just happy to see a pro-athlete reading anything. I might send him a copy of my book; a little football, a little love--I'm sure he'd love it. :)
