2021
September
08
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

September 08, 2021
Error loading media: File could not be played
 
00:0000:0000:00
00:00

The National Football League has seldom been a standard-bearer for good behavior. Domestic violence and other off-the-field illegal or immoral activity are often ignored or inconsistently addressed. But as the pro football season begins Thursday, there’s a noteworthy attempt to raise the bar on good sportsmanship. 

NFL referees have been instructed to strictly enforce the no-taunting rule. Two taunting violations during a game will result in a player’s ejection, and a possible fine or suspension. 

What does taunting look like? Typically, it’s when a player stands over an opponent and mocks, baits, denigrates, or tries to embarrass them. On a school playground, it would be called bullying. 

Some players and fans have responded with grumbling, reviving the criticism that NFL stands for “No Fun League.” But the NFL has seen recent cases of taunting escalate into brawls between players. 

And coaches seem to recognize that this is about more than the NFL. “Hey, guys, you can celebrate. You can have a good time,” said Ron Rivera, coach of the Washington Football Team, last month. “But let’s don’t taunt your opponent, because ... it is not a good look. Quite honestly, we don’t need the young people to see that. We don’t need the Pop Warner, peewee football kids seeing us act like that.”

No, we don’t. 

In a nation beset by store clerks assaulted for enforcing mask rules, angry diners, and families riven by political differences, perhaps we need more flag-throwing referees. At least the most popular sport in America is taking a modest stand for respect.


You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.

Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Our reporter looks at the thorny issue of whether the U.S. government – or Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms – should decide what constitutes harmful misinformation and take steps to curb its spread.

Roman Bosiacki/Agencja Gazeta/Reuters
Activists holding signs with the logo of the TVN Group rally in defense of media freedom and against a bill that would strengthen a ban on firms from outside Europe owning Polish broadcasters – like TVN – in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Aug. 12, 2021.

Here’s another look at limiting free speech. Using tactics employed in Russia and Hungary, Poland’s conservative ruling party is moving to curb criticism by an American-owned TV network. Some Polish journalists are turning, for now, to online outlets.

Erika Page/The Christian Science Monitor
Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd's sculpture Non-Violence is seen in Malmö, Sweden, Aug. 5, 2021. In 2018, Malmö became the first city in Sweden to implement an anti-violence strategy based on the American model of group violence intervention.

Our reporter visits Malmö, Sweden, to learn how trust-building strategies developed in Boston help reduce gang violence. A message of community respect can be powerful to those who often feel shut out of society.

Essay

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
People visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., April 27, 2021.

Our columnist looks at Martin Luther King Jr.’s practice of nonviolent resistance – based on unconditional love – and why it still offers a radical guide to healing divisions today. The first installment of an occasional series exploring King’s legacy.

Books

Here’s a poignant, personal review of six books about 9/11 that chronicle the courage of first responders, the generosity and grace of ordinary people, as well as the rise of Al Qaeda and the failure of U.S. intelligence.


The Monitor's View

AP
People in China's Hubei province push a van with disaster relief supplies to help those caught in mass flooding last month.

In its latest attempt to alleviate poverty in China – nearly half the population remains poor – the ruling Communist Party last month turned to an unusual source. It announced that wealthy people and companies should donate to charities, which are closely regulated. With a hint of coercion, party leader Xi Jinping said the rich would be motivated by social pressure to “give back.”

The hint was quickly taken, especially by tech firms. E-commerce giant Alibaba, for example, pledged $15.5 billion to social programs. Donations from billionaires are now about 20% higher than a year ago. With the party in firm command of the economy, no wealthy person or corporation wants to be tagged an “iron rooster” – so stingy as not to share even a feather – or possibly be subjected to tough government treatment.

For China’s charities, which have grown along with the nation’s wealth, the added flow of private money was welcomed. But many worry that forced philanthropy is no philanthropy at all. Generosity starts with empathy, such as toward people in impoverished situations. A climate of coerced donations might put a damper on individual giving, the kind that is done from the heart and not in response to implied threats.

The good news is that Mr. Xi recognizes that the party needs private giving for various goals. He just wants to funnel donations in state-directed ways and not create power centers that threaten the party’s control over society.

This is a long way from 1949 when the party took over China and banned private charity. Only in 1994 did it admit that philanthropy was compatible with communist ideology. By 2016 it passed a law that both regulated charities and encouraged giving with tax incentives.

Public generosity has taken root again in China, a reflection of its Confucian past, and especially so with the ease of giving over the internet. It is now seen as part of China’s social safety net, with or without a government nudge.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

What can we do to support progress and human rights in Afghanistan and elsewhere? Acknowledging that everyone is capable of feeling God’s healing, guiding, strengthening presence is a powerful place to start.


A message of love

Steve Helber/AP
Devon Henry, owner of the construction company that removed the statue, hugs his mother, Freda Thornton, after he removed one of the country's largest remaining monuments to the Confederacy, a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, on Sept. 8, 2021.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us. Come back tomorrow: We’re working on a story about a Sudanese man teaching digital storytelling in a Ugandan refugee camp.

More issues

2021
September
08
Wednesday
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us