I am not one of these people who thinks there is nothing admirable in athletic achievement, nor that it is impossible for someone to ask for forgiveness and deserve it, but if it were a just world all Mr. Bryant”s obituaries would begin “Kobe Bryant, who admitted raping a woman in Colorado even as he in the end faced no consequences for it, died today in Los Angeles in a helicopter crash.” That most of the commentary today (not per se on FR) has been about what a swell basketball player he was is a sign that morally we are not a serious people. Rape is a very serious crime, and that someone could get away with it because he was a great athlete in no way alters that.
Decent men know that no means no. By this criterion Kobe Bryant, who AFAIK never apologized in person to the woman in CO whose life he presumably destroyed and who might have raped other women, lived a disgraceful life because of the CO incident. If he were a decent man, after escaping legal consequences for raping that woman he would have apologized personally and then gone on to work to help men not rape women as he did. IOW, should have lived the life worthy of someone who got away with a disgraceful crime.
I don’t believe Kobe raped the woman in CO. I do believe he had consensual sex with her. I believe there is a pattern of behavior with powerful men where women have wanton sex with them. And powerful men “expect” it.
Decent men have no idea what some of their male pals are doing. They find it hard to believe that it happens a lot.
Think of the number of men who abuse and kill their wives and girlfriends. Multiply that number.
Everything you write can and has been said about Trump.
There is no accusation that Bryant was a serial rapist. He died on his way to coach his daughter’s team.
There is one he said/she said incident from near 20 years ago. He was never convicted of any crime and paid off the accuser. If you want to castrate a man for that so be it. I choose to judge Bryant by body of his work and not that one incident.