2019-2020 NBA Season Thread Basketball • Page 508

Just want to reinforce that it’s okay to have complicated feelings about the man - it’s okay to be upset at the sexual assault and how that played out

as long as we have civilized and open conversations about it and don’t get victim-blamey and all that it will be a good discourse here

 

I just don’t want any outsiders or people who don’t post in this thread to think we are absolving Kobe of that and that this is a safe space for survivors to post and discuss

 

Is it possible to forgive someone who committed such a horrific act? Especially if that person truly learned from his horrible act and strived to be better and put their money and platform in a way that positively effects women? I dunno I’ve just been grappling with that side of it today.

 

There are always going to be those who still listen to MJ’s music, still watch James Franco movies, etc. Personally, it is very easy for me to write off someone who i have no emotional attachment to that does heinous crimes and never give them a second thought. I guess with Kobe, MJ, a few others (probably not Franco), there is so much positive attached with the negative that it leaves me feeling pretty complicated on them as a whole. Yesterday the shock of the situation and the tragedy of him being with Gianna contributed a lot, but dealing with his legacy - good and bad - as a whole has set in more today.

 

Been a really strange 24 hours. I don’t really have any personal attachment to Kobe specifically as much as I do just the sport in general. I would’ve never guessed I would be very affected by Kobe’s death but obviously the circumstance can change that. Ultimately I just feel the pain of others, his family, friends, nba players, or anyone else who he was able to inspire along the way.

it’s cool that this thread has reacted in the way that it has. Kobe’s past is part of the story and it definitely matters. Just personally I think it’s very important to remember that but it’s also not the whole story. But I’ve liked the way, generally that people here and mostly other places have been able to grapple with such a tragedy

 

this describes my feelings a lot.

no doubt a tough loss and a tough topic.

 

Reformative justice

 

I’m still processing the whole situation, just in the last week I’ve also had an immediate family member pass away as well, so I think that’s also attributing to how I’m dealing with the whole Kobe thing also. I never realized how emotional/sad I could be over someone I never knew personally, but like a lot of others he was the source of me ever getting an interest into basketball. I would throw on my Kobe jersey and play basketball with friends on the basketball hoop in my moms driveway and I can remember particular times vividly. He was such an influential person to me growing up, man. It is still just surreal. I think I am just emotionally torn because one hand he had a major positive impact on me and my love/enjoyment for basketball. But I’m also conflicted because of the sexual assault case as well and I feel upset. I’ll stop because I’m probably rambling now but I hope as days go by my emotions become more coherent.

 

i think my only issue with this is Kobe’s defense team ran a smear campaign against the woman, and that doesn’t sit well with me. But I can’t deny he has seemed to be better and really that’s a step above a lot of others in his realm of celebrity and I appreciate and respect that.

 

I mean comparing people speaking out being uncomfortable with praising Kobe to people saying Mike Brown deserved it is a horrible look. Many people I’ve seen speak out are survivors themselves. In addition to the smear campaign and all that

 

lol honestly one of my first thoughts after thinking about how giannis is going to take the news was 'shit hes gonna name his son Kobe isnt he'

 

Yeah he never took accountability for the awful smears against the victim. It was used to drop the criminal charges so he never was held accountable for the crime. The civil settlement for all we know included his statements on consent etc. which were always a half hearted admission at best.
Obviously the news is tragic and today is not the day to litigate him as a person but I want to be careful about what is being said about his redemption when it comes to the sexual assault issue specifically. Survivors and those of us who are close to people who have dealt with sexual assault/rape still have to deal with the defense tactic that his team employed, and employed successfully for him and many others after him.

 

gonna bow out of this thread / site for a bit. the news had an effect on me that i didn’t expect yesterday, since i wouldn’t say i ever even considered myself a kobe fan. and it’s lingered on today. and with the way the discussions are continuing, it’s making it all the worse. so i’ll see y’all when i see ya, i guess.

 

Feel free to message me or something if you need to vent or talk in private my man

 

Giannis is a good person.

Happy they’re postponing tomorrow’s game.

 

That's the right thing to do.

 

Yup - the smart move