Idiot's commentary on Lambie

One must understand the type of snooty town Harvard, MA is and just discard this letter. This town as whole has the biggest ego of any town in the commonwealth.

We are talking about a town whose public high school is refered to as "Bromfield Academy" or "The Bromfield School." If you ever say "Harvard High School" you are quickly scolded and corrected by anyone in the town. When anyone from central mass mentions what school they attend to someone who goes to "The Bromfield School at Harvard" or whatever they are calling it now, they get a look of pity on their face as if to say "Oh you sad little thing, you are too poor to afford a house in Harvard where everyone in the state wishes they could live." People there are truly amazed if any student from outside of Harvard can read and write.

Just forget about this loon. God forbid a student, with an uncommon name, has her country of birth mentioned in an article.

While I think there is a lot of racism in the US running community about runners from Africa, that article was totally not racist at all. The shame is that she wrote a foolish letter about something that actually is an issue, except now she's made it doubly hard to point out the real incidents of racism.

"Harvard High School" doesn't exist. That's why people keep correcting you. If you said, "Ari Lambie goes to Palo Alto College", I would hope anybody would correct you and say, "Actually, it's Stanford University." It's called "The Bromfield School" because it is a converted all girls' private school. They kept the name when the school was turned into a public school. It's not that difficult to understand.

Central Ma wrote:

We are talking about a town whose public high school is refered to as "Bromfield Academy" or "The Bromfield School." If you ever say "Harvard High School" you are quickly scolded and corrected by anyone in the town. When anyone from central mass mentions what school they attend to someone who goes to "The Bromfield School at Harvard" or whatever they are calling it now, they get a look of pity on their face as if to say "Oh you sad little thing, you are too poor to afford a house in Harvard where everyone in the state wishes they could live." People there are truly amazed if any student from outside of Harvard can read and write.

Just forget about this loon. God forbid a student, with an uncommon name, has her country of birth mentioned in an article.

I also think it was a stupid letter. Since when is a wrong for a paper to give more information? What if I'd never heard of the winner because I follow mainly Massachusetts High School. I'd be interested in the Lambie article and wonder how she got beaten by someone who never appeared at the Footlocker Championships or HS track nationals.

Now I know. I was always a little jealous of Harvard's (the town) distance success but if it comes at the expense of nut-job parents . . .

The parents in Harvard are fine!

People vent. Some are too PC. Some are queue for Rush and hate Boston liberals. Ari can stay in California, we like her here.

I don't care how 'smart' this woman is supposed to be. This letter indicates some sort of psychological illness, or just a supreme lapse in reason. So the Kenyan runner enjoyed a "runaway" victory. That's COMPLIMENTARY. Any runner would be flattered and satisfied to have their win described that way. And that's supposed to be racist. Oh boy...

Stanford University is not in Palo Alto, it's in Stanford, California, a separate city from Palo Alto.

While I agree with that the article was not racist, I do question the journalistic need to reference \"Kenya native.\" Explain to me why this is a necessary addition to the article?

My explanation is that this is not racism, but it does reflect an unconscious xenophobia (or at least some ethnocentrism). Whether we are self-aware enough to acknowledge this is a real question.

Weldon Johnson, a white man, is the co-founder of Letsrun.com.

Michael Johnson, a black person, is the world record holder in the 200 meters.

Mark Spitz, a Jew, won seven medals in the Munich Olympics.

Former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, a person of African descent, opposes war except when all forms of diplomacy have failed.

Again, how is the \"Kenya native\" comment different?

"Kenyan Native" is not racist. However, anyone that believes that Kenyans or any East Africans have better genes for achieving success in distance running, are racist.

wicked stoked wrote:

Weldon Johnson, a white man, is the co-founder of Letsrun.com.

Michael Johnson, a black person, is the world record holder in the 200 meters.

Mark Spitz, a Jew, won seven medals in the Munich Olympics.

Former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, a person of African descent, opposes war except when all forms of diplomacy have failed.

Again, how is the "Kenya native" comment different?

Actually you are the one making generalizations. Who is to say that all Kenyan runners share any kind of skin color, or religion.

I think mentioning that the runner was from Kenya is no different then mentioning the township Lambie is from.

There simply is NO discrimination in describing the native land of someone, either implied or inferred (my most rational people)

In fact, I find nothing wrong with mentioning that anyone is Jewish or Black or Martian, as long as it was meant to draw a better picture of the story. Most times it is just information, not fodder for discrimination.

Kenya is were Sally is from. Pointing out where a person is from is not racisim. it's just like saying, "Lambie a Massachusetts native..."

There are a lot of people just looking for offense anywhere they can find it.

You get the point.

I admire your ability to detect mental illness through a letter to the editor.

wicked stoked wrote:

While I agree with that the article was not racist, I do question the journalistic need to reference "Kenya native." Explain to me why this is a necessary addition to the article?

My explanation is that this is not racism, but it does reflect an unconscious xenophobia (or at least some ethnocentrism). Whether we are self-aware enough to acknowledge this is a real question.

Weldon Johnson, a white man, is the co-founder of Letsrun.com.

Michael Johnson, a black person, is the world record holder in the 200 meters.

Mark Spitz, a Jew, won seven medals in the Munich Olympics.

Former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, a person of African descent, opposes war except when all forms of diplomacy have failed.

Again, how is the "Kenya native" comment different?

Like I said in an earlier post, it was mentioned because a large majority of NCAA athletes are American, well over 90%. They did the same thing with Simon Bairu, Gavin Thompson, Alistair Cragg, heck Johanna Nilsson last year. The only difference is that Sally is Kenyan and thus people are noticing and apparently making a big deal that they mention her country of origin. Heck, the Globe article specifically says the town where Lambie is from. Most articles about NCAA athletes will either specifically mention what high school the athlete attended or what town/state they are from, especially if it's a different one from where the institution is. It's simply giving geographical background information, there's no difference here and there is no sinister motive.

Also, the difference between your examples and what the Globe did is that you are mentioning SKIN COLOR/RELIGION, rather than place of origin. Articles about Weldon would often say, Connecticut (I believe I'm right, but not sure) native Weldon Johnson ran 28:08 in the 10k, etc.

Colin Powell is mostly white, just look at him. Mark Spitz is half-Black, as are all semites, i.e. Arabs, Jews, etc., descendants of one man, Abraham. Weldon Johnson's genetic roots can be scientifically shown to trace directly to Africa. Conclusion: Race myth has been proven false by the Human Genome Project. There are no white, black, brown, yellow, red, etc. races. There is only one human race. Now sing along with me, "It's A Small World After All, It's A Small World After All, It's A Small World After All, It's A Small, Small World"...

If all race is a myth, how can Colin Powell be "mostly white" and Mark Spitz "half black"?

Example: article on Johanna Nilsson-"The svelte Swede broke away from the pack early and never looked back, cruising to a 13-second victory. "

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/sioncampus/12/12/uaward.xcountry.1212/

I guess this is "an unconscious xenophobia (or at least some ethnocentrism)" also. Funny how people weren't speaking out a year ago...

the coach is a pedophile and the parents are insane. oh, and the town is a snooty little wasteland that has no reason to be stuck up.