"Think of how dumb the average person is,
and realize half of them are dumber than that"
- George Carlin
Many of my readers will write this off as a football post,
but it is a reflection of how gullible the American public is.
The Baltimore Ravens terminated Ray Rice’s contract and the
N.F.L. indefinitely suspended him after explicit video of Rice punching and
knocking out his then-fiancée in an elevator in February was released.
Both the team and the league expressed shock at the video.
Most major media outlets applauded the actions taken by both the team and the league.
The N.F.L. said that during its investigation into the case,
it had not seen the more graphic video.
The league said Tuesday in a statement that it had asked law
enforcement officials for “any and all information about the incident,
including any video that may exist” and “that video was not made available to
us, and no one in our office saw it until yesterday.”
America seemed to applaud the fact that justice had been
served.
Really?
Keep in mind that in no way do I condone abuse (I grew up in a time when a man simply did not hit a woman for any reason), and let’s forget that I struggle with work punishing you for
something you do off the premises and unrelated to your work.
The league had said it initially suspended Rice for two
games in part because prosecutors had dropped the felony assault charge against
Rice in favor of court-supervised counseling.
Seems reasonable.
I’d agree the punishment seemed light
compared to their penalties for other infractions unreleated to the game, but I can see the train
of thought.
In fact, the young lady obviously forgave Rice and felt the
counseling had merit-she still married him!
But the team, the lague, and most of America is acting
shocked at a video of Rice punching and knocking the young lady out!
Goodell (NFL commissioner) is blaming the New jersey
criminal justice system for the league’s “lack of understanding of the severity
of the case.”
What a crock!
We all saw a video of Rice dragging the unconscious woman
off the elevator months ago.
What did these idiots think happened on the elevator?
Did they think Rice growled at her and she fainted?
Is him punching her and knocking her out really such a surprise
turn of events?
Understand-I am not questioning either disciplinary
measure-it’s the feigned surprise by both the team and the league, that no one could
have prediceted the contents of the video released yesterday.
Roger Goodell and the Baltimore Ravens-you both made decisions
a month or so ago that put football first.
Then when public opinion turned on
you, you did not stand behind your decision. So you hung Rice out to dry by cancelling his contract and suspending him.
So I do not applaud you for “doing the right thing.”
Nor do I applaud Nike, who cut ties with Rice, or EA Sports, who removed Rice from their 2015 edition of the Madden NFL video game.
I know that these are just bullshit public relations moves.
If the league and the team really cared about Rice, they'd help him seek out more counseling (if needed) and stand behind him. The only person who seemed sincere in this whole fiasco was the Ravens coach, who maintained his offer of support to Rice.
The rest of America may be kissing your asses but it's because of what
George Carlin says in the quote that opens this post.
They’re stupid.
Which is why this blog has seen so little activity of late. I feel like I am wasting my time.
The few people who regularly read and comment really no not need to read anything I have
to post-they already read most of the sites and publications I do.
The rest of America does not want to think about the reality
that is going on around us.
It would take away from football viewing.
Which you can now do Thursday nights through Monday nights.
That does not leave a lot of time for thought and reflection
on the current state of affairs-it’s far easier just to drink the Kool-Aid.
Now excuse me-I have to do my weekly picks and my fantasy roster. Because THAT'S what's important!
My two bits-
ReplyDeleteI think Rice got the second time what he should have gotten the first time. But now that everyone can SEE what he did and not just read about it, it's time to protect the precious "shield".
I don't have a problem as many do with industries in high profile public arenas having morality clauses in their contracts. I have no problem with "image protecting" done right.
This was not done right... and a bigger black eye IMHO than the "scandal" of telling prospective Super Bowl halftime acts to pay for the privilege.
Is the league better served by standing by him and his wife, in helping them make a go of things? I don't know, ask me again in six months or so when we see if they are still together or she's gone like the wind... or like the ten mill over three years in salary alone he just pissed away. Yes, I'm a cynic on this one.
As to wasting your time- I feel we have so much more opportunity to say our mind, but so much less opportunity to be heard. I suppose one could post it on a Facebook thread, but as I've said before, FB is not for those seeking an honest exchange of ideas, it's for arguing with others who come in with their minds already made up.
What we've gained in one hand, we've lost in another.
But wasting time? No, there are a lot of us out here that need to know there are still people with common sense. The encouragement that we are not alone is always worth the time.
Strive on!
CW-
DeleteIt's not even so much the punishment that is bothering me-it is everyone acting like they did not already know this relatively small woman was beaten by a steroid-infused gorilla (no racial slur intended there).
I agree-he should have been punished more severely the first time out. But the team acting shocked and severing all ties is simply damage control.
Suspend him? Sure.
Without pay? Fine.
