Fundamental Contradiction of Tanning

Gotham Glow Owner and CEO Tamar Vezirian discusses spray tanning for the Oscars:  I'm like a tanning ninja!

In some segments of society, those with dark skin, or at least darker than usual skin, are often targets of discrimination.  Yet, in other segments, people go to such lengths to get a tan - via sunbathing or Vezirian's spray tanning.  Darker skin somehow looks fit and healthy, maybe glamorous and wealthy as well.

Go figure.

To understand people, we must acknowledge these fundamental contradictions and account for them in our explanations of how they think, feel and behave.  It is part of what I call The Human Algorithm.

Social Reality of Michael Sam

Michael Sam

Sam and his teammates at the University of Missouri showed with their 12-2 season that gay players not only aren’t a problem, they can be vital contributors and role models. It’s allowing intolerant behavior like throwing around gay slurs that truly “chemically imbalances” a team.

It’s funny how these anonymous executives paint the picture of NFL teams as so fragile that the addition of one openly gay player could throw the whole organization into chaos. Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper was videotaped saying the N-word last offseason, and went on to be a key cog in the team’s surprise NFC East division championship. The Miami Dolphins were embroiled in a hazing scandal between linemen Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin. The team managed to come one victory from the playoffs. The New England Patriots lost tight end Aaron Herndandez to a MURDER TRIAL and still made AFC Championship Game. Locker room distractions are overblown. If the Eagles and Dolphins could survive despite those scandals, teams shouldn’t have any problem rallying around a positive story like Michael Sam’s.

Reference: Hey NFL, Your Anti-Gay Hypocrisy Is Showing.

Forbes posted this article on their Google+ page, and writer Brian Solomon offers well-argued comebacks to clear prejudice among NFL personnel about Michael Sam.  But commentary among us `plussers, including mine (italicized below), was moving in a different direction:

Can he play the game? Yes. Can he perform the duties required of him on and off the field? Yes. Do his attractions matter to anyone? No. What's the problem?

Am I already tired of hearing about it? YES 

Chris as a football player and person I believe you're right. Pretty soon I'm gonna have to come out and say I'm straight. Hope that works out for him.

It's the story sportswriters have been itching for since Jason Collins broke. People are people. Can we just enjoy the game without WWE-like story lines all of the time. I thought the XFL folded in the 90s?

I very much agree with you. But in our social reality, our sexual preferences do matter. I'm not just referring to anti-gay sentiments. Rather, there is such history of prejudice and discrimination that we must bring certain issues to national awareness and government policy, in order to defuse, manage, and resolve them.

A caller to ESPN 1000 radio said he was frustrated, and felt Michael Sam's openness should not even be a worthwhile topic for sports talk. He's a football player, so let's just talk football. Personally that's what I'm interested in. But, again, like it or not, being "an openly, proud gay man" is an issue.

It's only an issue because the media makes it one. Just like when they use the racist card. 

The media does stir things up, and even shape people's opinions. But it probably works vice versa, too. That is, people also influence what the media covers. If people want to talk about something, then media will give them a place to talk about it. 

*

The Theory of Algorithms is about taking reality as it is and things as they are.  What I refer to as our social reality is part and parcel of another integral section in my conceptual framework:  The Human Algorithm.  People are people, and they are the way they are.  

In Michael Sam's situation, I encourage us to seek first to understand others - the way they are - before we push to be heard and understood (rf. Stephen Covey).