Josh Howard: Privacy Pinched

I'm going to do something that I normally wouldn't do...defend a professional athlete. In most cases I consider professional athletes to be overpaid children. They are superstars in the world of their game, made more important than they are, and idolized by far too many for being good at a game you can find 8-year-olds playing all around the world. No life has ever been saved by a slam dunk, a home run, a hail mary pass, or a slapshot. Wars and disease don't end over all-star games. I'd still rather see Nobel Prize winners celebrated than sports Hall of Famers. Still, despite being pampered, idolized, overpaid children...they are humans. If they grew up here, or naturalized themselves, they are US citizens as well. In our country's Ten Commandments, there is one that grants us all FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

In case you haven't heard about this yet, I'll give you the scenario. Josh Howard, a power forward for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, was participating in a charity football game put together by Allen Iverson, shooting guard for the NBA's Denver Nuggets. Someone was on the field with a cell phone making a video of talking with participants during the singing of the national anthem and ran into Josh Howard. Josh then goes into the following:

"'The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this shit. I'm black."

He later mentions Obama '08 but his voice fades out before we can hear any more. From there the cell phone goes back to other players and then ends. All in all this is a harmless moment, until this cell phone video makes it on to YouTube.com. Apparently this video gained popularity or recognition quickly because it became a story on ESPN and a number of other news outlets. It became something that the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks, and Josh Howard have to answer for. Apparently all the playoff chases, NASCAR chase, NFL injuries, Ryder Cup, College Football, and NHL pre-season was not enough for the media because they decided to make this 4-second clip of a cell-phone video that only became public because someone put it on YouTube a story.

Now please don't misunderstand me. I do not want to make Josh Howard out to be a victim or circumstance. If his agent, coaches, college coaches, and family didn't already tell him, he should know that in today's society, you can't do or say anything without it finding it's way into the media. Beyond this incident, there have been several incidents in the past couple months that demonstrate that he is not the most Public Relations friendly guy and he either doesn't believe in or doesn't grasp the concept of lying/omission as self-preservation. So beyond his having said what he said, it became a juicier story because he was already known as someone who would pop off at the mouth.

Still, here's where I have a problem with the whole thing. What was videotaped was a private conversation at a public event. What was quoted lasted all of 11 seconds. What was implied and extrapolated was a big ol' shitstorm.

Personally, I think this should fall into the category of publishing a picture without the object's consent, plagiarizing material, or taping a phone conversation without a person's knowledge. It would be one thing to tape the encounter and tell someone about it, but it's altogether different to provide a video of it without the person's consent. I realize that we've come to accept the pushy, garish manners of paparazzi and media but it doesn't mean that every one, every where, and any time should be fair game. You can say that his being an NBA player, and an all-star too changes the situation but I disagree. The incident happened during the off-season at a non-NBA function on the site of a charity event. If it was not substantial enough for the media (local to that event) to catch, it should not be a national media event and a point of scrutiny against him. You're welcome to argue the point but if you can ok it for him it is only fair to ok it about yourself.

How would you feel if a video of you talking badly/jokingly about (a family member, friend, coworker, acquaintance, nationality, race, religion, gender, etc.) was made public and available to everyone so they could judge you? Chances are your comments would have been made privately and were meant to be kept private. In this case, as in Josh Howard's case, that has been violated and now you will answer for it. So will he. If we truly intend to make this a country of 'any statement is admissible', then we should take down those stringent rules we have in our laws about consent, because it's obvious that we don't care about that. Whoever took and published that video, who I'm sure is famous if not rich, should be sued for their worth for putting him out there like that. But that won't happen. The unethical perpetrator will go on with no repercussion while the person who did nothing more than speak his mind in private will be publicly crucified.

As much as I like seeing the real sides of public figures, I'm tired of seeing this information plucked from sneak-a-peak photos and cell-phone videos. Say what you like about the behaviors that we caught on camera but I think Josh Howard, Michael Richards, and Mel Gibson would agree. When we've reached the point of trolling You Tube for media stories, it's evident that our media is not reporting on real issues.