Today in Stupid: Kimbo, Lynching and the Doc
by Zak Woods on May 14, 2010 4:23 PM EDT
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(Beware! If you see this writer you may be come down with a nasty cold of stupid)
MMA Junkie's Dr. Benjamin penned an article for The Huffington Post and the guy might have completely gone off the deep end:
The Promotional 'Lynching' of Kimbo Slice
Yeah I said it...lynching. And I do know what the word means.
Kevin Ferguson aka Kimbo Slice got used by his promotional company and now must endure the aftermath of a public lynching. Mr. Ferguson is an internet phenom that attempted to parlay his internet 'fame' into real dollars ala Paris Hilton. In corporate America it's called monetizing your image. In the real world it's called 'pimpin' the game'. True a prostitute makes money but at what personal cost?
Mike Chiappeta and Fightlinker have already pointed out how INCREDIBLY WRONG the good doctor is but we will add a few more thoughts.
Dr. Benjamin completely misses out on the fact that Kimbo is incredibly popular (this guy single handily got MMA on network television). The vast majority of fans LOVE Kimbo and regularly tune in to watch him fight. TUF 10 drew an additional million viewers on average just because he was on the show. When he was fighting it jumped by 2 million.
Both the UFC and EliteXC gave every opportunity for Kimbo to succeed hand picking opponents and constantly lowering expectations while building on the marketability that Slice and his manager, Icey Mike, built. The guy was just not a good professional fighter. Yes, the UFC parted ways with him when they realized they couldn't justify keeping such a woefully awful fighter on main cards but that is not the equivalent to the racially charged word of "lynching".
So why did the doctor decide to use the word lynching; a word associated with Jim Crow, the KKK, racial intimidation and violence?
I chose the explosive word lynching because exploiting a big, scary Black man has always drawn a crowd. Once upon a time, it was hate filled and racially motivated now it is purely financial.
So, he just equated one of the most despicable chapter's of America's history with the UFC signing Kimbo Slice and then cutting him after an embarrassingly poor performance.
Uhh... WHAT THE @#&$?!
Does this make any sense to anyone?
Remember this is the same guy who argued against increasing the length of rounds in female MMA because they would fatigue too quickly and the risk of injury would increase. While that might sound reasonable on the surface --women's MMA is young and the quality of athletes across the board is still improving-- the Doc's logic is the equivalent of saying that women shouldn't run or jump in basketball because they are at higher risk of an ACL tear. It's blatantly sexist argument.
So now we have the guy who wrote a sexist article now coming out and saying that the MMA community is "lynching" Kimbo Slice. Wow, talk about taking out the racial bazooka.
Hey Doc, here's a little video from part time NPR contributor J Smooth which WKR really, really wants you to watch.
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This is proof that the University of Phoenix in a bad thing.
"Donuts don't wear alligator shoes" - Black Dynamite
by Greenbeard on May 14, 2010 4:41 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Harsh Article...
I’m an avid junkie reader and the doctor is a good guy.
Yeah. The world lynching was a little harsh, but you have to keep in mind this is a doctor trying to break out and write. as a hobby? as supplemental income? who knows. The wording is probably just him trying to grab people’s attention and being not exactly articulate enough to come up with a better word.
But the video of practically calling him a racist and ‘coming down with a case of stupid’ are little much to be calling out another reporter. Unless of course you call him out in a MMA match directly after publicly smashing another writer.
Its all good. My opinion doesn’t really matter, but you should probably know this one is a bit much.
no
- the doctor may very well be a good guy
- a real journalist wouldn’t sacrifice credibility for page views
- one would assume a doctor (if he actually is a doctor) would be articulate enough to come up with a better expression/use better word choice than just blatant, unsubstantiated charges of racism
- Zak wasn’t “calling out another reporter” seeing as how a real reporter [see point 2] wouldn’t equate the cutting of a sub-par fighter with slavery. As if Slice fought for free, and didn’t make 2-3x the amount of every other TUF contestant…
- no, this wasn’t a bit much. Just like J Smooth said, you need to hold people accountable for their actions. Zak didn’t call the doctor a racist, he said what the doctor wrote was inappropriate, which, in this case, was completely called for. The man is on the record as being sexist, so he has no moral high ground to stand on to begin with, and, just like racism, false claims of racism are damaging and out of line; especially in this instance where the reasons for Slice being cut were so transparent (Dana openly said Kimbo was taking a more talented fighters spot) it couldn’t be mistaken for anything else
so, in summary … BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!
