Yesterday, NBA star and unabashed critic of the CCP Enes Kanter Freedom tweeted at Jeremy Lin, who currently plays for the Chinese Basketball Association’s Beijing Ducks. Spoiler: Freedom is not supportive of Lin’s athletic life choice:
Shame on you @JLin7
Haven’t you had enough of that Dirty Chinese Communist Party money feeding you to stay silent?
How disgusting of you to turn your back against your country & your people.
Stand with Taiwan!
Stop bowing to money & the Dictatorship.Morals over Money brother
— Enes FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) December 5, 2021
Lin is Taiwanese American, and given the Chinese government’s approach to Taiwan, it’s not unreasonable for Freedom to wonder what Lin is thinking.
Unless you’re someone like The Nation sports editor Dave Zirin, who not only finds Freedom’s remarks unreasonable, but downright inflammatory and hateful:
Enes now sounds like he’s trying to organize a hate crime. He’s feeding anti-Asian hysteria and has crossed one hell of a line with this tweet. No wonder Tucker Carlson loves him. Nauseating. https://t.co/g3YiAc1Ok3
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) December 5, 2021
Trying to organize a hate crime? For calling out Jeremy Lin for voluntarily playing for the Chinese Basketball Association? For calling out Jeremy Lin for putting money over morals?
Sorry, Dave, but we’re not seeing the hate crime. Maybe you can explain it to us.
Or maybe not:
I’ve been a critic of China – and Nike – for my entire professional life. But if you want to organize to fight for worker’s rights and against their authoritarian policies, this is NOT how you do it.
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) December 5, 2021
If you want to read more about this… https://t.co/lddRExzH5J
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) December 5, 2021
Honestly, we’d rather just listen to Enes Kanter Freedom. He may not be a sports editor for some fancy-pants progressive magazine, but he understands that the Chinese government is unequivocally evil and that choosing to support such evil is also evil.
Which bit of @EnesFreedom post constitutes "anti-Asian hysteria"?
A – Dissing the loathsome Chinese Communist Party
B – Advocating for Taiwanese sovereignty (and against CCP aggression)
C – Blanket condemnation of dictatorship
D – Nothing — Dave is being absurd(Hint: It’s D.) https://t.co/BF5BuCE1bf
— Kmele 🖐 (@kmele) December 5, 2021
Let's follow the "organize a hate crime" logic here:
1. Enes calls out professional athlete for working with China who employs cheap slave labor to mass produce retail product
2. A racist criminal watches CNN news and sees this. Gets mad. Goes outside. Commits race crimez https://t.co/5bdK7k3ufa
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/Chet_Cannon/status/1467804285199024134
Pro-Taiwan is Anti-Asian.
Politics for the hard-of-thinking. https://t.co/aiCUCSsXd6
— Daddy Warpig (@DaddyWarpig) December 6, 2021
Glib and willfully obtuse. Conflating criticism of a Communist state (and those protecting them) with being anti Asian or firing up a hate crime is empty headed and lazy. https://t.co/AddsAoGQNt
— SMichelle☕ (@SMichelle1978) December 6, 2021
And racist. It’s incredibly racist of Dave.
So you associate the Chinese Communist Party’s oppressions with “Asians”. Interesting.
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) December 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/JustinPasciak/status/1467742669036265473
If you think "dirty Chinese Communist Party money" is anti-Asian hate speech, you're the problem. https://t.co/fbx6FaT066
— Greenbrier (@greenbrier_n) December 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/AdamMathisFL/status/1467743821085777926
This is off-his-meds-level stuff, even for this moonbat. https://t.co/XWgvZE1kTV
— Jon Lustig (@jonlustig) December 6, 2021
Dave Zirin is at best — at best — envious that he doesn’t have the balls it takes to be an NBA star speaking out against the Chinese regime. And at worst, he’s just an intellectually dishonest piece of garbage.
"i've been a critic of china … for my entire professional life"
cc @redsteezehttps://t.co/7Fv8PVEuAZ pic.twitter.com/J1UtLOvVbD
— Brian Anderson (@AZBrianAnderson) December 6, 2021
Yeah, he’s been a critic of China for his entire professional life.
Whatever you say, Dave.
Dave, do you believe Taiwan is a country? https://t.co/5bdK7k3ufa
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 6, 2021
Dave please answer @redsteeze ? Do you think Taiwan is a country?
— CrashTestDummy (@whitesand823) December 6, 2021
He’ll never answer that question. Or these ones:
Probably easier and faster to name the things that aren’t wrong with him.
https://twitter.com/dutchindian/status/1467703009618673667
https://twitter.com/AdamMathisFL/status/1467743490822053888
We can’t. Because we’re not insane.
This is exactly how you do it. https://t.co/ETZ9h21kuK
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 6, 2021
In a world of Dave Zirins and Enes Kanter Freedoms, be an Enes Kanter Freedom. Because Dave Zirin can suck it.
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