LGBT Anthem Protester Rapinoe Thanks Sports Illustrated for Award by Bashing It in Acceptance Speech
U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe made waves again last month in her acceptance speech as one of Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year, pointing to a supposed bigoted double standard in modern American culture and sports — and contending that progressive activism in the public sphere has not gone far enough.
“I still know in my heart of hearts, and in my bones, that I can do more and that we can do more,” Rapinoe told the audience, according to The Washington Post. “And I know that because we just have to. We must. It’s imperative that we do more.”
Judging by her acceptance of Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year award Monday night, however, doing more just means delivering more droning public diatribes on social justice.
And apparently, it also means doing so in the most disrespectful manner imaginable.
Presenting SI’s 2019 Sportsperson of the Year: Megan Rapinoe ?
She owned the biggest moment of her life and silenced all the doubters, all while becoming a voice for so many across the world https://t.co/Djg6rbAqj3
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 9, 2019
“Just the fourth woman in the award’s 66-year history to win it unaccompanied,” according to SI — several others have received the honor along with men or teammates — Rapinoe was anything but grateful for the recognition.
Instead, the left-wing athlete’s acceptance speech quickly devolved into an angst-fueled reproof for the very organization celebrating her — not only for her so-called leadership of Team USA in its 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup victory but also for a supposedly brave stance taken against President Donald Trump when she decided not to place her hand over her heart or sing the national anthem during the tournament.
Sports Illustrated, Rapinoe said, may have been awarding her — an openly gay woman and major political activist — with one of the most prestigious awards in the field of athletics, but this was not enough.
The publication had not gone far enough out of its way to “bear witness” to the strides made in past decades by female and non-white athletes and sports writers, she argued.
“Is it true that I’m only the fourth woman deserving of this award?” Rapinoe asked. “I don’t think so.”
“Is it true so few writers of color deserve to be featured in this publication? No,” she continued, seeming to receive cheers from only a few audience members. “Is it true so few women’s voices deserve to be heard and deserve to be read in this publication? I don’t think so.”
Powerful moment last night during Megan Rapinoe’s Sportsperson acceptance speech. pic.twitter.com/MNYzFwGMdh
— Jessica Smetana (@jessica_smetana) December 10, 2019
As usual, progress is not enough.
Steps in the right direction simply do not cut it.
In fact, it is common place for social justice warriors and left-wing elites to stomp on the olive branches and burn the bridges extended to them by mainstream American institutions or organizations.
The old wisdom that personal and cultural healing is done by recognizing the mistakes and shortcomings of the past, turning from them and moving forward is lost on the social justice culture.
The pain of the past — the longstanding cultural scars, still in a lengthy process of healing — must be reopened early and often, so that we may be reminded that things were once horribly wrong by way of another excruciatingly painful and divisive cultural process.
Why?
Because healing and “social progress” have never actually been the goal.
They never will be.
If they were, Rapinoe would have stepped down from the stage and advocated that a transgender athlete such as Rachel McKinnon or June Eastwood take her place.
But that would have required her to step out of the limelight — something the social justice leftists are never keen on doing.
No, leftists such as Rapinoe and her great friend Colin Kaepernick are only interested in social justice so long is it can make them a few bucks or land them on the front page of The New York Times, The Washington Post or HuffPo.
And that means sacrificing real justice and equality by staging a publicity stunt and spitting on honest attempts at cultural healing.
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