On Forcing Enemies to Fake Their Beliefs

Why does the sports media want Tampa Bay Rays players to pretend they're supportive of Pride?

Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

I’m not saying that an Around the Horn segment where ESPN’s Sarah Spain was especially grating is the skeleton key to understanding sports and culture, but you could find worse examples. The value of some people’s punditry is less that they say something original and more that they voice unoriginality so baldly, at full volume, allowing observers to pick up a widespread rhythm. In Spain’s case, in this instance, it’s about the moral justification for control of strangers. It’s about how so many in media right now, having lost faith in persuasion, feel obligated to demonize and coerce their perceived social inferiors.