Hands down one of the best posts I have ever read online!
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Vanessa Bryant said some stuff according to the 10000 alerts my phone is giving me
I feel the same way
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On the same day that the criminal case was dismissed, Bryant issued the following statement through his attorney:
First, I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year. Although this year has been incredibly difficult for me personally, I can only imagine the pain she has had to endure. I also want to apologize to her parents and family members, and to my family and friends and supporters, and to the citizens of Eagle, Colorado.
I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman. No money has been paid to this woman. She has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case. Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.
I issue this statement today fully aware that while one part of this case ends today, another remains. I understand that the civil case against me will go forward. That part of this case will be decided by and between the parties directly involved in the incident and will no longer be a financial or emotional drain on the citizens of the state of Colorado.
Instead of taking any sort of responsibility, it seems like Kobe invented the persona of the Black Mamba so that he could compartmentalize and act like “Colorado” never happened.
People want things to be easy. They don’t want to have to think about this stuff. That’s the sort of thinking that enables people like Donald Trump. I’m willing to press this point because I don’t think people deserve peace and order and civility at the cost of justice. I want people to be unhappy and uncomfortable, not because I am some trolling edgelord, but because I really think it is the only way forward.
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This is explicitly not true. You can say his efforts after his crime were nowhere near enough to absolve him of it. But, saying he invented a persona afterward is perhaps the most wrong thing said itt.
You can even take the cynical road and say a bunch of his efforts afterward were more about the sponsorships he lost than the person he hurt. He was probably the most self aware star of the last few decades (now Lebron is).
It seems like Kobe himself says that he invented a persona to cope with things:
When Bryant returned to the court, the wholesome young athlete was gone. In his place was a man who could no longer convincingly portray innocence, and Bryant says he felt free to reveal the darkness that had always lurked inside him.
Creating an alternate persona, he says now, was the only way he could mentally move beyond the events of Colorado.
“I don’t know what would’ve happened had I not figured it out,” he says. “Because the whole process for me was trying to figure out how to cope with this. I wasn’t going to be passive and let this thing just swallow me up. You’ve got a responsibility: family, baby, organization, whole city, yourself — how do you figure out how to overcome this? Or just deal with it and not drown from this thing? And so it was this constant quest: to figure out how do you do that, how do you do that, how do you do that? So I was bound to figure something out because I was so obsessively concerned about it.”
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I don’t personally care about most celebrity deaths. This one felt different because of how young he was and how much of a positive influence he had on the students I’ve taught.
Once the sadness of his death passed, either the thread would die or somebody would discuss Kobe’s rape allegations. Nothing about this turn in discussion should be unexpected.
I don’t know how discussing what has been discussed ad nauseum in the past benefits the community. But that shouldn’t stop discussion about an issue if people want to have it. Perhaps I’m missing something and others will point it out. Or people are just using this for virtue signaling. My uncertainty is enough to keep interest in this.
Yeah we are all just virtue signaling. And I’m now going to assume you’re a dink and should probably try reading the thread.
I guess what’s interesting is having two sides of a personality so diametrically opposed to each other. One side is a guy who did a ton of charity work and was an idol to millions around the world for more than just putting a ball in a basket. The other side is a rapist who did not pay a fair price for his criminal behavior and perpetuates a culture where celebrities can get away with anything so long as they have enough money.
I can see how that can create cognitive dissonance in people.
It’s not really that interesting.
The worst person in the world can do something good.
The best person in the world can do something bad.
I’m sure we are see this in our own lives when we fall short of doing the things we know are right.
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Some rapists are, for the most part, otherwise good people. That we expect rapists to be 100% monsters is a myth that enables those rapists to get away with it.
I’m sure I have friends who are rapists. That I have a rapist friend who I couldn’t tell was a rapist does not reflect poorly on me. Some people think that it does, so want to deny that they know a rapist.
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I’m not going to weigh in but this thread is going better than the 2+2 one where someone said “c’mon it can’t be rape because she made out with him for 5 minutes.”
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If Dick Vermeil can’t save you no one can.
Kirk douglas just died. Here’s your chance to aggressively shame people for feeling sad someone died who was credibly accused of rape.
Go!
I had not heard the Kirk Douglas thing until now. So actually, thank you. Fuck that guy too.
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This.
And I haven’t heard the majority of the country referring to him as Saint Douglas yet, which was the super distasteful part of the Kobe thing to me.