Oakland A’s bench coach Ryan Christenson is under fire from the angry Left and their social justice warriors over what was very clearly a mistake.
The accident occurred after yesterday’s game against the Texas Rangers.
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As players were returning to the dugout, and as is often the case, coaches and players were there to greet them and congratulate them on the victory.
Traditionally high fives, fist-bumps and the like are exchanged here, but this is 2020 and thus people are forced into awkward exchanges of elbow bumps, air-high fives and the like.
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However, Christenson accidentally added a gesture that was not well received when he raised his right arm and performed, what this angry Twitter follower below called a Nazi salute.
And while the gesture certainly does resemble the salute, you can see how the interaction is all a misunderstanding and an accident. A player sees it and corrects him, and Christenson seeing his mistake and then does it again to make fun of himself for not realizing what he had inadvertently done.
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You can watch the exchange below.
A clear Nazi salute from Oakland @Athletics bench coach Ryan Christenson today. His apology does not suffice.pic.twitter.com/wAtP6TDuy5
— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) August 7, 2020
He later apologized saying “today in the dugout I greeted players with a gesture that was offensive. In the world today of [COVID-19] I adapted our elbow bump, which we do after wins, to create some distance with the players.” He continued, “I made a mistake and will not deny it. My gesture unintentionally resulted in a racist and horrible salute that I do not believe in. What I did is unacceptable, and I deeply apologize.”
And while there has been outrage over the gesture, such as from the Twitter troll who was looking for something to be mad about, it doesn’t take an FBI body language expert to see very clearly in the video that it’s an honest mistake and then is laughed about.
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But again, this is 2020 and the mob wants to be angry over something and is no longer able to think objectively.
We get that tensions are at an all-time high in the U.S. in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, and everyone’s actions and words are under the microscope, but people are still entitled to their own opinions and certainly are allowed to make mistakes. As a reminder, there is not a single person walking the planet who does not make mistakes.
Yet, any deviation from the social justice mob’s views on life results in backlash and potentially being “canceled,” which hopefully will not happen to Christenson who clearly had no malintent in this instance.
The organization, was also apparently scared of being canceled because they too issued a statement:
Sure it will be nice when COVID is over, but everyone will get back to a more normal life much faster if people will stop looking for something to be outraged over, and if level-headed Americans will stop feeling like they need to capitulate to the angry mob.
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