Former NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — yes, that's right — has written what we consider one of the most cogent pieces on the NFL and Adrian Peterson we have read. It appears on Time's web site, and here is a snip:
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson hit his four-year-old son with a thin part of a branch and was indicted for reckless or negligent injury. This has sparked a national debate on the effectiveness and ethics of spanking. Worse, thanks to commentators like Charles Barkley, the debate has degenerated into a race issue. "I'm from the South," Barkley explained on TV. "Whipping—we do that all the time. Every black parent in the South is going to be in jail under those circumstances."
The five most destructive words to our village are "That's how I was raised."
These words are the triumph of routine over reason, of self-delusion over self-interest, of excuses over evidence. In short, the phrase embodies the kind of muddled thinking that our culture "officially" stands against because doing something just because "that's how I was raised" is the definition of hive mentality. It's celebrating the joys of brainwashing over rational decision-making.
Most people embrace these words with great pride when it reflects their core values of being hard working, compassionate, patriotic, religious, or family-oriented. But they condemn anyone else who uses them when it goes against accepted American tradition.
Kareem just dunked on all of us. Great stuff.
