Martina: The Czech Wreck (Is ungrateful, whiny, pathetic, shrill socialist)

The Championships at Wimbledon are underway, an event that usually puts me in a fantastic mood. I grew up rooting for such superstars (and personalities) as Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and Martina Navratilova. These role models helped mold my left-handed serve-and-volley game during my teen years. While on the court, I would imagine that I was returning serve like Jimmy, charging the net like Martina, and volleying like Mac the Knife. As I have grown older, I have learned more about who these people actually are. And last week, I received confirmation of what I feared -- Martina Navratilova is really a moron.

In the mid-1970s, Navratilova defected from Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia and became a United States citizen. The process was very traumatic for Navratilova, who was prevented from reuniting with her parents for over two years due to Communist restrictions on travel. Despite her experiencing nearly 30 years of freedom in America, Navratilova made these comments to a German newspaper last week:

"The most absurd part of my escape from the unjust system is that I have exchanged one system that suppresses free opinion for another. The Republicans in the United States manipulate public opinion and sweep any controversial issues under the table. It's depressing. Decisions in America are based solely on the question of 'how much money will come out of it' and not on the questions of how much health, morals or the environment suffer as a result."

Mental illness is the only reasonable explanation for this ridiculous statement. It simply makes no sense. In the 1940s, Czechoslovakia moved from a state governed by savage, barbaric National Socialists to one governed by savage, barbaric Communists. Opponents of the regime were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Speech and assembly against the Communist government were prohibited. The Federal Office for Press and Information censored all press that portrayed the government negatively. Parental rights were infringed upon and religious freedom was compromised.

In 1968, there were some attempts to enact policies aimed at democratization, but Communists immediately cracked down on reformers. Democrats were rounded up, dragged to government inquisitions, and severely punished for their support for a regime change.

On January 1, 1977, Czech reformers wrote the groundbreaking Charter 77, which stated:

"The right to freedom of expression is, in our case, purely illusory. Tens of thousands of our citizens are prevented from working in their own fields for the sole reason that they hold views differing from official ones, and are discriminated against and harassed in all kinds of ways by the authorities and public organizations. Deprived as they are of any means to defend themselves, they become victims of a virtual apartheid."

Many early signatories of Charter 77 were repeatedly detained and interrogated, forced out of their jobs, and made to emigrate, leaving behind families and friends. Supporters of the document reorganized under a group called the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted. They battled the Communists until their fall in 1990.

That Martina Navratilova could possibly compare the horror of Communist Czechoslovakia to current politics in the United States is an outrage. Two motivating factors are likely driving Navratilova's insanity.

First, she opposes the war on terrorism and is extremely angry and bewildered that 95 percent of the American people think that her position is crazy. Navratilova -- like many liberals -- is also incensed that President Bush, a Republican, has a 75 percent approval rating. She interprets the widespread support of the president and his foreign policy -- and the relatively few voices in opposition to either -- as evidence of "suppression of free opinion."

This, of course, is poppycock. No one is preventing Navratilova from speaking out with the rest of her Fifth Column friends. She is free to blame the United States for the September 11th attacks, to sing "Give Peace a Chance," and to lobby for defense spending cuts. In fact, such speech is standard on most American college campuses and on the editorial pages of the New York Times . The difference between Communist Czechoslovakia and the United States is that Navratilova will not be rounded up, tortured, imprisoned, and killed for speaking out against the United States government. Is that distinction too difficult for her to understand? Free speech does not guarantee support for one's opinion, but simply the right to express it.

Second, Navratilova's sexual preference has clearly influenced her thinking. In an ESPN Classic special on the 9-time Wimbledon champion, Navratilova stated that she came to the United States to seek freedom, but just found more oppression due to popular opposition to her lesbian lifestyle.

