So here we go with another Twitter battle. A guy named Morgan Reed makes the following observation.
“Hard to believe that a player in a helmet defendin' a football makes more money than a soldier in a helmet defendin' his country.”
— Morgan Reed (@_Morganism_) September 23, 2013
And, in response, NFL offensive lineman Ty Nsekhe puts forth his wisdom in the matter.
@_Morganism_ @debostic it doesn't take much skill to kill someone
— T.Y. Nsekhe (@TY_Nsekhe) September 23, 2013
Of course Nsekhe is taking a beating for the remark, and it’s deserved. But I can’t help but consider that the original observer deserves some correction as well.
The pay sources of military members—government--and professional athletes—private entities--are radically different.
Long ago, owners of professional sports teams discovered that many, many people were willing to pay large amounts of money to see, in-person, the contestants battle it out. And those who could not afford to do so were willing to watch the games on TV—which gave the owners another huge source of income: broadcast networks. And then there were advertisements and endorsements from other private entities, and so on.
With all of that money coming in, it became a financial necessity to pay the best players more and more money in order to attract the stars to individual teams. And, of course, the compensation of the lesser lights among the pros followed accordingly.
In contrast, military members, many of whom have very advanced physical, educational, and technical training--and most of whom, do not kill people, by the way, Mr. Nsekhe—are paid by the government and that government sets pay and benefits for each rank. Even a five-star general has his/her pay and benefits set in stone until the next pay-raise is sanctioned by Congress--by the Legislative Branch of the US government.
Therefore, both observations are without context and merely inflame emotions, both purposefully and accidentally.
And here’s something else: no one should care about the huge salaries of professional athletes, other than the private individuals paying those salaries. This is still a capitalist country—at least for the next week or so—and money/class envy is the root of all socialism.
As a USAF/USAFR retiree, I am happy for anyone who can make as much money as possible. When others in the private sector can be generously compensated, it’s not some sort of denigration of my voluntary, if low-paying, service to my country, Mr. Reed.
So, keep making that money, Mr. Nsehke…if you can. I hear the Rams waived you. But that doesn’t mean that, in the interval, you can’t continue your informal education. Start with the history of our military. Google Bing is your friend.
(Thanks to Twitchy)
And speaking of money...
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