CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley, who advised Haitian earthquake victims to "use a condom once in a while" and stop building "shack-towns" in a blog post explaining why he wouldn't be donating "a cent" to the relief efforts, has been fired from his job as a part-time contributor for ESPN.
"The views he expressed on another site of course do not at all reflect our company's views on the Haiti relief efforts. He will no longer contribute to ESPN," a statement from the network read.
Shirley played briefly for the Bulls during the 2003-04 season and also played for the Hawks and Suns.
Get the full story: CBSNews.com
"The views he expressed on another site of course do not at all reflect our company's views on the Haiti relief efforts. He will no longer contribute to ESPN," a statement from the network read.
Shirley played briefly for the Bulls during the 2003-04 season and also played for the Hawks and Suns.
Get the full story: CBSNews.com
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Paul Shirley should have been fired for his terrible taste in music long ago
Paul Shirley has my respect.
Espn can't control your mind or opinions.
A note to Paul Shirley,
“Dear Paul,
Kudos to you for expressing your opinion about the Haitian disaster. I trust that your informed and highly intellectual views were developed after much study regarding the history and political economy of Haiti and what actually caused it to exist as the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.
If they were not, might I suggest starting with some study on pre-colonial rule, exploitation of the land and people, and debt in the amount of 21 billion dollars the country was forced to pay which was to be an indemnity for profits lost from the slave trade. You may want to then compare their history with the history of your own country, the U.S., and consider what caused differences in development. I don’t recall the U.S. having to pay the equivalent of 21 billion dollars to its former colonizers for independence. And, if you’re feeling really adventurous, take a look at some of the theoretical underpinnings and philosophies that look to understand why some countries are developed while others are not. Karl Polanyi’s, The Great Transformation, is a great place to start. From there, you might want to look at Foucault and his theories on discourse and power and also structuralism/structuration theories that consider the role of structure and agency.
As we prepare to forgive your asinine remarks, a polite request: If it’s possible, could you refrain from making opinions about the nation and all things global without some informed study? Maybe pick up a history book or even try a simple search on google if it’s easier. And, if you choose not to do so, could you refrain from using your celebrity status and the resulting media outlets it allows you to use from making comments about which you know nothing about? And could you sometimes maybe keep your comments only on basketball and sports related matters once in a while?
Sincerely,
The Rest of the Intelligent World”
We haven't heard the last from Paul Shirley. He'll be writing for Fox News in by next week.
This is not much worse than Olbermann denouncing Bush or Brown on a daily basis. Stupid people say stupid things ignore them. Being politically correct satisfies only those who decide what is correct to say, where is free speech?
He was fired! Justice has been served. People say and post IGNORANT things. If it's a thought, it's just that a thought. But one you express it by saying it or writing it, that's when the line has been crossed. People need to learn to keep IGNORANT comments to themselves. Grow up! We are all God's children. Just like Haiti was hit with an earthquake, who's to say it won't be us next time. How is he gonna respond then. Like America is so perfect. Please! Give me a break. We are no better than Haiti!
all you guys need to read his blog before commenting. he says absolutely retarded things. like how the people of haiti should be held accountable for living in unsafe housing. when an earthquake hits cali, washignton, and vancouver like it will, and will cause massive destruction, i hope he feels the same way. none of those major us/canadian cities are prepared to handle an earthquake either. doesnt mean you wont try to help them as much as they can when it hits. also the rest of his comments are bordeline racist/completely ignorant of haitis history.
how many people around here actually READ his blog that he posted?
talk about taking things out of context and satire.
timing was way off, but his overall point in the last two paragraphs, where i believe shirley was actually serious, were legitimate and valid points.
free speech ain't what it used to be. unbelievable.
just remember that next time any of you clowns make ANY off color comment or contrary point of view to popular opinion. hope your employer fires your ass.
He's probably right.
yes, it might be impossible for Haitians to experience the kind of economic development that others enjoy. However, nothing can replace the loss of loved ones not even some trillion dollars that they would receive eventually.
