SC License Plate

Arden Key

Best MAC QBs

TTU Painting

Danny Green

Saddest Part of Manti Te’o Hoax Is Us

2 Comments

By Jim Weber

As deplorable as the Manti Te’o fake dead girlfriend hoax is, the most disturbing part of the whole scandal to me has been the public’s vitriol, which speaks so poorly of us as a whole and the society we live in today.

Just take a look around the internet at all of the anger with Te’o, whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook or the the comments sections of stories. Granted, these places are known to bring out the worst in society, but this schadenfreude and ill-will towards Te’o seems prevalent among the general public, too.

Personally, I believe Te’o is only guilty of lying about meeting Lennay Kekua as he said and greatly exaggerating the details of the relationship. But whether he’s telling the truth or not has been discussed ad nauseam over the past week and isn’t the point of this column.

Let’s just say he was behind this hoax to supposedly drum up publicity for himself. Yes, it would be one of the most insanely idiotic things an athlete has ever done. But I still wouldn’t hate Te’o for what would be a victimless “crime.”

Sure, I would feel much less sorry for Te’o and think he needs serious mental help. But my overwhelming feeling would still be empathy for a soon-to-be 22-year-old kid whose desperate cry for attention has forever altered his life and led to national ridicule that will follow him forever.

I get that part of this backlash against Te’o is in reaction to the way the media built him up as a “saint” – as literally described by Sports Illustrated’s Thayer Evans – but it really disturbs me that people want to believe Te’o is behind the hoax because of all the anger they are harboring against him.

Meanwhile, other athletes that have been proven (Michael Vick, Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods) or accused (Ben Roethlisberger, Kobe Bryant, Ray Lewis) to have committed far, far worse misdeeds no longer face the amount of public scorn it appears Te’o will confront for years to come.

Look, I’m not asking for you to believe Te’o. But if you don’t, keep in mind that Te’o will pay a lifelong price for this hoax whether he was behind it or not. So stop yourself from passing judgment, condemning and hating a kid over this.

Because I find that the most reprehensible thing of all.

Jim Weber is the founder of LostLettermen.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @JimMWeber and @LostLettermen.

8:58 AM on 1/22/2013
  • Brent

    I would agree its wrong to hate him for this, no matter what the circumstances. Human beings make mistakes, it’s part of who we are, and we should forgive and move on. However, there are two things that will still continue to bother me with this.

    First, regardless of whether his embellishments were a hoax or to hide his embarassment, his and Notre Dame’s success made sure that his lies were not necessarily victimless crimes. A huge part of his narrative for Heisman and the Orlando awards was not only his undeniable skill, but that he overcame so much. Does he win the Butkus, Walter Camp, or other accolades without his narrative? My honest guess is that he wins perhaps some, but not necessarily others. Jarvis Jones, Jadaveon Clowney, or Johnny Manziel are arguably victims of his lies.

    Second, this isn’t distinct to Te’o, but really to anytime a national, seemingly trustworthy figure is crestfallen. It contributes to a growing national sense of cynicism. Perhaps that’s more or less a good thing, as we shouldn’t hold athletes or any national figure up worthy role models. As human beings they are just as a fallible as the rest of us. But we do want to believe, and we do want to have our trust and faith rewarded. At the very least, if Tim Tebow has some less than Christian actions in his personal life, this Te’o story has prepared me to be far less surprised.

  • JF1Edge

    It’d be nice if we could all get away from being automatically pessimistic; I agree. One of the things we face now is that, with social media being so prevalent, everything anyone says is over-analyzed, often beyond its importance. I’d be more concerned with his mental state or his intelligence, to be honest.

    The intelligence will likely play out through NFL testing. Based on what I’ve heard him say so far, that knife isn’t real sharp but perhaps we’ll see differently. If not, how quickly would an investigation into Notre Dame’s academic integrity for football players kick off? So that’s one thing I’m curious to see play out in the next few months.

    If he simply doesn’t speak well, then I, too, am truly concerned for his mental state. He’s, well, he doesn’t come off real well, and the nature of what happened makes it easy to question everything about him so it’s a concern.

    The hatred, though, is unnecessary and has to stop. We do too much of that to people, even those we know, thanks to the ability to hide behind a keyboard or phone these days. It’s societal and I hope we can learn from what we’re doing and correct it.