Hi all
It seems as if our efforts at holding Steven Friedman accountable for this irresponsible outburst is losing momentum. I’ve tried to get some media agencies to respond with an editorial piece but none has been forthcoming. Whatever the reason, it’s incredibly disheartening for me that so few people see the damage that this fool is doing to the morale of the country’s youth. To illustrate, I put forth the following: one of his minions’ frightening response to a logical and respectful challenge made to Friedman on his Facebook page. See the image below:
Future henchmen: tragically illogical.
For those of you who can’t load the image, here is a transcript of the discussion:
Russell Martin:
Hi Steven. I would just like to comment on your FB post about AB’s alleged racism. Like you, I don’t know a lot about cricket, but lucky for both of us, there are people out there that do – one of these people is Adriaan du Toit.
In an earlier reply to a post (which seems to have mysteriously disappeared from your wall) you commented that “there was no proof that your allegations were incorrect”. Adriaan has gone to great lengths to research the accusations (a task some might feel you should have attempted before leaping to baseless accusations) and found them without merit.
I would urge you to please reply to the article – http://sport.iafrica.com/news/782428.html – either apologising for unsubstantiated accusations, or providing the same level of due diligence to counter-argue your point.
You are obviously a hugely respected individual in the political landscape – both informing public opinion on issues as well as educating the youth of tomorrow – I would hate to think that this knee-jerk response to one comment is indicative of the level of analysis & deliberation you usually give to your public opinions.
To this, a person who is clearly willing to sacrifice reason for the sake of currying favour and promoting a prejudiced agenda, responded with the following:
Eugene Nissen
The prof has already given substance to his argument and u shld hav read wat he said to back up his claim u shld not hav jumpd into the laager with ur knee jerk reaction
Eugene Nissen
Steven friedman is and always will b a respectd man in sa his comments is well researched and analysed there is no reason to attack his integrity just 4 the sake of covering up 4 blatant closet racist whoi was caught out by the prof
If this kind of obtuse and downright frightening response from his sycophantic followers is not enough to motivate Friedman to withdraw his comments, then I don’t know what is. Did he ignore this response? Did he not see it? Is he too proud to acknowledge his error and the damage it is doing to his students? Or is he perhaps fully aware of all of this but refuses to get involved because this type of illogical reaction is exactly what he wants.
Again, I call on Steven Friedman to defend his views or withdraw them publicly.