With WNBA star Brittney Griner detained in Russia, some social justice zealots have decided that her individual situation must take a backseat on behalf of the “woe is women” narrative that has taken hold in sports media.
Griner’s coach, Vanessa Nygaard, asked that “if it was LeBron, he’d be home, right?” She then declared that Griner’s continued detention is “a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those things. We know it, and so that’s what hurts a little more.”
Bill Plaschke, a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a contributor for ESPN, took the same line. “If Brittney Griner were Tom Brady, America would be losing its mind,” he declared. “Where is the outrage over the hostage superstar?”
Column: If Brittney Griner were Tom Brady, America would be losing its mind…
Where is the outrage over the hostage superstar?
I think I know… https://t.co/fLSEEyFVCb
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) July 5, 2022
It is true that people would care more if Tom Brady or LeBron James were detained in Russia. That’s because people know who those two are. Griner is a star in the WNBA, but given how few people watch or care about the league, she is only mildly more famous than any other American hostage. Brady and LeBron are two of the most recognizable athletes in the country. They are not on the same level.
The Brady/James treatment also would be true if, say, Serena Williams were the one stranded in Russia. Williams is a major athlete on the world stage, despite being a black woman, which Nygaard and Plaschke think is the issue.
You can tell that fame, not race or gender, is the defining factor based on several previous examples. UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley, and Jalen Hill were detained in China back in 2017, but it was Ball who dominated the headlines about the incident, given his more famous family. Indeed, Griner is getting far more coverage than other Americans being held hostage currently. According to CBS last month, there are more than 40 Americans who are considered “wrongful detainees” overseas. Could Nygaard or Plaschke name one of them other than Griner?
Indeed, Paul Whelan is a perfect example. Whelan’s sister wondered why Griner’s family received a call from President Joe Biden when her family hadn’t, despite Paul being detained in Russia for over three years. Whelan is not a black lesbian who plays basketball. He would also get more attention if he were LeBron James or Tom Brady, sure, but evidently, he would also be getting more attention if he was Brittney Griner.
All of this overshadows the real issue, which is that Griner is being detained in Russia. Her imprisonment isn’t some shared societal hardship. Women, black women, and black gay women are not the ones detained in Russia: Griner is. But the absurd worldview of Nygaard and Plaschke holds that Griner is not a victim as much as women everywhere are. Her individual problem must take a backseat to group grievance narratives because the Left believes imagined slights against the collective matter more than the injustice Griner is currently facing.
That belief is wrong.
