Curious quote

From SI's piece on black golfing pioneer Lee Elder: "It's hard to explain what it was like for Lee," says Gary Player, who as apartheid reigned in 1971, boldly invited Elder to play in the South African PGA Championship. Lee accepted. "How do you explain," asks Player, "what it was like being a Jew during the war?"

http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1727848,00.html

"The war"? Like...the Second World War? In which six million Jews were massacred?

I don't care very much, but that's one seriously bad analogy right there.

 

I think this warrants a "W. JW." if anything ever did. Jesus, Gary.

 

I'm pretty sure he meant Greneda.

A good rule of thumb, though, is never make an analogy involving Jews, World War II, Nazis and, well, anything.

 

W. JW? Not sure I understand what that means.

 

Wow. Just wow. It's the new buzzphrase here at SportsJournalists.com. ;D

 

Hmmm...never seen it listed that way. Has it been added to the SportsJournalists.com Style Guide thread?

 

If not, it should be. Diabeetus to the courtesy phone, por favor.

 

Maybe it's not as bad an analogy as it is a lack of awareness of the depth of the South African atrocities.

 

Player said it and the writer decided it would add to the context of the story. It passed through his mind, the editor's mind and the publisher's mind and then into the minds of the readers. If someone thought it was wrong, it would have not run in the story. Maybe it's a jumbled analogy, but it's a good enough quote to get in there.

 

What do you mean?

Isn't it a lack of awareness of the depth of NAZI atrocities?

 

I'm not criticizing Hack or SI, though some "we-don't-believe-this-analogy-is-valid" aside would have been good - I'm criticizing Player.

 

Well.... a writer and editor CAN run the quote simply because they believe it will get a big reaction, paying no mind to legitimate context. That is possible.