Steve Clevenger's Suspension Due To Twitter Posts

The shooting of a black man by a police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina sparked strong emotions from people across the US, as every other shooting does. This then, of course, led to protests taking place in this city by the well known group, Black Lives Matter. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinions when it comes to this group, but posting your feelings on social media right after the unfortunate event takes place is not the most intelligent idea. Especially when you are a MLB player that people look up to. I understand that people want others to know how they feel about these events that keep happening, but you should take the time to thoroughly write your opinion in a respectful manner. You should not start posting on social media in the heat of the moment when you first hear the news. This action just fuels the fire, and can lead people into developing negative thoughts about you. This is exactly what Steve Clevenger embarked in. 

Steve Clevenger is a backup catcher for the Seattle Mariners, and is now, suspended without pay for the rest of the season due to the tweets he posted about Black Lives Matter. One of the posts read, "BLM is pathetic one again! Obama you are pathetic once again! Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals!" I do believe that Black Lives Matter has gone way too far with their protests, especially when they shut down 35W in Minneapolis. This not only puts them in danger, but everyone else involved. Throwing materials at police officers, preventing people from going anywhere, and being a complete disturbance to society is not how protests should be done. If they want to protest and spread their feelings, they should do so in a peaceful way. 

Anyways, back to the point of addressing Clevenger's Twitter posts. Like I said before, he should have thought what he was going to post about thoroughly. I thought the posts were rude, uncalled for, and unknowledgeable, to say the least. On the other hand, I do not think the General Manager of the Seattle Mariners should have come to a conclusion of suspending him the day he found out about these tweets. In my opinion, he should have reviewed the tweets, developed a message to state to the public when he noticed the tweets, and then proceed to suspend him within a couple days once he has grasped the whole story of Clevenger. 

As far as the suspension for the season without any pay goes, I believe this was slightly acceptable. Clevenger should be suspended for the season for the tweets he displayed to the public because he has to understand that this type of behavior will not be tolerated, and is not acceptable. But, the no pay aspect for the rest of the season is the one thing I am still unsure about. Yes, he did wrong by stating his opinion in an offensive way, but can people not get a second chance to redeem themselves, and reflect on the mess they put themselves in? The salary is something he has earned and makes his living off of, and for twitter posts to completely demolish this salary, I do not know what to exactly think about it. He did, though, come back with an apology statement after the suspension stating, " I am sickened by the idea that anyone would think of me in racist terms. My tweets were reactionary to the events I saw on the news and worded beyond poorly at best and I can see how and why someone could read into my tweets far more deeply than how I actually feel." He added: "I just ask the public not judge me because of an ill worded tweet." He could have totally stated this to try and gain his reputation back, but I truly believe what he is saying is true. Because of the fact he has had the time to think about his wrong doings, and how these wrong doings affected his life. 

From this story, overall, I have noticed how social media truly can run our lives....whether it is positively or negatively. One tweet, or one Facebook post, could demolish your image in public, and prevent you from partaking in your job that you thrive on, and make a living from. With this said, I am, and alway have been, extremely careful of the posts I display on social media, especially when it comes to my political opinions because I know how deeply people can feel about politics. And I do not want to ruin my relationships with others because of these political opinions that I have.