You people are crazy, what at all did his comments have to do with an earth quake? Thank you ESPN for getting rid of big mouth fool. Over 100000 people gone, three times as many injured and this idiot picks this time to open his mouth, see ya Shirley, bye.
P.S. As for you people that brought up free speech and "he has the right to say what ever he wants", I have the right to say this to you SHUT UP!!!!!
Shirley spoke the truth just like people who spoke the truth about US Imperialism and involvement in the Middle East fueled the hatred that led to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I'm sure most of you defending Shirley now weren't defending "truthful" statements about why the attacks on 9/11 happened.
Timing is everything, and Shirley's was terribly poor. A natural disaster occuring is not the time to point out flaws. Did he feel this way about flood victims in the Midwest who foolishly build homes at or below the flood line along riverbanks?
What about the lack of maintenance of our own infrastructure in situations like the I-40 bridge collapse in Minnesota? I guess if people drove smaller cars or stopped driving all together...
Also, it would be nice if Mr. Shirley mixed in some accurate historical context before just attacking the end result.
God will handle him? What god handled the Haitians then?
Only one thing i have to say, God will handle him and everyone else that have any nonsense to say about Haiti.
Haiti is similar to the rest of Latin America in that it is a predominantly Roman Catholic country with 80%-85% professing Catholicism. Therefore the use of a condom is not in keeping with their practices. What is so bad about commenting that a country should reduce its birth rate and reduce its HIV?
His timing could have been better, but he is not a jerk.
Unfortunately, ESPN can do almost whatever they want. Unless, a hot-shot layer can come up with a wrongful dismissal lawsuit.
Have Americans been getting dumber and dumber over the years, or did Americans just get stupid overnight? I mean, we weren't always this dumb. Let me explain this so even the stupid can understand.
Say you own a store in a part of town that has a large population of Ethnic Group X and Ethnic Group X makes up a large portion of your business. Suddenly, people in Ethnic Group X discover an online blog in which your main salesperson calls Ethnic Group X dirty, rotten, sub-human people who should go back to where they came from and that the country would be a better place if Ethnic Group X never existed. Word gets out in the community that your main salesperson said all that stuff about Ethnic Group X and the people of Ethnic Group X decide not to shop at your store anymore, as do people not in Ethnic Group X but who think your main salesperson was out of line too.
Now you have two choices. Do you tell your main salesperson that you won't fire him over something he said and that he has every right to say what he wants to say and then watch your business go under as you lose your Ethnic Group X customers and people who support them over what your main salesperson said? Or do you tell him what you said is hurting my business so I have to let you go or else we all lose our jobs?
Free speech means you can say what you want and you won't wind up in jail for saying it. Free speech does not mean you can say what you want and you will not suffer any consequences and be held accountable for what you say. Most Americans used to be smart enough to tell the difference. Now, especially after reading several of the comments below, I don't think we are smart enough to tell the difference.
Welcome to American censorship,where you are limited to what and where you can speak your mind,I am sure there are a lot of things being censored and not posted on this site.
- Paul Shirley makes a valid point
- ESPN had every right to fire him
i have more respect for this guy speaking his mind (may not be popular but it isn't crazy, far more crazy things coming out of politicians) than i did for haitians before their disaster (not like i hate them or pity them since), espn now, and most of the sheep the follow idiots blindly still in the present
don't have to like it but good for him to speak up, good for him for taking a stand (which usually does upset others)!!
if you don't like it, move on and/or grow up
"Also, no one is "whining" about giving money. Shirley did indeed "criticize". What's wrong with criticism? The only people who don't like criticism are intellectually bankrupt fools who are incapable of defending their own moral positions."
that excerpt by frank perfectly sums up most of the tools demonizing Shirley here.
Rolled kids..
Although this probably doesn't belong on an air telecast I feel it's about time someone spoke the plain old truth. Like my Pappy always told me, "The truth hurts". When do we let people suffer the consequences of their own actions? When do we expect the leaders of a nation to take care of their own people? I'm not saying don't help, but he makes a valid point. Why do Haitians have a 4.4 children per household and only make a dollar a day?
