Chris Benoit and Sean Taylor

As some of you may have seen, some people/journalists have linked the murder of Sean Taylor with a variety of social issues.  Whether it's the poorly-written hatchet job by Len Shapiro, or the initially ill-advised comments by Michael Wilbon (the first of which came out in a chat when Taylor was still fighting for his life), many people have already decided what Sean Taylor's life and death mean in the greater context of society.

[In Wilbon's defense, at least he re-contextualized his comments after the chat.  Even though I'd heard since March that Sean Taylor's life had changed for the better over the past year, Wilbon seems only to have figured this out two days ago.  Way to maintain the pulse of your so-called home area, Mike.]

[Another thing I find funny is the shock from some that Taylor kept a machete in his room. A LOT of people keep weapons near their beds in case they hear a noise.  One of my roommates slept with a machete next to her bed last year.  I've kept different objects that I can use as weapons near my bed -- even when I was a kid.  It's not rare at all.]

Many, including the authors listed above, have even mentioned his on-field infractions and fines - though dozens of NFL players get fined every season for stomping on opponents, hitting opposing teammates late, taunting, spitting and other such incidents.  I've rooted for many a player who has done worse than Taylor ever did.  I don't see how these on-field incidents have anything to do with a player who gets murdered in their home, but perhaps these authors will choose to explain themselves at a later date.

The most accurate comments probably came from Dan LeBatard of the Miami Herald.  A sample: "The questions don't have any good or right answers today. They aren't even fair, especially not with an absence of facts and not when the speculation smears a city and school while a broken family weeps."

I agreed with the ESPN Ombudsman when she wrote that we seem to exist in opinion cycles, and not news cycles.  This incident is no different.  Lost (or deliberately obscured) amongst most chatter about Taylor's death, and black-on-black crime, and "thug lives," is this: we don't even know the race or background of the perpetrator of this crime.

Read that last sentence again.

I find it fascinating that both black and white people want to jump to conclusions about this crime's ties to the black urban community, or the victim's background, or "thug" lifestyles, or the University of Miami, without even knowing who could have done this and why. 

People want to talk about race, yet we don't know this basic piece of information.  Guess what?  For one of the few times in Obsidian Potency history (or so people might like to think), I'm going to say that until we find out more information, this incident has nothing to do with race. 

So you may be wondering: how could this possibly have anything to do with wrestler Chris Benoit and the tragic events that ended his family's life?

The answer: they are only related in the manner in which the media is covering them.

When news of Benoit's death first broke, the professional wrestling community was devastated.  WWE aired a 2-hour tribute to him.  Nobody knew how he died, or how his wife and son were also killed.  Shortly thereafter, news leaked that the police were treating the case as a double murder-suicide.  WWE immediately removed all content and references to Chris Benoit from their websites.  People called him evil.  Some wondered whether or not "'roid rage" was to blame.  Overnight, he went from being a victim to being a murderous monster. 

To my regret, I wantonly went along for the ride.

A few weeks later, news broke that Former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski's brain research center had examined remains of Chris Benoit's brain.  Due to a history of ring-related head injuries, his brain resembled that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient.  This brain condition often leads to dementia; I probably don't have to tell you that -- all outward appearances to the contrary -- Benoit was not functioning at a mental level equivalent to a healthy adult when the crime took place.   He was crazy, but not because of steroids or a sinister deathurge.

Now I no longer look at Benoit as a monster.  I look at him as yet another victim of a sports culture that is too often willing to ignore or even sacrifice the well-being of its participants in order to turn a good profit for ownership.  

Chris Benoit's death (and subsequent coverage of it) taught me a valuable lesson about jumping to conclusions in my struggle to make sense of the world.  In the absence of facts, humans have a tendency to fill in the blanks with media-reinforced stereotypes and their own personal beliefs.  I had to force myself to avoid this when I first heard about Taylor's shooting.  It's better to engage in those conversations when more facts are available to us.  To do otherwise in such a situation is unwise, unfair and even irresponsible. 

Let's all try to remember this as the media feeds us material driven to garner ratings rather than just the dull facts.  Remember that violence is an American issue that touches us all, regardless of race.  Thus, it will take the combined efforts of all Americans to combat it.

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