2016 3rd Party Candidates

We have narrowed down our Presidential Candidates to 2 Democrats and 4 Republicans.  However, it's not like we have 6 candidates from the 2 main political parties... We've got fringe candidates who don't represent the middle.  They're all essential traditional 3rd party candidates.

The person who is most likely to try to represent the middle is Kasich, but what chance does he have to win?  The reality is, any moderate opinions this year are getting hushed.  We've seen it before: Pragmatism fails in primaries.  Ask Jeb(!) Bush and Martin O'Malley.

One of the great things about our primaries, or 3rd party candidates in general elections, historically is that they help change the conversation and influence the main stream.  This year, who is being influenced?

There is no true Moderate to pick up the ideas of Democratic Socialism or Republican Fascism that is being touted in our current political debates.

It is considered a positive experience to have the discourse of different opinion from our leadership.
Some of the language of our potential Presidents is extreme economically, financially, or socially. However, some of it is extreme in stereotype and prejudice.

Build a wall.
Deport millions.
A whole religion is bad.

My friend recently told me that her 1st grader came home from school crying.  She asked, "Mom, if this person is elected, will we have to leave our house?"

When our children are scared about who will be elected president, maybe it's time to scale back the rhetoric.  We have the freedom of speech.  However, we don't have freedom from consequence.

Every 4 years the pundits proclaim that it's the most important election in our history.  That is bombastic and hyperbolic.  How can we weigh each election more important than another? Universally we can agree that our children are essential to our future.  How will 2016 impact our children?
Maybe the general election results will matter and the next President and Congress will make deep reforms.  However, regardless of the winner: it's the level of discourse that is unhealthy for our nation.  So celebrate Freedom of Speech, but please acknowledge the consequences.

It's possible that in 2017 we will need to take effort to Make America Great Again.  

2020...

Beast Mode VS Gronk Mode

This blog is traditionally dedicated to edtech topics, but today I'm diverging... yet will still tie it back to edtech and media literacy.  

There are many things to discuss in regard to this past weekend's Super Bowl; whether it's the questionable playcalling, Tom Brady's excellence (perhaps followed by my jealousy as a Jets fan), Katy Perry, the shark, etc.  However, one of the big storylines leading up to the Super Bowl, and culminating with the final play of the game has been the character of Marshawn Lynch.

Marshawn Lynch, otherwise known as "Beast Mode" by his own Trademark did not want to follow through with his employer's policy that all players must be available to the media prior to the Super Bowl.  He was critical of the NFL policy, and his speech on "media day" was a slap in the face to the NFL that made for one of the most awkward - turned funny YouTube interviews:

"I'm just here so I won't get fined." 

It turns out, the NFL wants to fine him for his "non-league approved hat" anyway...

Celebrities, athletes, and media personnel have criticized Lynch for being belligerent and his counter-culture ways have been deemed as a "bad example" to young people.  Their argument is that you cannot disrespect your employer's rules like that and get away with it in any other circumstance; but that his celebrity allows for it.  The guys on ESPN were on fire criticizing him: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12241756

Perhaps the Seahawks should have given him the ball on the goal line to score the TD that would have beaten the Patriots instead of passing the ball on 2nd down from the 1 yard line (see "questionable playcalling"), but even the fact that they didn't means that they will continue to discuss Lynch ad nausea until next season. It's also interesting that he is due $8 million and could even be cut or have a contract extension next year...

One of my favorite comedy clips before the Super Bowl was Conan O'Brien's segment with Marshawn Lynch and Rob Gronkowski.  It was pure genius.  Lynch has certainly gained celebrity status through his choice not to follow league rules.  Gronkowski has always had celebrity status, and has always been the party boy that New England tolerates because he's unstoppable.  Both are their own kind of beast mode.  (Just one thought to trademark it.)  Check out this clip:

Yet while I laughed heartily in the clip (and wretched at the Mortal Kombat clips), this segment bothers me in the post-Super Bowl world.  In the same Super Bowl where Lynch is criticized and condemned for his behavior toward league rules, a league champion, Rob Gronkowski is being celebrated for his truly irresponsible, league-image damaging behavior.

Gronkowski and Lynch are stars at the peak of their profession at their skill positions, but Gronk and Beast Mode are having different reactions by the media to their public personas.  Today, the USA Today says, "Rob Gronkowski was not the MVP of the Super Bowl, but he has been the MVP of the Patriots Super Bowl parade so far.  The Patriots tight end, who I don’t think has slept since Saturday night, is wearing a minion hat and chugging anything he can get his hands on. The people of Boston could not love him more."

Gronk can chug beers in front of adoring fans, and throngs of kids... wearing a hat of a character from a kid's movie and the media seems to celebrate him. One news outlet even said he was the "MVP of the Parade" today.  Maybe even do some "planks" to warm up and stay fit, or whatever is in this video.  It's also been reported that Gronk said that throwing "Haymakers" was totally called for at the end of the football game.  

Maybe there is a double standard for Super Bowl winners, or Super Bowl losers.  

But wait, Lynch's criticism came before the game was played, and Gronk's criticism from the NFL and tons of other athletes and commentators came.... well... it hasn't.  (Yes, he has a history of criticism, but why not now?)

I thought an allegory of Biblical proportions spoke well to the relationship of these two men and the league, but I am still left with many questions.

Why has the NFL and our news media treated these two men differently?
What can we learn?

I'm asking these questions of myself.  Comment if you have any ideas.