Eichel Controversial Teenage Tweet

[WildCard]

People dragging through the weeds to find this tweet from a 14 year old Jack where he uses the word 'f-a-g'

Edit: fck this filter

https://www.outsports.com/2018/11/8/18038718/buffalo-sabres-jack-eichel-gay-tweet

Edited November 8, 2018 by WildCard

[That Aud Smell]

1 minute ago, WildCard said:

People dragging through the weeds to find this tweet from a 14 year old Jack where he uses the word 'f-a-g'

Edit: fck this filter

https://www.outsports.com/2018/11/8/18038718/buffalo-sabres-jack-eichel-gay-tweet

It's a subject worthy of conversation. And it's a banner idea to eliminate the use of hurtful, hateful slurs.

As far as Eichel goes, though, I see it pretty much as a non-story.

It also amazes me that wealthy athletes don't all have PR flacks who sanitize their social media histories.

[shrader]

Comparing how often that word was used when I was 14 to 16 years later when he used it, I'd say things have definitely been moving in the right direction.  So if they're talking about a change in culture, it's been in motion for a long time now.

[That Aud Smell]

And if I may: The Tweet isn't controversial. Like, it would have been controversial if, say, Eichel at age 14 had Tweeted "yo, obama's record with drone killings is worse than bush the second!!!"

This Tweet was -- what? I'll go with bigoted.

[WildCard]

2 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

It's a subject worthy of conversation. And it's a banner idea to eliminate the use of hurtful, hateful slurs.

As far as Eichel goes, though, I see it pretty much as a non-story.

It also amazes me that wealthy athletes don't all have PR flacks who sanitize their social media histories.

Same. It also amazes me that some 'journalist' takes the time to dig up some 14 year old's tweets. You have nothing better to do? That's absurd

Just now, That Aud Smell said:

And if I may: The Tweet isn't controversial. Like, it would have been controversial if, say, Eichel at age 14 had Tweeted "yo, obama's record with drone killings is worse than bush the second!!!"

This Tweet was -- what? I'll go with bigoted.

People generally disagree with using that word. It's controversial 

[darksabre]

15 minutes ago, WildCard said:

People dragging through the weeds to find this tweet from a 14 year old Jack where he uses the word 'f-a-g'

Edit: fck this filter

https://www.outsports.com/2018/11/8/18038718/buffalo-sabres-jack-eichel-gay-tweet

He's from Massachusetts. Using that word is genetic. 

[Randall Flagg]

I haven't heard that word said out loud since I graduated high school and the world is better for it.

[Stoner]

Words can be co-opted, of course. "Gay" at some point came to mean "stupid." Atrocious enough, but not a literal slur against someone's identity. "This homework is gay." I wonder if  the f-word in question can be thought of in that way. Was Eichel then or is he now anti-gay or homophobic? Who knows?

I hope the effort behind the scenes here is to try and start a conversation and change a culture in sports, and not to try and pin an adult professional athlete against the wall for something he tweeted at 14.

[darksabre]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

Words can be co-opted, of course. "Gay" at some point came to mean "stupid." Atrocious enough, but not a literal slur against someone's identity. "This homework is gay." I wonder if  the f-word in question can be thought of in that way. Was Eichel then or is he now anti-gay or homophobic? Who knows?

I hope the effort behind the scenes here is to try and start a conversation and change a culture in sports, and not to try and pin an adult professional athlete against the wall for something he tweeted at 14.

It didn't really though. Calling someone/something gay with the intention of it being an insult is absolutely a slur. In your example, calling the homework gay isn't calling the homework stupid, it's calling gay people stupid. The homework is just the vessel for the slur, not the target. 

[Stoner]

Quote

A teenage Eichel, before he became a star in the NHL, used gay slurs so much that they bled onto his public Twitter feed.

This part of the story confused me. What evidence does the author have of this?

