Another day in the life of Draymond Jamal Green, Sr., and another reminder that being Draymond Jamal Green, Sr., isn't nearly the carefree gigglefest it seems. In other words, the internet is there to remind us that hate never takes a holiday.
And that one day, the empty threat won't be so empty. That's how enraged America is at itself, and how aggressively the tectonic plate on which we all live seems to be breaking apart.
A "frustrated fan and comedian" Tweeted out that he hoped Green "gets his face shot off" after Golden State's 118-92 win at New Orleans Sunday, which is not frustration as much as it is hate, and is not comedy as much as it is a need for incarceration. I mean, how is this not a terroristic threat in a country that is allegedly hypersensitive to terror?
[POOLE: Draymond Green responds to death threat tweet: 'I feel bad for them']
I think we know the answer to that – the identity and ethnicity of the target.
Green is a smart man and a strong one, and he has taken on a number of public and private burdens in his 20s. No wonder his shoulders hurt. But when he said the other day that he wants his son and daughter to see what he does to earn them the living standard they have, he hadn't yet received the public offer to be murdered. That's too large of a concept for his children to comprehend now, but it is a story that they will learn in time, and it leaves one to wonder what they will think when they learn not the price their dad paid, but the massive hate-and-fear tax he had to pay.
That's the real story here – someone who claims to have mastered the art of humor and struggled with his favorite team's third (of four) playoff defeat has fit into his repertoire the murder of some children's parent. How Green doesn't demand actual legal action with real effect is, frankly, beyond us. If death threats are part of the price we want athletes to pay for our entertainment . . . well, I think you know where that sentence ends.
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But this is the nation that we have built and chosen to cannibalize, and the rage we have nurtured and are working diligently to monetize. And one day, a terror threat will be issued – or worse, won't be issued at all – and the purported victim won't be able to do a press conference because this time it won't be a threat at all. We are lowering the bar for antisocial behavior far too low, and at some point in the near future we won't be able to lift it back up.
