A New Mental Disability: Political Incorrectness

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Feb 28, 2000 | by Herbert London

John Rocker, the now-notorious relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, was suspended from spring training and the first month of the baseball season and fined $20,000 for remarks he made last year in a Sports Illustrated article about foreigners, homosexuals and minorities (see "Overdefensive of Offensive Speech? p. 32). The suspension was the call of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who previously had ordered Rocker to see a psychiatrist because of his incendiary and clearly impolitic remarks about New Yorkers.

True, the Rocker statements are uncalled for, repugnant and impossible to

countenance. However, the consensus among psychologists is that racism and bigotry are not in themselves mental illnesses. According to the players' union contract, Rocker could refuse treatment; however the act of refusal might lead to additional punishment by the commissioner.

Counseling for players involved in criminal behavior such as rape and assault is not new. What sets the Rocker case apart is that he is obliged to undergo psychological testing for his remarks. If every stupid comment made by an athlete led to psychiatric counseling, there are many candidates for treatment.

* Dennis Rodman, that avatar of religious tolerance, made statements about Mormons that had everyone in the National Basketball Association, or NBA, ducking for cover. While officials chastised Rodman, he wasn't asked to see a psychiatrist.

* Charles Barkley, formerly with the Houston Rockets, spat at fans and employed colorful invective, including explicit racist remarks, but at no time was he remanded to a psychiatrist's office.

* Roberto Alomar, the second baseman for the Cleveland Indians, spat at an umpire while employing language that would make sailors blush. He was fined for the incident but was not required to seek psychiatric counseling.

* Latrell Sprewell, now with the New York Knicks and formerly with the Golden State Warriors, choked his coach and was suspended from basketball, but at no point was he humiliated into seeking psychological assistance.

Why then has Rocker been singled out? Well, for one thing baseball wants to maintain an image different from professional wrestling, where virtually anything goes for promotional purposes including especially tasteless commentary.

Second, there is a double standard. A white baseball player from a team in the deep South is treated differently from a Latino player in a Midwestern city. One might assume that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. But that certainly is not the case in sports.

It may not be the case in politics either. Is it conceivable that any white politician can use the expression "Hymietown" and still be considered a legitimate figure in national life? How then does one explain the Jesse Jackson phenomenon except as a concession to his race?

I suspect that Rocker isn't a particularly sophisticated young man. I suspect as well that he gets pumped up when fans are shouting obscenities at him ("Rocker against the world"). But however unfortunate his remarks may be, why should they be the source of therapeutic steps?

Have we reached the politically correct stage where offensive words -- selectively demonized -- are used to make judgments about mental stability? Where is the American Civil Liberties Union in this discussion? Or is that organization so politically compromised it won't defend free speech when it is stupid speech?

Let me reiterate my point which should be patently clear: I am not defending Rocker's inflammatory remarks. I am simply asking why he is singled out when there are so many egregious examples of sports figures who have made stupid statements or engaged in outrageous acts.

Political correctness is emerging as an orthodoxy that cannot be challenged on any front. Moreover, those who do so out of ignorance, inadvertence or sheer rebelliousness will be humiliated or punished in some fashion.

The press has become the nation's Red Guard. Is it too far-fetched to suggest that at some point the John Rockers of the world will be obliged to wear pointy hats and publicly apologize day after day for their indiscretions?

What have we come to when ignorance is confused with sin and youthful irreverence becomes a public crime?

Herbert London is president of the Hudson Institute and is the John M. Olin professor of humanities at New York University.