TERRY MOSHER
By Terry Mosher
Editor, Sports Paper
It’s amusing for me to see where we have gone in the media. Because of social networks like Facebook, Twitter (especially Twitter), Instagram and Linkedin, whenever something happens, no matter how small I think it is, it soars into cyberspace like a rocket sent to the moon.
A Seahawk player tells it like it and all of sudden Richard Sherman is the No. 1 guy everybody wants to hear from. Peyton Manning? No, give me Richard Sherman.
I am further amused that he has gotten criticism for what he said in the aftermath of his defense against Michael Crabtree. Man, I think it’s great what he did. And those who started calling him a thug and worse, they are the most racist people on Earth, most likely. They see a black guy going verbally wild while being interviewed by a white woman and go ballistic.
I wonder how those same critics would respond if, say, it was a white guy who would have gone on that serious rant?
You know if you can walk the talk you are entitled to show a little ego and be a little arrogant. I may not like it if I’m the target, but, hey, if you can do what Sherman did, which is save the Seahawks from probable defeat, I clearly understand. Even if the target would have been me.
We know now that there are some serious issues between Sherman and Crabtree. And we also know now, if we didn’t before, that Sherman is a real heroic American story. He rose from the mean streets of Compton to rise above his circumstances to be a 4.2 grade-point average student in high school and nearly that at Stanford, where as you know it’s about as difficult to get into as square peg in a round hole.
Sherman is no thug. He’s a good guy who is a great defender and a brash talker. Leave him alone. If Peyton and the Broncos defeat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl while taking advantage of Sherman in pass coverage, it still does not matter. He’s a good guy who we all should be proud to watch play, and talk.
I do, however, worry where our society is going with social networking. There are obvious good points about these social networks – you can keep track of close friends and family on an instant basis and that is not bad.
But, for me, it raises the specter of large companies and governments using them to find out who we are, what we are up to, and most disturbing where we live. If you want to be private in today’s world, don’t own a computer or any smart phone or electronic gadget.
And for people who willingly give out their phone numbers (like our teenage daughter), the danger rises that some actual thug will arrive and do more than verbally go off in a wild rant.
We are evolving rapidly in a lot of areas. Think back 20 years and look how we gathered our news and you will understand how fast we are moving. So where are we headed? And how dangerous will it be when we get there?
Will we have implanted chips in our forehead that will allow us to communicate with each other without hauling around a small smart phone? See the movie “Her” to see a possible glance of the future.
If that happens, will that be good or bad? Will the government be able to control you with those chips? I don’t know, but the faster our ability to communicate around the world brings us all closer together, and if one despot can control the information we are fed, think of how many people can be virtually enslaved.
Maybe I’m making too much of all this rapid information. But maybe not.
The good thing, in my view, is that I won’t be around to find out if we are headed for good or for evil. All I know for sure now is that you need to be careful what you say and what you do because there are millions of ears and eyes watching you.
As Richard Sherman discovered.