Time: Hank Aaron would’ve faced more racism today because Twitter

Time: Hank Aaron would’ve faced more racism today because Twitter. “Aaron got off easy four decades ago, long before social media dominated every facet of our lives.” Time makes one long for the insightfulness and intellectual integrity of Newsweek. Er, make that Mad Magazine.

This post was last modified on April 10, 2021

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View Comments (14)

  • 1. He didn't got off "easy" that is a BS and stupid ass statement. Men back then were still being hanged or shot or violated for being Black, or else they were threatened by the KKK or put in prison by state authorities for no reason whatsoever. He was in real danger of his life.

    2. "More" Racism is not possible when back then racism was essentially institutionalized and promoted by many governmental entities beyond the cultural entities. Racism of that caliber no longer exists in this country. Racism is now strictly a personal belief system as it should be and people who engage in racism IN PRACTICE through violent means are HEAVILY punished and at the very least even spoken or practiced racism through non-violent means is heavily discouraged and punished in the court of public opinion.

    3. Why are we talking about this sh*t? I am tired of the race sh*t... This is not important we have a hell of a lot of crap happening in the world. Talking about how someone would suffer from racism through social media is BS.

    4. Since racism is a strictly personal belief system as it should be, what are we supposed to do? Make some laws punishing people from feeling or thinking or even speaking racist thoughts when they have no intention of entering into the practice of racism (through violent nor non-violent means)? What is the POINT? There is always some sinister crap behind stuff like this. We have freedom of thought and speech and feelings and emotions and philosophies in this country. As a country we cannot regulate those through laws. Which is what I THINK ppl that write this crap really want. Create laws to prevent thought that is disliked. I don't have to like what a racist has to say, so I either leave or ask the private business to hear me out and choose which person stays. Running to the government like a idiot in order to prevent the person from being a racist when all they do is think and speak is wrong and counter productive. I am biased about a lot of stuff and there is a hell of a lot of people (and their behaviors) I don't like and many can argue that it is based on things that they have no control over. I need to handle that myself, or else get the community involved, the government has no place in that UNLESS the situation gets violent and there is true breaking of laws.

  • ...and in other news today I put one sock on the left foot and the other on the right foot.

  • And if the queen had balls, she'd be king.

    So what's the point?

    I thought Newsweek was in the business of news (as thier name might suggest). This is speculation. It's pointless.

  • Hammerin' Hank broke the record a few months before I turned 15, and all I can remember is the anticipation of it all, and the exhilaration and excitement of when he did it. Funny thing is, I don't remember any issue of race, and at the time, there were plenty of racial tensions in my school.

    • The biggest issue at the time was that Ted Turner, who owned the Braves in those days, wanted to the mgr hold Aaron out of the lineup for the first few road games in Cincinnati because he wanted the record to be broken at home in Atlanta, if at all possible. The commissioner at the time, Bowie Kuhn I think, balked at that, saying that the integrity of the game demanded you put your best team on the line when the pennant was at stake.

      Although an adult by then, I followed baseball pretty closely in those days and never heard much about the hate mail Aaron got until after the fact. I guess reporters (not journOlists) back then felt it wasn't necessary to blow the ramblings of a few idiots out of proportion for fun and political profit.

      • Too bad they now think it's required reporting. The bigger the deal they can make of it, the better.

  • He received a lot of hate mail as he progressed toward breaking Ruth's record but as I recall we didn't know until after the fact. I was 12 that year and I remember cheering for Aaron and even set up a tape recorder by the TV so I could record his at bats when he was stuck on 713. Imagine that? A white suburban kid cheering on a blsck man from Mobile. What would the race whores say about that?

    • I was 11 and always felt the same way Kick until I just saw this. Don't click through or read any farther if you want to keep the childhood memories just the way they are.

      http://tinyurl.com/lu3agby

      (just peachy when a childhood hero in Atlanta compares me by proxy to the robed ones)

  • Arron would have faced more racism thanks to the professional race baiters like the SPLC and Al the Snitch. But lets use racism as an excuse to censor social media, it would be for the children.

  • Or maybe because, back then, we didn't have such a cottage industry around race-baiting and there wasn't such an enormous profit to be had in keeping racial tensions boiling.

    Back then, the logic was that we should all be color blind and just get on with life treating everyone the same.

    Then some accountant figured out that this logic would actually work, and there would be millions of dollars lost.

    • Indeed... additionally there's maybe more to be profited politically. Let's not forget Time's role in blowing the Zimmerman - Martin incident into a national commodity for the demagogues- so they're hardly an uninvolved spectator/reporter of all this- more a dirty hands participant; it would be the likes of Time Ragazine that would be inciteful (not insightful)- assuring that there'd have been plenty of racism for Aaron to face.