"It’s going to be like sex with a grizzly bear, you know, a lot of scratching and growling on both sides." - Don Frye
In honor of J Smooth’s awesomeness
“The man is on the record as being sexist” should be more “The man is on the record saying something sexist”
:-)
watchkalibrun.com
very true
good catch
"It’s going to be like sex with a grizzly bear, you know, a lot of scratching and growling on both sides." - Don Frye
the video was more about how to deal with someone when they same something dumb. Case in point Doc’s arguments about women’s MMA.
watchkalibrun.com
I think this article sucks but I'd like to see his argument
Against women’s mma, do you mean this?
http://mmajunkie.com/news/15286/ask-the-doc-why-is-dr-benjamin-against-five-minute-rounds-in-womens-mma.mma
or did he write something else? I tend to agree with him in the case of 3 minute rounds. The quality of athlete in women’s mma right now is not where it needs to be for there to be 5 minute rounds even accross the board at the highest level from a medical standpoint. But I tend to agree with him even on the amateur circuit for men as well. The athleticism isn’t there and people don’t train hard enough. But that brings a more philisophical conversation about the ammy circuits, and there purpose
by chadington on May 14, 2010 8:14 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It’s one thing to say that he doesn’t believe there is enough depth right now to warrant the adjustment or that 3 minute rounds make a better product a la 3 sets for women’s tennis vs. 5 for men.
But to say that it will make them more tired and they will get hurt is REALLY REALLY bad logic.
Here’s the Dr. Benjamin’s logic in work: There’s plenty of medical and statistical evidence that women are more susceptible to ACL tears. ACL tears happen due to jumping and running. Thus we shouldn’t let women run too much in basketball, or soccer or other sports.
That’s a sexist line of thinking and that’s the logic Dr. Benjamin was using
watchkalibrun.com
Fatigue and injury equals sexist?
I mean how he reached his final point may not be the best means, and I’m not trying to defend that, I’m defending his final point.
The more fatigued someone is in any sport or sex the higher the chance of injury. You can not argue that.
The quality of athlete in women’s mma is lacking, because there aren’t enough. (there’s more money elsewhere, no money in mma whatever). This is in general not for outliers.
So to protect the people from themselves, you impose rules on them. This is why youth and highschool and amteur boxing have abbreviated rounds.
In female mma fights more so than male mma fights there is a larger problem with gassing at the highest level. Aside from the cream of the crop, many of the fighters have trouble fighting at that pace, why doesn’t matter. It happens so rules are enforced until the quality of the fighters reaches a point that they can reasonably (medically justify) extended the time period.
I mean in the end fatigue + any intense athletic event = higher % chance of injury. In dangerous sports like mma these risks can not be allowed as such in basketball, soccer, tennis. There is much more at stake. The injury % Has an inverse relationship with the quality of athlete. As the quality of the athlete goes down the % goes up. So in a sport dominated by low quality athletes it makes sense to make rules.
Say what you will about the man or the methods, there Is nothing sexist about that.
by chadington on May 14, 2010 10:50 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I think Zak is right
I remember the article about women’s MMA and while i’m pretty sexist I still thought it was a little over the line for a professional. He’s just stirring the shit for the sake of getting people to read his article. I have no problem with the good doctor but I’m gonna call it like I see it.
by doonerthesooner on May 14, 2010 4:58 PM EDT reply actions
Wow... I am actually insulted by his analogy...
Dana continually stated that he liked and respected Kimbo for taking his challenge but he just didn’t have the chops. How is giving a “freak show” fighter a golden chance at the big leagues = lynching?
Day-man! Fighter of the Night-man! Champion of the sun. You're a master of Karate and friendship for everyone!
"Charlie"
you've really got to be careful using racially charged language like that.
Craig Robinson said in the commercials for “The Marriage Ref” that you can’t misquote Dr. King to justify dressing badly. I would say you can, but it makes you look like a moron. A similar principle seems to apply here.
http://fightdrinker.blogspot.com
by some schmuck in texas on May 14, 2010 5:12 PM EDT reply actions
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hate
I signed up on Huff Post just to comment on this story. Kimbo & the UFC gained from this relationship. I read thru the titles of the good doctor’s other blog posts on there, and he seems to have a lot of issues with “race relations” to put it mildly
by jpcampbell710 on May 14, 2010 7:48 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
We are all
now dumber for having read this. They gave him two guys they thought he could beat instead of two really tough guys…that’s a lynching?
Hadoken!!
DUMB
He should not write about MMA, he knows little about it.
Most Ultimate Fighters, regardless of performance in the tournament, get another fight on UFN. Kimbo wasn’t “pimped”, he was given a very fair shot at a UFC carrer and he fell short.
He could be a big star in Japan, DREAM anyone?
Pain don't hurt...
Hey, let's compare the bob arran, and floyd interviews with this guy.
It’s hard to choose between the three, bob’s and floyd’s are funny, but bob’s case. He’s like the old style biggot race,sexualit or not. He tells it how it is. The thing with bob is that he probably doesn’t even know that what he saying is bad.
This doc guy appears appears to be have a new sense of this new black pride going around that has re-emerged with the election of hs twin obama for the first “black” president. Reason I put “black” in quotes is ‘cause he’s half white, but a lot of people just say black. It’s all good tho. So, it’s only logical that he’ll bring up something like this, but not gonna lie tho. It’s part true, there’s a facination with big black dudes by caucasions. Take a look at the hip hop scene, and the suburbs. Black is in, I’ve been seeing a lot of white, latin, and asian girls who love the black dudes and date nothing but black.
Bob’s clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE_tsPatoBU
floyd’s clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb9lHuXm8f0
WATCH KALIB RUN = MMA PIRATE at watchkalibrun.com
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