[josie]

Unless he was talking about a bundle of wood or brit slang for a cigarette, stupid teenage words. Wrong then, wrong now, but yeah... this is milkshake ducking to a stupid level. I think the gen after mine is using this sh!t less and less, but at least as far as Eichel's age group is concerned, screaming gay, f*g, tranny, and other slurs was brainlessly constant and expected, especially in online video game sessions. Admittedly, the dudes I know who said that crap all the time were usually idiots, but... 

Now if he had just recently tweeted that, I'd have some things to say. 

 

(for those going "milkshake duck? whaa?": Milkshake Duck: internet slang for a good thing (that usually goes viral or is super popular) that turns out to have some skeletons in its closet. Example (fictional, mind you): Video of cute duck drinking milkshake goes viral. You find out the duck is/was a racist. Duck cancelled, internet explodes.)

Edited November 8, 2018 by josie

[darksabre]

Just now, josie said:

Unless he was talking about a bundle of wood or brit slang for a cigarette, stupid teenage words. Wrong then, wrong now, but yeah... this is milkshake ducking to a stupid level. I think the gen after mine is using this sh!t less and less, but at least as far as Eichel's age group is concerned, screaming gay, f*g, tranny, and other slurs was brainlessly constant and expected, especially in online video game sessions. Admittedly, the dudes I know who said that crap all the time were usually idiots, but... 

Now if he had just recently tweeted that, I'd have some things to say. 

 

(for those going "milkshake duck? whaa?": Milkshake Duck: internet slang for a good thing (that usually goes viral or is super popular) that turns out to have some skeletons in its closet. Example (fictional, mind you): Video of cute duck drinking milkshake goes viral. You find out the duck is/was a racist. Duck cancelled, internet explodes.)

I mean, Jack might be an idiot. He's probably an idiot. 

[Stoner]

3 minutes ago, darksabre said:

It didn't really though. Calling someone/something gay with the intention of it being an insult is absolutely a slur. In your example, calling the homework gay isn't calling the homework stupid, it's calling gay people stupid. The homework is just the vessel for the slur, not the target. 

Fair enough, and I agree. I think that's why I slipped the word "literal" in there. I don't think a 13-year-old calling her homework "gay" is intending to slur someone's sexual identity.

[Eleven]

The most important two sentences in the article:

"Eichel didn’t come up with that tweet in a vacuum. He learned it."

[darksabre]

Just now, PASabreFan said:

Fair enough, and I agree. I think that's why I slipped the word "literal" in there. I don't think a 13-year-old calling her homework "gay" is intending to slur someone's sexual identity.

This is probably accurate. But that's because most people weren't raised to respect gay people. 

[josie]

1 minute ago, darksabre said:

I mean, Jack might be an idiot. He's probably an idiot. 

Yeah, I wasn't gonna keep going and say "they were usually gamer idiots or meathead jocks" but... well, I just did. He's def. got that "i'm a bada$$" party boy swagger thing. Seems to behave himself mostly, but I'm wary of him. I guess as I am of any super talented young rich dude learning their limits with fun, money, and booze. 

 

Let's hope he's learned and is becoming a fine young man haha 

[darksabre]

1 minute ago, josie said:

Yeah, I wasn't gonna keep going and say "they were usually gamer idiots or meathead jocks" but... well, I just did. He's def. got that "i'm a bada$$" party boy swagger thing. Seems to behave himself mostly, but I'm wary of him. I guess as I am of any super talented young rich dude learning their limits with fun, money, and booze. 

 

Let's hope he's learned and is becoming a fine young man haha 

That's asking a lot of athletes who basically exist to party and bullsh*t and party and bullsh*t. 

[Randall Flagg]

I'm so angry about unfair, broad, sweeping generalizations and their negative effects that I'm going to make broad, sweeping generalizations and assume this individual that falls under the group retains those characteristics 

[R_Dudley]

11 minutes ago, darksabre said:

That's asking a lot of athletes who basically exist to party and bullsh*t and party and bullsh*t. 

And I hope also workout, or he won't be a super star athlete past his current contract..

[ubkev]

2 minutes ago, darksabre said:

This is probably accurate. But that's because most people weren't raised to respect gay people. 

