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Sometimes social media is great and sometimes and it shows the ignorance in which some people live their lives. Present company included.

When did the media tell Tim Tebow to keep his faith to himself? I’m pretty sure they were the ones showing endless clips of him praying, playing and Tebowing. Every time that ESPN has gotten the opportunity to talk Tebow they’ve gone out of their way to make him a focus of their programming. The same goes for nearly every other media outlet that has had the opportunity to talk about the former Heisman Trophy winner.

I guess what’s bothering me the most is that people are trying to make some sort of connection between the media and its reporting on Jason Collins coming out as a gay athlete (gay-athlete? Has AP Style Guide gotten an update in this yet?). One side of the argument that I’ve seen is the overwhelming view of hard core Christians saying that the media told Tim Tebow to shut up about his faith and now those same people that put a lid on Tebow are making Jason Collins out to be a hero.

I’m sorry but if this is your view, then you are pretty ignorant or sheltered to the entire situation. Let me put it to you very simply: There is a class of people in this world that has felt on the outside, even scared, for being themselves. Some people ridicule them for what they do but now there is a person who has been brave enough to step out and say publicly that he is willing to bear the cross.

Alright, so maybe the comparison is a bit over the top between Jesus and Collins but so is the argument of the media telling one side they are a hero and the other side to shut up. The very fact we are talking about it should be proof enough that the media has put the information out there and has reported both sides pretty evenly depending on the tilt of your preferred news network.

You know why I think Jason Collins coming out as a gay pro athlete is great? Because we are one step closer to this being less and less of an issue in our society. I guess maybe I’m really different than some but I’ve been accepting of everyone regardless of race, sexuality or nationality for a very long time. If you are gay, great! If you are Christian, awesome! If you come from one of the spaceships that Art Bell thinks dropped us here, neato!

Jason Collins coming out will not end the hate and bigotry. He won’t end the misinformation about homosexuality. But what he does do is make us talk about something that many people chose to ignore and are typically uncomfortable about.

At the end of the day I still expect you to be a decent human being and treat everyone with the same respect that you feel you are entitled too.