Comments on: Stupid White Man of the Week: Paul Shirley. (WHO?)

By: Jeff Winbush

Jeff Winbush — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:23:29 +0000

Uh-huh. So what was the point in “maybe use a condom once in a while?” All that says to me is some White guy whose minimal talent allows him to draw a nice paycheck is looking down his nose at poor Black people.

Shirley’s joke of a NBA career is the only thing that gives him a platform above that of an obnoxious drunk in a bar. You consider referencing it besides the point. The way I see it that is the point.

Oh, and if you know a way to prevent natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, you need to apply for the job of Mother Nature.

By: njb

njb — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:27:30 +0000

Couple of things;

You can drive home the point that Shirley was an unsuccessful basketball player all you want, but the fact remains his status as an ex-NBA player has no correlation to his opinions of the tragedies in Haiti. Attack his opinions, not his ex-career. The two are unrelated. You were belittling his career in an overarching attempt at defacing his opinions, which i don’t see as fair. (or relevant.)

Secondly, here’s a direct quote from Shirley’s article; “…children cannot very well control their destinies. And as far as sympathy goes, much of it should go to those children.” His whole point is that, while helping is a good thing, it has to be done correctly. The adults need to be kept acountable. Throwing money at the situation is a temporary fix that accomplishes nothing. The best thing we could ever do for the people of Haiti is to try our best to make sure this never happens again. That is achieved through knowledge and teaching, not paying the Haitian gov’t millions upon millions. Be the person digging up Darlene, not the person writing the check. THAT is his point.

By: Jeff Winbush

Jeff Winbush — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:43:19 +0000

I didn’t ask you, but since you asked, yes, I do know Shirley wrote a book about his vagabond status as he bounces around the globe sitting on benches. I define Shirley as a nominal basketball player because that’s the only reason he has a platform at all. I throw out his statistics to drive home the point that this is a guy who has done nothing as a professional basketball player except hang around being tall. It certainly isn’t because he has any game.

More to the point: Darlene Etienne, a 16-year-old girl, was pulled out of the rubble alive some 15 days after the earthquake. That is by any standard a miracle. If most people felt the way Paul Shirley does, they would just shrug and say, “So what?” Oh, and then he would hand her a condom and tell her to put it to good use.

That’s contemptible and disgusting. Shirley should be ashamed for his callous and selfish statements. Even he can afford to cough up ten lousy dollars to help Darlene Etienne.

By: njb

njb — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:11:06 +0000

If you’ve ever read Shirley’s book (did you even research enough to know he’s written a book?), you understand that he doesn’t define himself as a basketball player, so why do you? Having a differing opinion is fine, but trying to undercut Shirley’s statements by throwing out stats from a lackluster basketball career? What does one have to do with the other? Seems a cheap (and unimaginitive) way to attack him, if you ask me.

By: Denise Clay

Denise Clay — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:53:44 +0000

So a guy that no one has heard of has written a column disparaging folks who are still recovering from an earthquake?

He’s not the Stupid White Man of the Week, Jeff. He’d be stupid in any color.