There was nothing serene about Serena Williams at this years U.S. Open, with her on-court tantrum taking the spotlight away from the winner, Naomi Osaka. But the incident also should shine a spotlight on the wider problems it reflects namely, political correctness and the growing contempt for rules.
For those unacquainted with the story, Williams coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, violated the code of conduct by using hand signals to coach his player from the seating area during Saturday's women's final. Williams received only a warning for this but she wouldnt let it go. Becoming irrational, she demanded an apology from the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos. She continued in this vein and was consequently issued a point penalty for bad behavior, after which she called Ramos a thief (video below). Williams also broke her racquet during the incident, ultimately was penalized a game, and later was fined a total of $17,000 for her three code violations. She lost to Osaka 6-2, 6-4.
But most striking is the affairs aftermath. The Womens Tennis Association and U.S. Tennis Association both backed Williams, with the latter praising her post-match conduct. Im a former tennis professional, mind you, and Ive never before seen these organizations thus throw an umpire under the bus and, acting as if rules didnt exist, side with a misbehaving player.
This incident took place on a tennis court in Flushing Meadows, NYC, yet it reflects a problem far bigger than sport. Just consider the demonization of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the police in general, the latter occurring most noticeably during the Obama administration.
As with umpire Ramos, ICE agents merely do their jobs: enforcing rules/laws created by the powers that be. Despite this, theyve been cast as villains (in their case for political gain) by people far more wealthy and powerful than they. New York Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Cynthia Nixon actually called ICE a terrorist organization while N.Y. Democrat attorney general contender Zephyr Teachout went even further, vowing to prosecute ICE agents.
Calling this troubling is an understatement. To say immigration laws should be changed is one thing. Saying the no-coaching rule at Grand Slam tennis tournaments should be rescinded, as ex-champion Billie Jean King suggested, could be discussed. But demonizing those placed in enforcement positions merely because they enforced the rules on the wrong people?
Thats what happens in a banana republic.
Slamming people for doing their jobs results in, well, people not doing their jobs. For instance, after years of impugning cops, unfairly calling them racist, and sometimes charging them unjustly and ruining their lives, were now seeing the phenomenon of de-policing cops reducing their law-enforcement activities, especially in minority neighborhoods.
Similarly, tennis umpires are reportedly considering boycotting Williams matches. As CBS Sports tells us The umpiring fraternity is thoroughly disturbed at being abandoned by the WTA, [retired umpire Richard] Ings said on Tuesday, via ESPN. They are all fearful that they could be the next Ramos. Do you see where this contempt for standards is taking us?
As with ICE and the police (and most every issue today), Williams and her enablers are pulling the prejudice card. They assert that the male players are held to a lower standard. Yet while men do often get away with verbally abusing umpires, even the liberal Guardian admits, So do some women. Moreover, Williams has history herself, at the U.S. Open in 2009, for instance, the paper continues.
But does the blame lie with Ramos or the umpires not enforcing the rules? Its a declining civilization that applauds goldbrickers while deriding the diligent.
But this isnt the only thing people get backwards. There is prejudice here but in favor of Williams. Do you think wed even be talking about this now were she a white player, and especially a white man?
On a related note, Australias Herald Sun newspaper was accused of racism for criticizing Williams via a caricature, one said to reflect Jim Crow-era black images. But the nature of a caricature is that it exaggerates peoples features. Yet because of political correctness, this cartoonists artistic device is virtually off-limits when it comes [to] African-Americans and other victim groups as designated by the Left, notes American Thinker.
This is true and, among other things, represents the infantilization (again, for political gain) of black people. Do they need paternalistic leftists to insulate them from what to others is just normal life?
This is also destructive because it puts a barrier between the races. Consider: If you knew a person you couldnt really be honest with and had to walk on eggs around, could you ever enjoy the closeness of true friendship? Its ironic that leftists hate walls except when they erect them among groups and create division.
Speaking of divisiveness, Ramos was accused of sexism, but its those leveling the charge thus guilty. Why? Because they wouldnt be making the accusation were Ramos not a man.
This is generally the case. In the matter of ICE, the police, and President Trump, for instance, racism allegations wouldnt be hurled were the accused not white.
This is the truth in our topsy-turvy world. Another even more tragic truth is that social pressure works wonders even when its the wrong kind. A Mexican-descent friend once told me that being rich in Mexico was great because the laws generally wouldnt be applied to you. If we keep pressuring people to not do their jobs and ignore the rules, thats precisely how well end up: being not a nation of laws but one of men and money.