Everything else is a farce (in my opinion). They do not give a crap about how women are treated-they were just afraid of season ticket cancellations.
Far cheaper to exchange a handful of China-made Ray Rice jerseys than lose the butts in the seats.
Ain't that America something to see, baby
I only saw the film clip once, and I wasn't prepared for it, so it caught me half-off guard, and I'm not really entirely sure of what was shown, but...
ReplyDeleteDid my eyes deceive me, or did she move toward him first in a threatening manner?
It's an honest question, because I sincerely DO NOT know for sure what I saw in that one quick showing of a 3-second clip. But what I THOUGHT I saw was a woman move quickly toward a man as if she meant to assault him. He then hit her with a punch to the face and she fell unconscious to the elevator floor.
Is that what happened, or has someone else seen the clip numerous times and can verify that my one quick glimpse at that camera footage shows something other than what I THOUGHT I saw?
Because if what I THOUGHT I saw is TRULY what that footage shows...
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Stephen-
DeleteI have not watched the new footage-did not see the point. I watched Rice drag an unconscious woman out of an elevator months ago, and he admitted he hit her.
Not sure if you are implying self defense, but the point i am going for here is the hypocrisy of the NFL's position-like they did not know he hit her.
Today the story is whether the say the video last spring. Again, a snow job-everyone knew he hit her!
That was never in dispute. Yes, watching it may be unsettling, but the fact that he slugged her was known.
My issue (as usual) is with the lack of integrity. A lost quality in the United States Socialist Republic.
But Obama has two more years-maybe with HOPE he can CHANGE that.
I'm moving to Russia and getting the transition over with.
Later, comrade!
Integrity in sports? The media? The US? Surely you jest!
ReplyDelete
DeleteIt was just another sneak attack of temporary sanity
-Todd Rundgren
COMRADE DISCDUDE ~
ReplyDeleteWell, your point is well made and perfectly valid.
I had not followed this story at all (there's actually more important things to think about), but I'm surprised that Ray Price didn't try to frame his action months ago when the earlier video was released as an act of self-defense. I don't know if it was or not, but I do know that serious studies and polls have conclusively shown that women initiate violence against men as often or even more often than men initiate violence against females. (That fact would surprise most of the Americonned Sheeple, I'm sure.)
But regardless, taking all of that conjecture off the table, there's still another thing that irritates me about this (beyond your excellent point that the new video did NOT prove anything that wasn't already known by the media, the law, and the NFL).
Where does the State (and by "State" I mean the Feds, the state, the county, the city, and any other organized body such as the NFL) get off making a crime out of something when the victim has overlooked it?
As you said in the blog bit, this woman was Ray Price's fiancée at the time this event occurred. She's now his wife. So, obviously she forgave him. If the victim of the violence forgave the perpetrator, what right does the NFL have to punish him further and much later?
This happens a lot. Sometimes a crime is committed against a person. The victim chooses not to press charges but the "State" goes ahead and presses charges anyway, and often the person is punished when it was the will of the victim to forgive and move on.
This kind of crap really irritates me, because we are all being conditioned to believe that government is our master, and not the other way around.
Anyway, I guess I'm done with this topic. But I hear what you're saying and I am in full agreement wid ya.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
The whole thing pisses me off, and you're right-I never made the connection of the state basically being offended on someone else's behalf.
DeleteThat's the same BS behind the push to change the Redskins' name, behind half of the politically correct crap that gets raised in this country.
If the victim is willing to forgive the perpetrator, why is the mob mentality that runs this country so intent on moving forward.
To further reinforce the fact that we have no free will at all and that Obama is our Mama!
Oops...that may be interpreted a racist. Call the Hate Crime Police!
DeleteI tried to post before but Blogger ate my comment, so if this posts twice just ignore it/delete it.
ReplyDeleteWhat kills me about the NFL is just all of the inconsistency. Ray Rice was suspended for 2 games for domestic abuse. Meanwhile, our kicker Matt Prater was suspended 4 games for substance abuse (he was drinking). Wes Welker just got suspended 4 games for testing positive for amphetamine, most likely Adderall, an ADHD drug that my wife takes to help focus. Some find this unfair, so as of now the NFL and the players union is squabbling over what proper suspensions should be and who/what should even qualify for a suspension. And as of yet... no one can agree on anything. Maybe the drug policy will be revised and those suspensions will lift. Or maybe they won't. This is the NFL - who f***ing knows!
http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/09/13/no-agreement-nfl-drug-policy
Basically the NFL is admitting that it can't even agree on suspension lengths or what's worthy of a suspension. The Ray Rice thing, the drug thing... everything about this just tells me that the NFL sees an offense and then flies by the seat of its ass and hopes for the best. If the American public doesn't like it, then... well, change it till we make 'em happy!
