Too Cool...

20 years ago a young man from a small rural town in the sate of Alabama, who had already made millions of dollars and millions of fans based on his level of play on a basketball court declared “I AM NOT A ROLE MODEL.” At the time, it was the new catch phrase. Everyone was going around yelling “I AM NOT A ROLE MODEL.” The quote made its way around the world without the help of YouTube or Facebook.

You see 20 years ago, Charles Barkley declared his freedom. Two decades ago, his words had the EXACT opposite impact. Young men all over the world wanted NOT to be role models. They followed Charles's lead and instead of internalizing the entire message behind the famous commercial, most young men only heard “I AM NOT A ROLE MODEL.” Charles Barkley shunned his social responsibility and made it cool to be a F*** up.

The Chuckster NOT looking like a role model

I do not fault the chuckster. A multimillion dollar ad campaign is hard to turn down but in hindsight the message did a large amount of damage to the already weakened role men had in our society. I do not blame the athlete because this is bigger than him. Just like actors and rappers, they are pawns; used to manipulate and distract individuals from the bigger picture.

What if Sir Charles would have accepted his status as a role model and made a commercial for others to do the same? He had the power to make it cool to be a role model.



Sir Chuck had the power --

 I believe there is nothing wrong with doing the right thing; someone just needs to come along and make it cool.