Now The World Don't Move To The Beat Of Just One Drum
Were we the only ones to read Michael Lewis' "The Ballad of Big Mike" in this week's Magazine and feel a little creepy? A little weirded out by the shocking paternalism of the entire thing? The piece centers around Michael Oher, a poor, black Memphian rescued by a rich white family so that he could play football for Ole Miss. (The story actually contains the section head, "A Rich White Family Takes an Interest.")
Let's be clear: The story is touching, as "young man overcomes adversity" stories often are. The rich white family seems genuine in its desire to help this young man (and see him play football at their alma mater, but let's not be uncharitable). It points up some of the uncomfortable facts about race and poverty in this country.
Still - and we're not suggesting a steady diet of Adrian Nicole LeBlanc here; we understand that major publications sometimes need to do good by stealth - the celebration of this family and what they've done for "a first-team freshman All-American," seems to exactly encapsulate what's wrong with our attempts to address inequality in America. Would this have made the cover otherwise? Would Michael Lewis have written about it?
On the other hand, we can't wait until he goes pro and we read the touching story of the hard-working agent who generously lets Oher retain 85% of his salary. That's going to be good stuff.
