Educators like myself have a weakness. We always feel like we can help a person learn no matter how dense and no matter how many times they demonstrate the incapacity to learn. It's still summer break and I am feeling charitable today, so I am falling victim to this weakness with EOL.
For the past year, in post after post, EOL demonstrates that he/she just hasn't learned the skills of analytical and logical reasoning. It's too bad really because he writes pretty well. So, kudos to his grammar teachers. But something happened during those reasoning lessons. Not sure. It's possible that just might be a weakness. We all have them as referenced above. Or, maybe he's still in high school and hasn't got there yet?
Alas, I will try to help him learn one last time with his latest example:
EOL flawed argument #1: Jackie Robinson jerseys a parallel to rainbow jerseys.
The simple mind thinks, oh, MLB had everyone wear jerseys different than their customary duds, so that is the same as USWNT mandating players wear rainbow numbers. And they both involve numbers, so that's a good argument. And they both involve classes of people who have been/are discriminated against.
Well, no. A deeper understanding of analysis and logic demonstrates that these two scenarios are apples and oranges. For one, JR was a baseball player. MLB is the league he played in. MLB at the time he played did not allow black players (not only African Americans). Therefore, JR became the first black baseball player in MLB. I could go on...but MLB is celebrating one of its own players, for a historical event that actually happened, and collaterally implies that it should have never happened. It's not just a jersey day but all MLB ballparks have a #42 in the outfield and I believe no player can wear the number on any team beyond that day. That is a message, not a movement. If USWNT wants all players to wear #20 because of barriers that Abby Wambach broke as a gay player, then you have apples to apples. Make sense? That wouldn't happen of course because AW in no way can be compared to JR. Last, one of the biggest flaws of making that comparison is that MLB is a private league. They are free to do whatever they want as long as it is legal. USWNT is not the NWSL nor the Portland Thorns. USA Baseball is not the one issuing the #42 mandate for its players. If they did, then the argument would be more relevant.
That's my last lesson for this student. "Can lead a horse to water..." With that, I will retire to my preferred summer drink of Molson in the backyard shade. Enjoy the day everyone!