Uh-oh "brainpain" is off his meds again and he must have missed school when they covered spelling.
Congrats to the trib censors for letting this working definition of ignorance's effluence leech through the firewall.
brainpud...I mean...pain is angry about something in his life and he airs it out in public against victims of the greatest natural disaster in western hemispheric history.
sad
Have you morons actually worked for anyone at some point in your lives? You can get fired for pretty much anything as long as it does not discriminate against your race, age, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. The people you work for see you as their representative both at work and out of work. If you do or say something that they don't think represents the company well, they will get rid of you and that is within their rights as a business.
After all, if what Shirley says causes people to avoid watching ESPN and buying stuff from their sponsors, that means what Shirley said hurt their business. So do you really think ESPN has no right to fire someone who is hurting their business? If you say that ESPN had no right to fire Shirley, then you are also saying that ESPN has no right to makes its own business decisions. And that doesn't sound very American to me!
It is always a sad and serious occurrence when natural disasters claim many lives, but it is even more catastrophic when ignorance plagues as an evil attempt to circumvent relief efforts or assistance. I love my country, but a natural disaster can happen anywhere, even on U.S. soil, as in the instance of Hurricane Katrina and others. For those of you who choose not to donate, that's your right. We live in a land of "democracy" and you have a free-choice. However, be mindful as to what you would do in such a situation. The poverty-stricken conditions of Haiti is all the more reason to want to help. Don't get too comfortable in your lifestyles as you never know what can happen to you, your family, or friends within your comfort zone. Outside of natural disasters, you could lose your job, savings, and your comfort, as a whole. I donated, but by no means, and I'm encouraging or discouraging anyone else too. Most with half a heart will. Children are always born innocent, regardless of their parents or living situations. @ Brainpain-I hope you don't have children nor plan to have any because it would be a natural disaster for you to infiltrate your ignorance on an offspring, as I'm sure they would be "OFF" like you. Perhaps, you shouldn't have been born or at least, with such callowness. God Bless America and Haiti!!
What a jackass. His column stunk, too.
" Illiteracy 50%+. No industry. Minimal agriculture. Place is an ecological disaster before the quake. Rampant AIDS/HIV. Extremely high violent crime rates. Where do you start to build it up?"
that sounds like india a few years back and look at india now. there's always hope if people actually care...jerk
Pretty sure if we had "thought police" people wouldn't be able to write and publish blogs. Go back and look at history if you want to see real "though police" and censorship. If our country is screwed, it's because of unintelligent people doing unintelligent things and defending other unintelligent people.
And what does Craig James have to do with anything? Shirely was more stupid than wrong!
Yes, nobody is saying he isn't entitled to his opinion. You can say whatever silly thing you want. However, there are consequences when you work for an organization and you say unintelligent things in a pubic forum. Other people also have the right to criticize you and call you stupid for it. Save your concern for a worthier cause.
Yet helicopter parent Craig James still has a job? This country is screwed. We now have thought police who can get a person fired for daring to write something unpopular. Mr. Shirley, you didn't do anything wrong.
Free speech. pual shirly just spoke for many people in the united states.it's the truth.Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Business 101 on January 28, 2010 11:09 AM
jim on January 28, 2010 10:54 AM
I thought we had a right to free speech?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"We" do. And ESPN exercised it by firing this chump. He has no "right" to employment anywhere. When he opens his big, fat mouth and embarrasses his employer, he has a "right" to suffer the consequences.
Freedom of Speech is between a person and the government, not between a person and his employer. Freedom of Speech does not protect one from being fired from a job.
I thought we had a right to free speech? If he would have made the comment about Iran instead of Haiti, this would not be an issue. To all the people who think it was wrong for him to write this, then how is any personal comment acceptable. No matter what any one person says, there will always be someone to criticize it. Besides, where was all this love for Haiti prior to the earthquake? If anyone is an a-hole, it's all these idiots pretending they really care about that third world dump of a country. It's no wonder here, in America, we are looked at as a-holes. As soon as all our money is stolen or spent, they will want us the f out of their country.
