Does Michael Jordan have any more responsibility than staying in practice and looking good? I don’t believe he does, and I don’t want him to be a model of anything more than great performances and unnecessary consumer goods. That is why I’m troubled by the mounting criticism of his lack of social concern. It’s a distant drumbeat at the moment, but it will grow louder as the movement against Nike gains momentum and as Jordan comes to the end of his playing career. . . . I do not want Jordan telling children how to conduct their lives–even if he’s right. It is only through the moral laziness of parents, commentators and youth counselors and the greed of television and corporate executives that ordinary people with extraordinary talents become “role models.” Asking Jordan to use his swooshy pulpit for worthy causes is buying into the mission of the Celebrated Church of Mutant Morphin Michael Barbies, which is to move units of products. This is a god that always will fail.
