I just love and respect Enes Kanter! He stands for what he believes. On the court, he works as hard as any. And off the court, he speaks for those who truly suffer. I’m fearful that his voice may find him “expendable”and we, the Blazer fanatics, cannot let this happen to our brother of the boards! STAND UP FOR ENES! and if his voice makes him lose his job…. BRING KANTER BACK TO PORTLAND, AGAIN! Here, here Enes!
Man, if he talks his way out of the league, I hope he keeps going. Be it running for office, or general agitating.
Yes, he would be a perfect politician. I have a close friend who (before Covid) traveled to China on a regular basis for Nike. She acknowledges they don't own the factories, and yes many of the shoe companies use the same factories including Adidas and New Balance. She has told me stories about many factories over the years they stopped working with because they would not comply with the standards that Nike set. Enes is right about the forced labor camps and prisons but it seems like he mentioned Nike to draw attention to it and to bash them because he lost out on a shoe deal in 2018. All the respect I had for him....has greatly diminished.
It's like Rita Moreno complaining about Age-ism in Hollywood. I'm guessing she wasn't against it as a young actress benefiting from it. People choose what they want to be aware of.
Why would I bash Nike? They have been good to the state, and have done more to promote BLM's than most companies. Are they perfect, no. Who is?
Yea, I like Enes, but we've been there. Can we play basketball and don't come back to this "great culture" bs again?
I'm sorry, you can't unilaterally decide a thread is a "super blockbuster." Terms like that have legal definitions and require both length and multiple merges (not from the same person). If you like, I can fax over the thousand-page book on regulations governing these things. In the meantime, I removed the legally offending term from your thread. Please carry on!
He mentioned Nike because Phil Knight pioneered the practice of using Chinese slave labor to avoid labor laws, environmental regulations, health and safety laws, minimum wage laws, employee health insurance, employee vacations...all as a way to achieve instant Oligarchy without actually deserving success of any kind. It's the only reason Nike even managed to get off the ground. Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, the WalMart Clan, were quick to copy his "business model", bringing in the age of instant billionaires. Most American apparel companies, BigTech companies, and most notably Jeff Bezos and Amazon jumped on the wagon. They are not capitalists, and certainly not American businessmen. They are mass-murderers, fascists, climbing over dead bodies in their lust for "wealth/power". Together they have killed more people and produced more raw pollution than is realistically accountable. And this is why Nike did not want to make a shoe with a moral man's name on it. It would draw too much attention to what Nike is and what Nike does. from 2018: "But unlike Kaepernick, who has been celebrated in media campaigns and is reportedly receiving millions from Nike, Kanter is one of the few players on his team without a shoe deal. He has said that talks with Nike stalled after they raised concerns that stores would be shut down in Turkey, a country of more than 80 million people. "Because I talk about these issues, I don't get any endorsement deals," he says. "Nike is so scared to give me a contract because they don't want their business to be affected in Turkey." Nike did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment on a shoe deal for Kanter.
How horrible of them... Athletes gotta understand, endorsements are given out to benefit the business financially. It may not be immediate sales and/or marketing, but there has to be an eventual payback that can be accounted for. If you have a negative impact on the business, they have little incentive to give you money. If you then call them out publicly, you simply convince them they made the right choice.
I sincerely am not looking to bash anyone here. Truth is, I’m a registered Independent and lean toward conservative views, especially fiscally so. but! You cannot give Nike (and all the other companies hiring slave labor) any sort of break nor excuse. Athletes should come together like they have done for other causes (BLM) and put brown paper bags over the shoes they are wearing. You can’t stand for one injustice and turn the head on another injustice simply because the latter pays you endorsement dollars to wear and promote their injustice! It’s hypocritical as hell. The world needs athletes like Kanter who speak out against injustice and uses his platform to do so. Let’s hear from LeBron, from Michael, from Dame! The essence of my thread was that Blazer fans should consider having Enes’ back. Especially if the Celtics were to waive him because China won’t broadcast Celtic games or that Boston could lose money because of lost opportunities from the shoe companies, China, etc. and should Enes get cut….bring him back ASAP! He’s certainly better on the bench than at least four maybe five of the players we now have warming it!
