Adam Silver wants to phase out the term ‘owner’

[action781]

My thoughts are Political Correctness  is a disease.

You seem to have many like-minded friends here.  I have a different point of view and I'm not expecting anyone to agree with it, but hope that some will hear me out.

Political correctness doesn't come from nothing. It's really reflective of a natural societal "correction".  It absolutely goes too far at times and people should call it out when it does.  This thread reflects a pretty good example of correctness gone awry, but the knee-jerk hatred of political correctness is also a bit of an over-reaction in my opinion.

There was a time not that long ago when our societal norms were quite different regarding overt negative messaging about race, ethnicity, gender and homosexuality.  I remember the free and easy use of the "N" word among my parent's contemporaries as well as blatant sexism and homophobic remarks and aggression practiced with impunity in my schools, neighborhood/community, and even in religious venues.  The advent of Political Correctness hasn't fixed anything, but it is an understandable response as our free, diverse, multi-cultural society grapples with changing values. In my lifetime (born in the late 50's) I believe we've gone from too much insensitivity to a certain degree of oversensitivity.  Finding the right balance is the job of future generations, but having some historical context (i.e., why it exists) in a discussion of Political Correctness seems to me to be only fair.

With regard to the "Owner" issue, it sounds to me more like a thought Silver is having than an actual proposed policy change.   My guess is that it won't actually get traction because it's rather silly to not be able to refer to team owners as owners.   With that said, it's also a bit short-sighted to not consider why it could be worthy of discussion.  I think MJ is currently the only African-American majority owner in a league whose players are 75% African American.  Players in the NBA are in many ways more of a commodity than in other work arenas.  They are ridiculously well-paid and inordinately showered with attention (mostly positive), so the slavery metaphor is dramatically lacking and deeply flawed.... however, players' services are essentially drafted and purchased by owners and, very much unlike any other business that I am aware of, are traded as commodities. Players play out their contracts to attain Free Agency, a form of earned occupational freedom which allows them to select their owner.  My point (likely lost in the weeds here) is that there is some metaphoric validity when it comes to "optics".  I am not suggesting that the NBA resembles slavery in any real terms, I am just saying that predominantly White Ownership utilizing predominantly Black Service in an arena where workers are drafted, purchased (contracted) and traded presents optics that can conjure the ugly metaphor.   

So let me be clear -- I am in agreement with most here that the idea of phasing out the term "owner" is an absurd idea. However, the idea that political correctness is a societal bogey monster at minimum ignores our nation's history and at worst can blind us to true examples of hatred or discrimination. Having discussions about why Silver would consider phasing out "owner" should not be a problem.  And truth be told, many on this thread dismissed it as political correctness or a joke without deeming it worthy of thought.  I side with most of you, I just think the idea is worthy of showing respect to those who might have a different viewpoint about the subject.

Well said, TP.  I basically agree with you in entirety.

[Rosco917]

Totally ridiculous...more symbolic than anything.

We're slowly heading to a day when black players insist they play for black owners only.