Last week, an audio tape of a conversation between Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his half-black and half-Mexican girlfriend, V. Stiviano, was released to the media. Since then, Sterling has been called a racist, but the tape seems to primarily be about issues with his girlfriend rather than political discourse regarding minorities.
In a world of political correctness and racial sensitivity, Sterling has been lambasted by his employees, players, commentators and fans. Although he was secretly taped by a “girlfriend from hell” who is young enough to be his granddaughter and is obviously a person that is seeking more than love (she has been given a Ferrari, two Bentleys and a $1.4 million apartment in a voluntary exchange), the question that has to be asked is: is Sterling a racist? If so, who cares?
Let’s take a look at some of the facts here:
– Has not used force against his players or staff
– Pays the Clippers NBA team (a team full of black people) $72 million
– Ignores his own prejudices to pay “minorities” a substantial annual salary
If Sterling is a racist then the world needs more like him considering that he creates jobs, pays a group people he supposedly doesn’t like millions of dollars a year (this basketball players the one percent, right?) and does not violate the non-aggression principle (NAP). If he was indeed a genuine racist then he would only employ white and/or Jewish people on his team, like Woody Allen or Mel Brooks, rather than the very talented Blake Griffin (mixed), Chris Paul and DeAndre Johnson.
Another important point to make is that free market exchanges are crucially significant. Each day, we make exchanges with all different races and members of religions, whether it’s at the grocery store, the gas station, the coffee shop or the movie theater, and we the customers have no idea what each person’s viewpoints are on Caucasians and blacks, libertarians and socialists. Does it matter at all? Nope. The market exchange is what’s important.
There will always be people who detest Cossacks and Jews, Italians and Protestants. If they consume their entire lives hating these individuals then it’s likely the average person won’t want to be in their company. Also, it would be quite a waste of time to spend every waking hour seeking out prejudiced persons.
Let’s face it: we discriminate all day, every day for a variety of reasons. We form our own groups filled with individuals we have a connection with and share the same beliefs and values. We discriminate at our jobs and in our personal lives: men and women will only date attractive people, a business will give a man with a wife and kids a promotion and a landlord will only give an apartment to a single man with a cat. Discrimination is a fact of life and it’s not a big deal whatsoever. Not everyone will love others. The only thing that matters is that people don’t use force for their hatred.
If the NBA team is so enraged by Sterling’s comments in the secretly recorded conversation then why not skip a playoff game and forgo the hefty paychecks? What about donating their entire salaries to non-profit organizations dealing with racial education? It’s simple: it’s all about the Benjamins.
Here’s a fact that is rather apparent, and can be found in the case of Sterling: if a business, charity or sports franchise wants to succeed then it can’t be racist, discriminatory and hateful. Sterling hired some of the most talented players in the NBA who happen to be black and paid them a large sum of money and now the team is in the NBA playoffs.
The free market will always outweigh racial and religious discrimination.
“Capitalism knows only one color: that color is green; all else is necessarily subservient to it, hence, race, gender and ethnicity cannot be considered within it.” – Thomas Sowell
Leave a Comment