During this Long National Nightmare, there have been a multitude of contrasting events that demonstrate the difference between the 12-year attention-sucking era of Donald Trump and what our country is actually supposed to be. This month, we received yet another example of this, via the sports world and Pride Month.
Dead Terrible Guy Andrew Breitbart once said, “Politics is downstream from culture,” which the Republican Party ran with and created this environment of hate and delusion that so many Americans seem to be swimming in right now. The fiasco on the White House lawn yesterday, a UFC fight, was pretty much a near-perfect example of the shit that the GOP wallows in these days.
This is not really about whether you like UFC fighting as a sport. Being a former city kid, I myself used to be a big boxing fan, although I don’t follow it as closely as I once did. Pro wrestling can be fun for some people, including those who view it as comedy. But none of this is what should be happening on White House grounds.
This is not me being a little priss, which MAGA guys might grunt out as a counter. For starters, the grounds were covered in ads for Monster Energy Drink, Bud Light, cryptoscams, etc. Again, nothing against consumers of Bud Light, but the idea of corporate advertising all over the White House is not just bad optics, it smacks of corruption. I say this knowing that President Semi-Sentient Rotting Carrot has more or less run a mob-like corruption racket out of the White House. But this is just one of the more in-your-face examples of it.
Along with celebrating violent fighting in a space not really designed for it, one of the fighters did this for good measure:
Josh Hokit just ended his post-fight speech at the White House UFC event by yelling "Michelle Obama is a man!"A disgraceful spectacle through and through
So not much more to say about that, other than I wonder how long that eyesore arena will be on the White House lawn, and how much damage it did?
So, on the flip side of that, two contrasting events were going on around the same time. One was also sports-related, the first championship for NBA’s New York Knicks since 1973.
The Knicks’ championship celebration was messy, loud, and imperfect, because real public joy usually is. Yes, some incidents of fans getting out of hand could be found, especially around Madison Square Garden. There is something about human beings rioting after big wins that is ingrained in our culture; New York’s celebration was markedly less violent than other cities and universities’ reaction to winning it all.
But beneath the noise was something beautiful: New Yorkers of every race, religion, borough, accent, and background spilling into the streets together, hugging strangers, dancing outside bodegas, cheering in bars, parks, and living rooms. That looked far more like America than the staged brutality of a corporate-sponsored UFC cage fight on the White House lawn. And this was most of the people celebrating the win.
One was a people’s celebration, earned over decades of heartbreak and shared loyalty. The other was a spectacle of power, violence, and branding dressed up as patriotism. Plus a dash of transphobia, conspiracy insanity, and racism for good measure.
The Knicks reminded us that civic pride can still be generous, funny, diverse, and communal. It can bring together people who disagree on almost everything except the joy of one impossible team finally breaking through. That is the America worth celebrating: not domination, not cruelty, but strangers becoming neighbors in a moment of shared delight.
This leads me to this weekend’s Pride event in State College, Pa. It was a very happy affair, with a parade, speakers, entertainment, food, and various organizations tabling there to raise awareness and support for various issues. My wife, our two greyhounds, and I helped out at Central PA United’s table, educating people about affordable housing and criminal justice, our two current main issues.
There was capitalism, sure. Food trucks, a few vendors, a couple of local sponsors, etc. were part of the event. But there was a curious lack of crypto scam advertising, unlike the White House.
What was there instead was a sense of community, for people of a particular group being there to support each other, and people outside of those groups demonstrating how to be a good ally. This is, of course, supposed to be what America is about.
Not a corporate extravaganza under the guise of a “national celebration” that’s nothing but a grifting party for a sad, dying wannabe emperor.
The last word goes to John Mellencamp.