All this coverage has sure cured me of watching football so far this year...the sad thing is, the public reaction bugs me more than the offenses or the league punishments.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the public's reaction is the same as it was with the Lakers...."we do not like it and the league has to do something!"
Do something yourself, America! Turn off the game and go outdoors!
Remember outdoors?
That's that open air space behind the blinds you closed to block the glare on your 85 inch flat screen.
If enough people turned off their sets, they'd find there was more to life than how many games Rice got suspended for or when the league was allowed to view the tape of Rice beating his fiancé.
Not being a sports watcher, I missed the video of Rice dragging her out of the elevator months ago.
ReplyDeleteI think that your quibble is actually with "celebrity" and how they make all of their decisions based on how the public perceives what the media dishes up. This is not only true for sports people, but actors and actresses and musicians get the same treatment. If they do something/anything that is viewed negatively they may not work ever again.
Remember Natalie Maine of The Dixie Chicks? She exercised her 1st amendment rights and flew her mouth off on tour (in England?) and made some negative comments about then-President GWB and the war in Iraq. That ticked off the soldiers and anyone knows/loves a solder. Dixie Chicks CDs were being burned in trash cans and filmed. Even though they put out one more album and won a Grammy, country radio refused to play them. People didn't buy that Grammy-winning CD and their careers died.
Celebrities of all stripes live and die in the court of public opinion. As Carlin pointed out, the public is dumb as a box of rocks... so that makes any famous person's position precarious at best. So, even though you have that 1st Amendment right, you better damn well keep your mouth shut unless you are spouting off mindless BS that you know everyone will applaud.
That said, I am not applauding Rice for his behavior or the girl's either. I do think she was being mouthy with him (even if you can't hear it) by her body language. And she WAS moving toward him in the video like she might hit him. Who knows? I cannot predict what someone MIGHT do. I think that if he knocked her out in that elevator, he probably hit her other times, too. So, that would be REALLY STUPID to provoke someone who has no qualms about beating you up. (See the Carlin quote above regarding people and stupidity.) That said, people who live in abusive situations... they don't do what the rational person does. They provoke. They stay.
I think that if his team and his sponsors really wanted to help... they'd insist on the counseling. Maybe let him play so long as he is going to counseling. That sh*t isn't going to get "fixed" in one or two sessions. Maybe not one or two years. And his wife should go, too. When the public decides that this is what SHOULD be done... well, then it will happen. Because it is all about image and everyone wants to look like they are doing the RIGHT THING.
Actually, Robin, I think the Dixie Chicks was a great example of the PEOPLE exercising their right.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have a 1st Amendment right to state my opinion in a public forum. You have the right to disagree with me and disapprove.
While I would have found it hard to disagree with a negative assessment of the president at the time, I thought that airing the US's dirty laundry in a foreign country was in bad taste, and I might have boycotted their music had I been a fan.
Would I do the same if it were Todd Rundgren....I honestly do not know.
I do know that I wouldn't be burning CD's (how does further adding to air pollution make a difference?) or demonstrating. I remember Natalie all teary-eyed on TV saying that the public was not respecting her 1st amendment right, but she missed they they have a right to choose what musicians they support.
All that said, this post was less about Rice's behavior (I condemn it) and more about the whole country acting shocked on September 8 about a video of Rice punching his fiancee, when sometime last spring, we all saw a video of him dragging the same young woman from an elevator and he confessed to punching her.
That was the time to be outraged, and only a few women's organizations actually were. Everyone else put winning football games first.
Everything being said this week is shinola.
And your last paragraph nails it-if anyone cared about changing the behavior, Rice would be supported, encouraged into counseling. Protecting the league image will not stop ONE WOMAN from being a punching bag in the future, but maybe some men seeing their sports icon seeking treatment and learning to actually....dare I say it....treat his partner with respect...might lead them to follow suit.
LC
I think I should have been more clear about Natalie and The Dixie Chicks... We live in the court of public opinion. Ergo, celebrities should be very aware that their careers live and die there. The people reserve the right to not financially support people they do not like or agree with. The First Amendment guarantees their right to say it, but they must live with the repercussions afterward.
ReplyDeleteI think the NFL (and other sports, if they are smart) will learn something from this fiasco and make it clear to their players what is and isn't tolerated and NOT fly by the seat of their pants each time a new case presents itself. AND understand that in cases of abuse, the best help they can give a player (and the family) is counseling to unlearn that crap. Not easy, but worth the time and money.
This has been an interesting discussion!
Sadly, Robin, professional sports seems populated with thugs.
DeleteThe fact that there are grown men in this country who need to be told by their employer how to behave is a disgrace by itself.
The fact that the league put winning games first and then backpedaled due to bad press is also a disgrace.
But look at the team owners-their behavior is no better!