Friday Forum: What’s going on?

“Mother, mother
There’s too many of you cryin’
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dyin’”

— Marvin Gaye, 1971

You may have noticed a lack of posts at this here website over the last week.

That was intentional.

You may have noticed that the world — or, at least, America — is on fire.

That, too, is intentional — a culmination of intentional acts and intentional reactions, decisions made and defaulted on, hundreds of years of history coming to a head.

I have strong opinions on what’s going on in the world; I’ve shared them here with you from time to time because I think that’s as or more important, at least at times, than sharing, say, my thoughts on the Kyle Trask highlight reels that I’ve watched in the past fortnight. I think society is intertwined with sports, that some things are more important with sports, that we do ourselves a disservice to “stick to” or focus on sports at the expense of situating the games we love and the industries and laborers that create them in context.

I know I would be lying if I said that what has happened in the world of late has left me with much appetite for writing about sports and feeling like I’m ignoring a stampede of elephants streaming into and out of every room we have. I know I would be lying, too, if I said I really wanted to have arguments or try to persuade people right now — most likely, I think you’re either believing your eyes, shutting them and sticking fingers in your ears, or lying to yourself despite what you see and hear, and I’ve nearly exhausted my patience and my rhetoric in trying to persuade people of some of the most elementary things I’ve offered as basic facts over the years I’ve spent writing here.

So what I want to do right now is just give us all a space to talk, and to discuss things, without an expectation of argument. I promise — promise — you that I will not ban you for comments left under this post except for the most garish and glaring outright hate speech or personal attacks. I promise that if you leave a comment here, I will give it a thoughtful response — even if that response is just “Thank you” — by the end of the weekend.

I promise that I remain as committed as ever to making Alligator Army a place you want to be, and one where you feel safe and supported.

But I also promise that I’m going to be more fully honest with you — with my full voice and less biting of my tongue — going forward than I have ever been before, about the Florida Gators and myself and the world we share.

And while I’m not sure if you’re all going to like that, I’m sure of my path.