I agree with PA's post, and I definitely agree with this post. Only speaking for my upbringing and my friends upbringings. I remember hearing how adults would whisper about gay people when I was a kid. I remember my grandparents doing it. I remember my parents doing it. But thankfully I also remember when my parents thoughts on the subject began to change. 

My kid is 14 now. I'm fairly certain everything he says has as little thought behind it as everything I said at 14. But ya know what, he hates that word and it makes me happy. If I do little else as a parent, I'm gonna make that kid more tolerable of everyone else around him than I was.

 

As an aside: with the word being brought up and Jack being from Boston, I now can't get the Bill Burr "what are you, a f-a-g?" bit of stand-up out of my head.

[josie]

1 minute ago, Randall Flagg said:

I'm so angry about unfair, broad, sweeping generalizations and their negative effects that I'm going to make broad, sweeping generalizations and assume this individual that falls under the group retains those characteristics 

I mean, there's a fair bit of evidence that he at least used to be quite the party animal. And this tweet concerns him before now. Don't know what he's like now. Jack hasn't done anything to further that reputation in awhile. Which is great! He's young, fielding plenty of responsibility and temptations, he's handling the pressures pretty well, so kudos to him. I chock up this whole thread to criticizing those previous actions as a younger dude who apparently acted like an idiot from time to time. Because most people acted like an idiot at some point. Athletes as a whole definitely are known to party, partying often leading to questionable stuff. Maybe not quite like they used to (thinking of stories in Derek Sanderson's autobiography, holy crap 1970s), but it's naive to say they don't! That logical thread, flawed though it may be when applied to specific cases, is the same thread used by folk to defend the athletes when bad sh!t does come up. It's holding Eichel's feet a bit close to the coals to eviscerate him on this specific thing- and I think most people see that because he has been so well behaved. The whole thing's mostly a non issue, but check it out, we're all arguing because that's what we do here. 

 

Also,  I feel like there's a pretty wide gap between using slurs about someone's romantic and sexual leanings (something they can't really help) and calling a group of people who use said slurs and generally comport themselves in a raucous manner  which they can absolutely control idiots.

Or i missed the point and you're mad at dark. Also possible. 

I have a slow day at work, can you tell? 

[WildCard]

6 minutes ago, ubkev said:

As an aside: with the word being brought up and Jack being from Boston, I now can't get the Bill Burr "what are you, a f-a-g?" bit of stand-up out of my head.

This was the first thing I thought of. Still love that bit

[R_Dudley]

5 minutes ago, ubkev said:

I agree with PA's post, and I definitely agree with this post. Only speaking for my upbringing and my friends upbringings. I remember hearing how adults would whisper about gay people when I was a kid. I remember my grandparents doing it. I remember my parents doing it. But thankfully I also remember when my parents thoughts on the subject began to change. 

My kid is 14 now. I'm fairly certain everything he says has as little thought behind it as everything I said at 14. But ya know what, he hates that word and it makes me happy. If I do little else as a parent, I'm gonna make that kid more tolerable of everyone else around him than I was.

 

As an aside: with the word being brought up and Jack being from Boston, I now can't get the Bill Burr "what are you, a f-a-g?" bit of stand-up out of my head.

Preach it brother, well said.

I have teenage kids one still in HS(Junior) and one just graduated last year my oldest boy... Home from work last year around the dinner table I said  to my oldest boy, something I had been saying for years. "How was you day Son."

He said " dad you just insulted me " you just assumed my gender.   

Things are changing faster than ever....  

[ubkev]

4 minutes ago, WildCard said:

This was the first thing I thought of. Still love that bit

It's a funny social commentary on what is now known as toxic masculinity, and was then known as growing up in the Northeast.

[WildCard]

Just now, ubkev said:

It's a funny social commentary on what is now known as toxic masculinity, and was then known as growing up in the Northeast.

Eh I still give my friends sht. We always joke that if we don't make fun of you then you know we're not actually friends