Hey Frank, are you Shirley? Maybe you should go fight Big Brother somewhere other than a Chicago Tribune Sports blog. You seem to feel very passionatly about Shirley's insensitive and uncalled for comments.
Shirley absolutly has the right to express himself. He also has the right to be punished for saying an insensitive and frankly, dumb thing. Good for ESPN.
And then we have people like "Common Sense", who seem to agree with Shirley in principle, but just don't feel he should have the right to express himself. Wow
You are probably correct Bears, in that there maybe others at the over the top politically correct boo-ya network that feel the same way as Shirley. The difference is that the others did not post them on the internet. Shirleys comments were totally inappropriate at this time, and in my opinion, ESPN had no choice but can him. As much as I dont like ESPN anymore, I cannot blame them in this case. You dont kick a man, or a country, when its down like Haiti is right now. A little tact can go a long way sometimes. For the record, I am not contributing a penny to Haiti either until I know exactly where the millions of dollars of our tax money that the USA has donated since 1992 has gone, although I have a pretty good idea of where anyway.
Hey "Idiots", I love your hypocrisy. In the same paragraph, you say both "Everybody is entitled to their own opinion" and "everyone who is whining and criticizing people who donate money should shut up"
So basically, people have free speech unless they disagree with you, in which case they should just "shut up"? What a wonderful person you are!
Also, no one is "whining" about giving money. Shirley did indeed "criticize". What's wrong with criticism? The only people who don't like criticism are intellectually bankrupt fools who are incapable of defending their own moral positions.
With regards to Shirleys criticism, how about you actually read the whole thing, and post a rebuttal that refutes it, instead of just telling people who disagree with you to censor themselves?
I have an idea as to why you won't do that; it's because you can't. You are incapable of reasoned debate, and therefore you seek to shut down the opposition. If I am wrong about you, why don't you prove it?
Hey JCroft, how about you explain WHY that`s the stupidest thing ever said, rather than just insulting it? Do you actually have any real, thoughtful positions on this issue, or are name calling and ad hominem the only armaments in your fallacious repertoire?
Ya know, as bad as you might think we have it in this country, we have it pretty good and the people of Haiti have it really, really bad. Unthinkable bad. So everyone who is whining and criticizing people who donate money should shut up. I don't think people are donating money to "put Haiti back on its feet." I think they're donating money to just help people on a day-to-day basis stay alive. It's called being humane. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but it's this kind of stupid behavior that makes me sad as a human being.
Has anyone here actually read his entire blog post? Does anyone even function on logic and rationality anymore, or do you all just exist on appeals to emotion, do you just let your heart and gut tell you what to do like Stephen Colbert?
Sit down for 10 minutes and read the lengthy essay that Mr. Shirley wrote. He is not hating on Haitians. If you actually read the whole thing (which I'm sure none of you have actually done) rather than the two paragraph excerpt that the media is bandying around out of context, you would see everything he says makes perfect sense.
All he did was speak what was on his mind. Im sure that is on the mind of many other people who are scared to say anything. What happened sucks but we gave $100 million of our tax money to help a country nobody cared about before this. What about all the problems in our country? I guess people losing jobs and their homes doesnt matter to this government. You know there were other people at ESPn that thought of the same thing.
All these people are rushing to dump money into Haiti in an effort to "put the country back on its feet." Good luck. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. 40% of population is 14 and under. Illiteracy 50%+. No industry. Minimal agriculture. Place is an ecological disaster before the quake. Rampant AIDS/HIV. Extremely high violent crime rates. Where do you start to build it up?
Obviously Shirley is uneducated on this history of Haiti, as well as on what causes earthquakes. Bye.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, as insensitive as Paul Shirley's comments are coming right after this tragedy, there is some substance regarding the building materials used for housing. When the time comes to assist in the rebuilding of the dwellings, it would be a wise decision to use materials that are better suited for surviving an earthquake or tsunami. Preventative measures need to be taken into consideration to help reduce the massive destruction and loss of life from a natural disaster or even a fire that could consume multiple dwellings.