Bernstein: Short-Sighted Brewers Fans Celebrate Hader
The public embrace of Josh Hader came far too soon, far too easily.
Dan Bernstein
July 22, 2018 - 5:23 pm


(670 The Score) Those were quite the optics in Milwaukee on Saturday night, as 36,000 people sent a message to Brewers reliever Josh Hader, with many rising to their feet for extra, full-throated emphasis.

"No worries about using the N-word multiple times, Josh! We're with you!! It's OK!" was one inference.

"YEAHH!! KKK!! Damn right, white power!!" was another.

It was an ugly look even if the implied sentiment intended was largely something more nuanced, along the lines of accepting an apology and welcoming him back because he's really good at throwing a baseball. The mass cheering was an over-the-top insult to the groups that Hader offended with the tweets he posted proudly when he was 17 and that were unearthed last week. The crowd of mostly white and straight people was happy to demonstrate to the world that the feelings of those not like them matter far less than just having their guy back.

Applauding Hader for on-field success upon his comeback and expressions of contrition and understanding would be one thing, but this swell of reflexive support just for walking out to the mound gave the appearance of needless aggressiveness, a defiant display that reeked of recently reinvigorated elements that once would have been ashamed of unmasking themselves and now excuse nastiness by clinging to their perceived right to free speech without consequences.

Hader has said all the right things as part of the well-worn protocol of damage control and crisis public relations, insisting he's not racist or anti-gay but was just playing so when in high school in Maryland. It's possible he means it, and the immediate backlash to his racist and ant-gay statements has been the catalyst for him to begin to change and grow as a person. It's also possible he's a total racist scumbag and is lying through his teeth.

The point is that I don't know and you don't know, but a stadium full of Brewers fans was sure certain in the moment and couldn't wait to tell us so, as were those who leaped to defend them on social media.

Those fans are either rock-solid convinced that Hader really isn't horrible or they don't think that his comments make him so because they agree with him. Another possibility is the murky area between the two, the place where some people get all the benefit of every doubt in ways that other professional athletes may not.

It would be instructive to see the intersections on a Venn diagram that shows how the circle of vocal Brewers fans might overlay with those attacking NFL players for peacefully protesting injustice or those unable or unwilling to empathize with Bucks guard Sterling Brown when he was profiled and assaulted by Milwaukee police.

Crowd behavior has a way telling truths in a manner that the response of an individual may not. Social facilitation has a powerful effect on psychology and subsequent action, with inhibitions suppressed by the perception of relative safety in numbers.

That unsolicited public embrace of Josh Hader came far too soon and way too easily.

Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score’s Bernstein & McKnight Show in middays. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein.​​
Tags:
Milwaukee Brewers
Josh Hader

I worked at the Hanover Park Park District for several years. I currently have nieces and nephews that are teenagers. I play games on the internet.

Maybe your problem is that you WORK with teenagers. If you're in a position of power, you're not a fly on the wall when you get a bunch of teenagers in the same room. You may think you have a reading on teenagers. You do not.

The most vulgar things I hear in any given week are uttered by teenagers.

Vulgarity- sure. But the level of acceptance of different races, homosexuality, and transitioning or transgender students have dramatically improved since our HS years, I am assuming you are a Gen Xer. Sure, you still have ignorant, racist kids but social media now gives them a louder voice but don't think those numbers have increased because you hear a few of them. In Hader's case, the awareness that kids now have and how we have progressed in the last 20-30 years makes comparing what we did or would have done in our youth to what Hader did an invalid comparison.

Ignorant, racist kids say and write ignorant, racist things. While they are dumb, they often turn out to be dumb, racist adults. Sure, some of those kids evolve and learn through experience but many of them don't. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. And I sure as hell am not going to speculate that they were just fooling around and didn't know any better.

So you're in the "punish them forever for shit they said as kids" crowd.

Got it.

Where did I say anything about punishment?

Ignorant, racist kids say and write ignorant, racist things. While they are dumb, they often turn out to be dumb, racist adults. Sure, some of those kids evolve and learn through experience but many of them don't. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. And I sure as hell am not going to speculate that they were just fooling around and didn't know any better.

It's as implied as your belief that kids don't really evolve beyond being douchebag teenagers.

It's okay if you feel that way. It's your right.

It's kind of sad, but whatever.

Wtf....

Does this hit too close to home?

No, you just don't know how people mature and it seems like you have a "racism is the worst sin of all time" mindset.

I do hate racism and homophobia. You're right that I don't know if Hader matured or not but I do know that most racist and homophobic adults were racist and homophobic teenagers. Maybe Hader has had life experiences, evolved, and would never post those things today but I definitely am not going to default to a way of thinking that he was just being a dumb teenager. I will be skeptical of any kind of apology he gives. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what I think. He is not going to be legally punished or anything other than losing an endorsement or possibly not being as attractive to his next team. But I sure as hell wouldn't have given him a standing ovation even if he did make my favorite team more likely to win.

Ignorant, racist kids say and write ignorant, racist things. While they are dumb, they often turn out to be dumb, racist adults. Sure, some of those kids evolve and learn through experience but many of them don't. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. And I sure as hell am not going to speculate that they were just fooling around and didn't know any better.

@Jason1Goff

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People who feel that way rarely do.

@rannochio
Replying to @Jason1Goff
People can’t change? Pretty naïve on your part

put them in a Camps somewhere.

This leads me to believe there's probably a better chance that you're a despicable human being than Josh Hader is.