Consequences Will Be Light For Hader ‘The Hater’

For folks like Josh Hader–a white American male–forgiveness is automatic.

Josh Hader (photo, Daily Wire)

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher, Josh Hader, is an All-Star.

His old tweets began resurfacing as he stood on the field during Tuesday night’s All-Star game. Hader composed those messages when he was in his late teens, around 17-years-old.

And, oh, boy, were those tweets ripe with textbook racism and sexism!

They were so bad that A.J. Perez, USA Today Sports writer, tweeted, “If you’re wondering why Brewers pitcher Josh Hader (@jhader17) just set his Twitter account to private, this could be it.”

First up, are the racist tweets:

“I don’t give a damn, I’m a triply n***er, fuck my lungs, fuck my liver,” and “@epropst2 @c0c0shockz hahahahahah yeah too bad I’m f**king ground n***er can’t do shit.”

Next up is sexism:

“Hoes will be hoes,” and “You know these hoes came to see me the ball.”

Those tweets were the tip of the iceberg.

You’re welcomed to look up the rest on your time. I’m too disgusted to continue reading them.

Past Meets Present

Look. I get it.! Hader was just a teen (as the excuses go). But he was old enough–in 2011 and 2012–to understand the nature of his offensiveness to others and the severe impact (ahem, possible consequences) to his career. He didn’t care.

Hader answering post-game questions (photo, MLB.com)

And is this really about immaturity?

Jon Heyman, a writer at Fancred, looked at it this way: “Hader’s tweets uncovered from his teenaged years were deeply offensives. But at least he stood at his locker and apologized and explained it (after being given the option not to talk tonight), and he seemed to understand what a bad mistake they were.”

Who is Heyman to suggest that Hader “understood” his mistake? Heyman can’t possibly know what was going on in Hader’s mind as the pitcher stood with the press to explain those old tweets.

Here’s what I think.

Hader grew up in the same era as me, where racism is just old, and tired, and wrong. The fact that he didn’t second-guess the public display of his racism–and sexism for that matter–shows how comfortable he stood in his bigotry and demeaning of women.

So I’m curious how Heyman and others, like MLB Player, Jesus Agular, think that Hader ‘is a better man’? Agular writes on Twitter, “First of all I want to show my support to my friend and teammate, Josh Hader. He made a mistake seven years ago. He admitted, he apologized and most important: He learned from it.”

Again, I ask: What of Hader’s character hints at a changed man with a changed heart?

Until recently, most of us weren’t aware of these disgusting tweets. Most of us just thought of Hader as a talented baseball player. Today, some of us are suspect of Hader’s mindset about black people and women.

Yes, I know. We all say stupid things that we later regret. Many of us are too embarrassed to admit when such transgressions come to light.

Sure, Hader is sorry. But sorry for what? Is he sorry that he tweeted those god-awful things? Is he sorry that he got caught?

Lucky Hader will never have to prove which is it. For folks like Hader–a white American male–forgiveness is automatic.

The MLB Reacts

Not too shockingly, the MLB is requiring Hader to attend sensitivity training. Great, MLB! Got to make sure that your establishment doesn’t look like it tolerates hate … unless you’re the NFL or WWE.

Courtesy: Iloveviral.org

Phil Taylor of The Athletic predicts that Hader will face scrutiny on the road from minority groups and others who have no time for bigotry and demeaning women. But when playing at home, Taylor thinks he’s likely to remain popular, even the envy, of the ‘Brew Crew’s’ fanbase. How so? Stats almost always overrule character.

Now, if only Colin Kaepernick played baseball. Maybe he’d still be employed for speaking out against police brutality and taking a knee during the national anthem–in solidarity with all of those unarmed black men and women whose lives were lost to police brutality.

But, wait! Kaepernick is black. Hader is white. Consequences and outrage are almost always unequal.

#ThisIsAmerica