Stokes no longer a Gator

I deleted my post you just quoted because after re-reading I think there might be some sort of disconnect and I didn't want to come across as being too argumentative. I appreciate your response to it though. I agree the real world is a lot less hostile than the internet when it comes to these types of things.

 

I don't listen to Eminem but I do listen to David Allan Coe using that word never seemed to hurt him.

 

It actually did. He was never accepted as mainstream and he was seldom played on country radio. He had a career of course but it couldve been much bigger. He's gone on record saying early decisions cost him millions. Some of his songs were flat our racist though. Not just a flippant use of the word.

 

The author you linked deliberately writes white as a lowercase word (which is fine by me) and does no more than scoff about it, as if the obvious hypocrisy does not require an explanation for the distinction. If one was making an argument for consistency, then I get it: capitalize all races, including White and Black, just as you would Asian or Hispanic. But he is essentially arguing, capitalize Black and leave white deliberately lower-cased, as if that just speaks for itself as to why people should do that.

 

This is true, thats pretty much the difference separating him and people like Hank and others. Maybe a bit of talent too

 

Agreed it is kind of hard to believe what he got away with in the 80s & 90s. Some of those songs went way beyond racism, and the way he talked about women I still don't understand why some of that stuff didn't completely shut down his career.

 

Really stupid thing for him to do, but UF overreacted I think

 

Guy made a mistake. The thing is mistakes have consequences and while America gives second chances you don’t necessarily get that chance where you screwed up (like a bad job interview). Besides as others pointed out he was never going to be the guy at QB

 

As Big posted in the thread on the recruiting board, have to factor in what the current locker room thought of the video and Stokes as a whole.

Teaching moment for the kid and a response made with the culture of the locker room well in mind.

 

Some are suggesting other issues to add to this final straw. Others saying he was about to be shown the door anyway one way or another.

 

As others have said, it sounds like this isn’t his first lack of judgment situation.

Regardless, if we feel we can forgive or forget, this situation has the potential to backfire in the future. Then everyone including the staff that allowed him to remain in the class will be painted as racist, along with the program and University. This goes much further than this if he is allowed to remain in the class.

I do believe this is probably a severe lapse in judgment, but I doubt anyone is willing to put their career on the line for this stupidity.

 

I've always consistently said the intent on things like these matter. There's a difference in severity between copying a song and yelling it at someone. Pulling a scholly seems overly harsh.

 

I wish this was used as a teachable moment. We don’t know all the details. I say wait before we condemn.

 

I never claimed to be a savant in Hip Hop culture. All I said is that he Eminem used the word in a song and was given a pass by the black community. An opinion I made after watching a video of several high profile Black artists that came to Eminem's defense. You do not have to be an expert in Hip Hop culture to state an obvious fact.

 

None of this is what you said originally. Eminem has never used that word in public, so the black community never had to give him a pass for that word. You’re so desperate to equate Eminem to this Stokes situation that you’re purposely making stuff up.

 

I agree. And the cynic in me says that if he was half as good as another notable that came out of Nease previously, this would have been dealt with differently. But, as it turns out, he was recruited over and was an easy sacrificial lamb for the University.

 

He certainly made a mistake. But then I think it's a mistake to listen to most of today's "popular music," much less sing along with it. What they call country music sucks too. I avoid it all as much as I can. I compensate by writing my own songs, and I only write what I want to hear.

 

Committee on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure of the American Association of University Professors: "The controlling principle is that a faculty member’s expression of opinion as a citizen cannot constitute grounds for dismissal"

The University to a kid singing a rap song using lyrics that are socially acceptable in his peer group: "You can't express your opinion that way"

 

This looks to me to be either an over-reaction or an excuse to dump the kid because he didn’t have a great senior year.

Nobody who knows the kid, from what I’ve read, thinks he’s racist. He was singing lyrics. Were his teammates offended? I’ve read they weren’t.