Kobe Bryant, an icon and superstar idolized by millions in the golden view of American sports. The family man that loved to inspire on and off the court. His death was something that made his status as a hero turn into more of a legend, with billions across the world etching his name into their hearts and minds in this glory filled perspective. Yet other perspectives that are overthrown by his alleged “greatness,” remain present. The past of those great people never escape their trails to stardom, and at times can taint the legacy. His negligence, his arrogance, his malicious disregard, these are not what highlights his career and what people remember him by. The story of how he raped and violated a woman, facing these charges, only for her to be scrutinized for years, and for the case to drop to not ruin ‘the moment.’ This feeds into the disgusting mentality which disregards women for the sole purpose of allowing for a mans career to stay in tact. This prioritization and visceral culture which idolizes and creates legacies out of extremely flawed humans, that sometimes are even more evil than us is self destructive.
It puts us at a point of self reflection. We idolized this man who pushed the limits of basketball, and loved his daughters more than anything. Advertised to the world as an amazing father and advocate for woman, yet he himself hurt a woman. He tries to run from his disgustingly harmful past self, yet in doing so disregards the life which he ruined in the first place, all for a career. We prioritize careers, reputations and image over lives, and the legacies of our ideals show this incoherence.
Hey man! This is a great point and I feel as if our thoughts are synthesized on this particular post. The death of Bryant does in fact represent a conflict between black resistance and feminist thinking, which is unfortunate as both lines of thinking are highly positive. My argument, and I’m sure you would agree, is that there are not enough black icons to replace Kobe. In this sense, it becomes much harder to enact cancel culture, and to let go of Kobe, when sources of inspiration are far and few for disadvantaged, non-white youths. This really does put us at point of self reflection, and I’m so happy that you understand that not only was Bryant grossly wrong in his actions, but that cancel culture is also hard, and that the loss of Kobe is not as simple as we often make it. Great work man 🙂
I think the phrase “never meet your idol” embodies the whole of Bryant’s past wrongdoings. For those disadvantaged, non-white youths, they should still look up towards Kobe as a source of inspiration. What he has accomplished in basketball is nothing short of a legend. They just need to aware of his faults and that he isn’t a messiah.