I’ve done far worse than kill you, Admiral. I’ve hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her; marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet… buried alive! Buried alive…!
For my money, there is no better revenge villain than Star Trek’s Khan Noonien Singh. Played wonderfully by Ricardo Montalbán, Khan struts and frets about space as a cryogenically unfrozen genetically superior man from the 1990s, seeking vengeance on James T. Kirk, who had banished Khan to the uninhabited Ceti Alpha V during an episode of the original Star Trek series entitled “Space Seed.” With bravado and wit, Khan attempts to destroy Kirk, all the while quoting two of literature’s most arrogant and obsessive revenge characters: Milton’s Satan and Melville’s Ahab. Inevitably, Khan’s insatiable lust for vengeance leads to his demise — a victim of his own hubris.
Former Minnesota Viking punter Chris Kluwe might well find a kindred spirit in Khan. No, Kluwe is not a villain, but he does believe that he was unfairly exiled from the NFL, he might well be genetically superior as a professional athlete who was also, apparently, a child prodigy, and he is most definitely on a quest for vengeance.
For those unfamiliar with Kluwe, he was the Vikings punter from 2005 until 2012 when he was released by the team after the Vikings drafted Jeff Locke out of UCLA. Though Kluwe had tryouts with the Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, and Chicago Bears, he remains out of football. In January 2014 Kluwe published a piece on Deadspin in which he expressed confidence that his release was the direct result of his gay rights activism, driven by the homophobic bigotry of his special teams coach Mike Priefer and placated by the cowardly passivity of then head coach Leslie Frazier and general manager Rick Spielman. After the article was written, the Vikings hired two lawyers to conduct a private investigation to review Kluwe’s allegations, and Mike Priefer vehemently denied the accusations. On July 15th Kluwe and his lawyer held a press conference to announce intentions to sue the Minnesota Vikings for failing to release the final report from their private investigation.
Since the release of Kluwe’s Deadspin piece and the subsequent involvement of lawyers, there have been different interpretations of Kluwe’s motivation. At present, from a technical, legal perspective, Kluwe is suing the Vikings for “religious discrimination, sexual-orientation discrimination, defamation and ‘tortious interference with contractual relations’.” Kluwe’s lawyer, Clayton Halunen, stated that Kluwe has “one motivation, and that is to do his part in eliminating homophobia in professional sports, including at the Minnesota Vikings and in the NFL.” Kluwe’s most recent discussions with media agree with his lawyer’s original assertion. On the importance of the Vikings releasing the report to the public Kluwe said “”I think it’s important that everyone is able to see what’s there. Yeah, it will probably hurt. These things always do. But the only way we’re ever going to fix it is if we acknowledge that and make changes, systematic changes all the way through the organization, up through management and say that we are not going to tolerate this kind of thing anymore. We’re not going to tolerate our people being discriminated against. So, yeah, just hope they make it public.” And while online commenters, as they always do, debate the “true” intentions behind Kluwe’s article and lawsuit (supporters who agree that Kluwe is taking a stance against homophobia in the NFL, and detractors who claim Kluwe is just seeking attention), few still categorize Kluwe’s motivation as personal revenge.
In his original Deadspin article, however, Kluwe actually wrote plainly his motivation, and it reads not unlike the quotation from Khan atop this article: “If there’s one thing I hope to achieve from sharing this story, it’s to make sure that Mike Priefer never holds a coaching position again in the NFL, and ideally never coaches at any level.” Marooned for all eternity… Perhaps Kluwe thought of that old Klingon proverb as he wrote the piece.
But unlike Khan, who was so dead set on revenge that he never wavered, Kluwe claimed a change of heart. A day after retaining legal council Kluwe wisely distanced himself from his original stance on Priefer, stating “After thinking about it, after reflecting on it, I don’t think an appropriate punishment is if he never coaches again. I think it would be better if he got therapy, if he got counseling, and then a year or two from now, come back into the league as a role model, help out with LGBT groups, and show people that this is an important issue. What he said is very hurtful, but people can change.” It is worth emphasizing that Kluwe changed his stance only after obtaining a lawyer, and only after hearing the public response to his article, and it should come as no surprise that he would do so. Such court cases are often fought in the court of popular opinion before reaching a settlement, and revenge — an act which proposes retaliatory violence or harm — does not always go over well with the public. It’s difficult to characterize yourself as a champion for gay rights when the “one thing” you hope to achieve is the banishment of one specific individual. And herein lies a crucial difference between Kluwe and Khan: Kluwe has the ability to influence his own narrative whereas Khan is a character authored by someone else.
Kluwe’s Deadspin piece speaks to the importance of character, authorship, and agency in these sorts of public narratives. By creating a narrative of his meetings, Kluwe is able to makes characters of Priefer, Spielman, and Fraizer in that Kluwe does not merely recount quotations, but provides subjective descriptions of tone and feeling. Frazier spoke to him “in a flat voice” and the “atmosphere was tense as I left the room”, Mike Priefer uttered his “nuke the gays” comment in “one of the meanest voices I can ever recall hearing” after which “The room grew intensely quiet” (my emphasis) and “The atmosphere was decidedly tense.” In establishing his narrative, Kluwe does what all authors do when they create monsters: be suggestive about the monsters intentions, but never give the monster any actual agency or voice. Thus, while we do not know for sure what Priefer was thinking when he made his comments, Kluwe directs us to a conclusion when he characterizes Priefer’s voice as “one of the meanest… I can ever recall hearing.”
The point of bringing up Kluwe’s vengeance and the subjective nature of his narrative is not to judge him morally as good or bad, but to demonstrate that these issues are more complex than whatever moral high-ground we try to attach to them. It is just as unlikely that Kluwe is a bitter ex-NFL player who is only trying to stay relevant, as it is that Kluwe is a martyr for gay rights, sacrificing his career to make the NFL a better place. If we read the account of Kluwe’s meetings from Priefer’s perspective (even with same quotations) the narrative would come across decidedly different. This is also not to suggest that Kluwe is not attempting to be truthful in his Deadspin piece, but instead to suggest that truth and history are subjective things in themselves.
So what should Kluwe do, then? From a literary perspective, I say embrace your revenge, Kluwe. Resurrect Old Testament Kluwe from the Deadspin article and banish this forgiving Jesus Kluwe and his lawyer. Why not? Even Khan managed to demonstrate a just cause behind his actions. You can still be a gay rights activist and want to see Priefer fired forever. Sure, obsessing over revenge might yield disastrous results like it did for Khan and for Ahab, but ask yourself this: would you be satisfied, after recreating your image as a forgiving, truth seeking, make-football-a-better-place person, if the Vikings decided that Priefer will retain his job and take a “sensitivity training”? Because unless you’ve truly changed your stance, and you truly don’t wish to see Priefer exiled from the NFL, it’s unlikely the Vikings will willingly part with one of the best special teams coaches in football. So go ahead, Kluwe. Chase Priefer ’round the moons of Nibia and ’round the Antares Maelstrom and ’round perdition’s flames before you give him up. You can’t be a martyr who also seeks revenge. That’s hubris.
The Base Football Player 