Navratilova has obviously internalized the psychology of victimhood peddled by the heinous Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the hysterical Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). These groups are so committed to advancing their explanation of "institutional oppression" as the answer to gays' failures that they have convinced leading advocates like Navratilova that American gays' plight is similar to that of victims of Communist barbarism.

The truth is that limited government and free markets have done more to assist gay Americans than any federal program or gay rights group. Free markets increase the likelihood of openly gay Americans being hired by firms, increase the number of gay-owned businesses, and increase the prevalence of private social contracts (for domestic partnerships, property transfers, private adoptions, and so forth). Individual liberty is constrained by government, not free enterprise.

If Navratilova is perturbed that a majority of Americans do not like her sexual lifestyle, who cares? She is entitled to her opinion and they are entitled to theirs. In a free society with limited government and freedom of movement (i.e. not Communist Czechoslovakia), Navratilova can choose her circle of friends and neighbors, can decide where she wants to shop, and can engage in all sorts of private contracts. She ought to thank God everyday that she is fortunate enough to live in the United States, where individual liberty is -- albeit diminishingly -- valued.

Instead, Navratilova had the gall to whine about American treatment of Muslims. The Guardian reported:

"Referring to the negative treatment of Muslims, Navratilova, who is now an American citizen, said: 'Today more people have been turned into enemies because of their religion than in both world wars put together.'"

Sorry, honey, nice try. Christians, Jews, and Westernized Muslims around the world are not clamoring for war. They are not trying to murder infidels. They are not sending kids out with bombs strapped to their bodies.

We are in a war of civilizations, a war to defend the Culture of the West against attack from sub-human savages. Navratilova's hatred of the major world religions -- presumably because of their universal condemnation of homosexuality -- has blinded her to reality.

But what about the way that her beloved "oppressed" Muslims of the East treat homosexuals? Under Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, gays were rounded up and crushed under stone walls or thrown off of high cliffs. In Egypt, headlines such as "Since Egyptian Gays Have No Rights, Their Rights Need No Defense" are commonplace. There -- as well as in Saudi Arabia -- gays are imprisoned and often beheaded.

Where the hell is Martina Navratilova on these atrocities? Presumably, she would rather identify with the "oppressed peoples" of the East and take potshots at world religions than defend individual rights and limited government.

Martina Navratilova is a tennis legend and was one of my all-time favorite sports heroes. She could have been a great symbol of American promise and individualism. Instead, she has become an ungrateful, whiny, pathetic, shrill socialist. Perhaps she should renounce her citizenship again and find a more fitting homeland...say France.

Lesbians get a free pass? Hell, can I plead to being a lesbian trapped in a man-body, if only to get accepted at the junior college of my own choosing, eh?
Say 'yes' and I'll consider giving you a cut of the action.

TLBSHOW, I salute you!

Carry On!

It is disgusting that this ----------! would first seek sanctuary in our country and then sh-t on us.

My mother is a naturalized citizen and getting rather elderly, but she could and would kick Martina Notknowswhenshehasitgood's butt if she was in the same room with Martina.

Quoting Martina: 'Today more people have been turned into enemies because of their religion than in both world wars put together.'

Quoting Martina: 'Today more people have been turned into enemies because of their religion than in both world wars put together.'
To the degree that this is true, it is due to the tenents of the religion.

sorry, the first one is in error

The Championships at Wimbledon are underway, an event that usually puts me in a fantastic mood. I grew up rooting for such superstars (and personalities) as Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and Martina Navratilova. These role models helped mold my left-handed serve-and-volley game during my teen years. While on the court, I would imagine that I was returning serve like Jimmy, charging the net like Martina, and volleying like Mac the Knife. As I have grown older, I have learned more about who these people actually are.

C'mon, McEnroe and Connors were *known* for being jerks -- in fact, they knew that their "bad boy" images were good for business. If this writer didn't know that John and Jimmy were obnoxious louts, then he didn't pay very much attention to them.

The perils of cavorting with the fringe that made her (in)famous

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