Maybe all cultures do. I don’t know. But I know my culture enshrines its most violent men as heroes even in universities. The hero at the University of Nebraska was and is Richie Incognito. They’re proud to say he chose them and they nurtured him before he went on to his celebrated professional career. Texas A&M, Johnny Manziel. The reigning hero at Florida State University is Jameis Winston.
Icky scary hyped-up babies – the highest-profile, most esteemed, representatives of America’s universities.
But here’s what I love about my country. (I love many things about my country. Here’s one in particular.) It knows it’s ridiculous, and if you push the deification-of-shits thing a little too far, the country will push back.
The idiots at FSU so worship their icks that they don’t understand this. They don’t understand that you need to keep the icky reality of the icks blurry so that America doesn’t have to look at them directly. If you decide to fashion a huge social media campaign around unmediated ick-deification… If you actually solicit questions the American people are panting to ask their baby buddhas about life…
A Florida State social media campaign turned ugly Sunday when the university’s athletic department opened its Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback to nationwide mockery.
The department attempted to engage fans on Twitter by soliciting questions to be used for a video on the team website.
The hashtag “#AskJameis” became a trending topic on Twitter for a time Sunday — for all the wrong reasons.
… The tweets covered a wide range from witty to malicious. Most were aimed at Winston, but others questioned why the university would risk this type of response.
One post read: “Do you know that you have to Buy One to get One Free at Publix [Super Markets]?”
Another read: “Who gave you better protection last year — your offensive line or the TPD?”
TPD is shorthand for the Tallahassee Police Department.
Oh Jameis King of the Library Tell Us! Shed Upon Us Thy Everlasting Light!
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So here’s a helpful hint to the FSU public relations people for next time.
Remember Bagehot on the British royalty.
A secret prerogative is an anomaly — perhaps the greatest of anomalies. That secrecy is, however, essential to the utility of English royalty as it now is. Above all things our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you cannot reverence it. When there is a select committee on the Queen, the charm of royalty will be gone. Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic.
The secret to maintaining the American university’s royalty is this subtle work of obfuscation. Would you ask Queen Elizabeth to take part in a Twitter campaign? The more you poke Winston the less he will be reverenced. Do not let daylight in upon him.
(Remember: If our reporters had followed this no-poking policy, Americans would be free to continue worshipping Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods. Keep it blurry.)
August 12th, 2014 at 9:31AM
A thorough reading of the available information on the cases of Jerramy Stevens at UW, Jameis Winston at FSU and the three basketball players at OU is beyond disturbing.
August 12th, 2014 at 12:23PM
UD, I think Nebraska’s website is just on autopilot and this is an old page they neglected to take down. It’s written in the present tense as though it’s 2004. Didn’t he get kicked off the Nebraska team and then go to Oregon, where he likewise got kicked off the team?
August 12th, 2014 at 12:29PM
I have a feeling that some entrepreneurial types are going to make a ton of money selling crab legs to the opponent home crowds when Jameis comes to visit this fall….
August 12th, 2014 at 12:38PM
tp: Absolutely. When someone associated with your school is as disgraced as Incognito, you’re supposed to lift your digital pinky and take the page off the web.
August 12th, 2014 at 1:10PM
Varsities of Religious Experience?