Bassman wrote:Mystical Apples wrote:I don't see hypocrisy. No multi-national organization can pick every battle in every location every time. Silver's decision was likely a combination core values + furthering a Brand with a clientele that is predominantly urban and thus overwhelmingly approves of the decision.
Not to mention shaping the All-Star narrative of a caring organization vs. a potential PR cluster, up to and including player interviews focusing on everything but the product. Or worse, a player(s) boycotting the game cause North Carolina.
Disagree. This argument is the same "morality pass" that other liberal corporations use when doing business with China but evoking social judgements in the U.S. Google accepts repressive limitations on the Internet and ignores China's hideous actions that make these N.C. Issues pale in comparison. It is hipocracy, and highlights the limits of principals/character for the sake of greed.
The NBA is indeed, as mystical apples points out, a business, and as such, their decision to move the all-star game from Charlotte is motivated solely by business considerations. However, the take away should be that Silver is putting his finger to the wind and riding the wave of popular leftist public sentiment because he thinks doing so will score brownie points with the broader NBA customer base and thus be financially beneficial for the NBA by eliciting positive PR.
Having said this, Silver would have been wiser to have instead assumed an apolitical stance and not gotten into the fray.
Since he has done just the opposite however, he has been called on his bull **** by ppl pointing out the NBA ties to certain countries abroad, and Bass is right that this is textbook hypocrisy.
The fact that Silver is still proceeding with plans for games in China, a country guilty of egregious human rights violations truly is hypocritical and betrays the fact that he is not a virtuous social crusader, as he would have everyone believe, but rather is a business man solely interested in making the league money.
Since the NBA is a business, I'd fine with that if the NBA would be honest that their moves are calculatedly motivated for maximum financial gain.
But silver and the NBA insult the intelligence of astute fans when they instead feign concern for human rights by pulling the ASG from NC over silly controversy about bathroom use while at the same time proceeding to do business in China.
Both the Charlotte ordinance and hb2 were passed in 2016. Hb2 reversed the Charlotte ordinance 7066 with respect to private businesses being able to decide their own bathroom policies. This incidentally was already the status quo when the NBA originally awarded the ASG to Charlotte in June 2015. Funny how this didn't seem to bother the NBA or offend their sensibilities then....
