Rashard Mendenhall should just stop tweeting
I’ve come across tweets from professional athletes before where I just shake my head and think to myself, “Does he not know that everyone can read this?” But the string of comments that Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall has left on his Twitter page over the past day about Osama bin Laden’s death take the cake.
What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…
We’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.
Someone must have gotten to Mendenhall because he actually deleted that second tweet. But he continued, sermon-style…
I believe in God. I believe we’re ALL his children. And I believe HE is the ONE and ONLY judge.
Those who judge others, will also be judged themselves.
For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn in hell and piss on his ashes, I ask how would God feel about your heart?
There is not an ignorant bone in my body. I just encourage you to #think
One of the greatest gifts this country has given us is the freedom of speech. Mendenhall has the right to his beliefs but as a fellow American, I have the right to react and voice my opinion about his comments.
I wasn’t interested in hearing bin Laden speak. This is a man that admitted to masterminding and funding the 9/11 plot and not only that, but bragged about it afterward. Thousands of people lost their lives that day and every red-blooded American was affected in some way but that tragedy. I’m saddened by Mendenhall’s comments, which were highly insensitive, especially to those who lost a loved one when the Twin Towers went down.
There will be some (maybe even many) that agree with Mendenhall’s take. That’s fine – they have the right to believe whatever they want, too. But I would once again like to point out that Mendenhall deleted the comment about how “a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style,” so clearly he did not #think when he posted that or else he wouldn’t have quickly removed it.
I don’t know Rashard Mendenhall personally, so I can only comment on his twitter posts, which I think were moronic, ignorant and misinformed. I also think they not only make him look bad, but the entire Pittsburgh Steeler organization and even the University of Illinois, where Mendenhall supposedly received an education. The reality is that he’s probably lost a ton of fan support and whether he cares about that or not, he will feel the effects of his words. Just because we have a tongue and the freedom to use it, doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for what comes out of our mouths.
Update: Mendenhall has posted a clarification which didn’t really clear anything up.
I hate to bust your post, but MLK never said that . . .
That being said, yeah, sounds like the musings of a bored dumb professional athlete on weed.
But then again, the only athlete’s shwitter I follow is Kenny Powers!
Once again a professional athlete shows how oblivious they are about the people that pay to see them play which in turn, pays their salaries. Not only are these public comments inappropriate after what this country still endures (especially those in the military) as a result of what Bin Laden did, they are even more inappropriate coming from a man that plays in Western Pennsylvania, just 1:45 from Shanksville where flight 93 went down.
Anyone who believes the things he wrote on twitter just doesn’t get it. The atrocities committed by Bin Laden and those in his organization are not speculation, they are fact, so nobody is judging him. It’s Mendenhall’s right to not rejoice in Bin Laden’s death, just as it is the right for those who do. But I’m willing to bet if he lost a friend or loved one on 9/11, he would feel completely different than he does today. And that there are others in this country that feel the same as him, is a travesty.
It’s really a sad day when you read something like this. However, it can’t be forgotten that we continue to fight so people can say things like this, as idiotic and misguided as they may be. I know too many people who didn’t come home because of the organization that he lead and orchaestrated, and as pissed off as they’d be about Mendenall’s comments, they’d just nod their heads, smirk, and carry on doing what they do…
@Jester – thank you for the heads up. After a search (yeah, I Google…), you’re right and I’ve removed that comment from my post.
@Jon – I hope everyone reads your comment. For those that don’t know, Jon is one of the many fine members of the United States military that continue to fight for the freedoms that this country was founded on. Thank you, Jon.
[...] the original post here: Rashard Mendenhall should just stop tweeting Rashard Mendenhall Has Created A Stir, Rashard Mendenhall has caused a stir with comments [...]
Update: Mendenhall posted a clarification that didn’t clear anything up:
http://www.scoresreport.com/2011/05/04/rashard-mendenhalls-clarific
ation-doesnt-clear-anything-up/