It always makes me laugh when people say that because someone is great at something that they should automatically be socially conscious or have a superb moral compass.
It seems to me that some athletes have the perfect stage from which to shine a light on social issues. I am not saying that they should. Indeed, Tiger Woods is probably capable of bringing about enormous social change, but he has chosen not to. That's fine and it's entirely within his rights as a human to choose that path.
The purpose of the original post was not to say that Beard should take a stand on animal rights...rather it was to say that if Beard wanted to take a stand on animal rights, then the poster (the person doing the posting, not the large, shiny poster of Amanda Beard) was fine with it and he wished that more athletes would take stands.
I for one, don't know her motivations, but I'm not willing to just assume what they are. There are few athletes that I look to for social inspiration and none in the very recent past. Beard certainly does nothing to change that. It's a very personal choice for an athlete to risk being shunned by taking a stand at the moment of their crowning achievement. I saw the special about Tommy Smith and John Carlos on the ESPYs and it changed my perspective entirely on their actions.
It always makes me laugh when people say that because someone is great at something that they should automatically be socially conscious or have a superb moral compass.
It seems to me that some athletes have the perfect stage from which to shine a light on social issues. I am not saying that they should. Indeed, Tiger Woods is probably capable of bringing about enormous social change, but he has chosen not to. That's fine and it's entirely within his rights as a human to choose that path.
The purpose of the original post was not to say that Beard should take a stand on animal rights...rather it was to say that if Beard wanted to take a stand on animal rights, then the poster (the person doing the posting, not the large, shiny poster of Amanda Beard) was fine with it and he wished that more athletes would take stands.
I for one, don't know her motivations, but I'm not willing to just assume what they are. There are few athletes that I look to for social inspiration and none in the very recent past. Beard certainly does nothing to change that. It's a very personal choice for an athlete to risk being shunned by taking a stand at the moment of their crowning achievement. I saw the special about Tommy Smith and John Carlos on the ESPYs and it changed my perspective entirely on their actions.
