Ray Rice is pure evil. Roger Goodell is a corrupt scumbag. And we’re all perfect.
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Ray Rice struck his wife. FIRE THAT MAN.
Roger Goodell may or may not have seen the video of Rice striking his wife. FIRE THAT MAN.
Roger Goodell may or may not have orchestrated a cover-up protecting the NFL from the video of Rice striking his wife. FIRE THAT MAN.
A New Jersey Prosecutor let Rice off with no jail time because NEW JERSEY LAW protected Rice from jail time. FIRE THAT MAN.
GM Danny Ferry repeated a scout’s foolish assessment of Luol Deng’s character in a meeting discussing the potential addition of Deng to the Atlanta Hawks. FIRE THAT MAN.
Steve Bisciotti, owner of the Baltimore Ravens, failed to chase down security footage of the Ray Rice incident even though Bisciotti was reportedly denied the footage by both the casino and the police. FIRE THAT MAN.
John Harbaugh is the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. He supported Rice throughout this ordeal. FIRE THAT MAN.
This is what we’ve become. We don’t care half as much about the act as we do about public shaming and retribution. We’re all Twitter warriors demanding righteous justice, pretending our glass houses are smudge-free.
When was the last time we required a change of ourselves before we demanded it from someone else? You want Ray Rice to receive a lifetime ban and never play football again? Fine, are you going to stop listening to music that demeans women? How about porn? Ready to give that up, too?
You want Danny Ferry to step down as GM? Ok, purge your life of everything with the slightest hint of racism; music, movies, friends, family, etc, etc…
Think John Harbaugh was wrong to stand with someone during a time of need? Would you abandon your friend during a tough time? Isn’t that when a friend needs your support/guidance/encouragement the most?
Would we champion for such swift and extreme justice if it were our rump at stake? Of course not. We’d want the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. Maybe Danny Ferry really was simply reading through memos and didn’t quite think long enough about what he was repeating. That doesn’t make it right, but it certainly doesn’t make it a fireable offense.
Perhaps that tragic night in February between Ray and Janay Rice truly was a one-time event due to excessive drinking. Maybe Rice should be allowed to return to the NFL. I understand women in abusive relationships don’t leave, constantly lie about everything being ok when it’s not and often blame themselves, but we don’t know whether that is or is not the case here. And we don’t care. We want Ray Rice burned at the stake for something that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH US. We don’t even care about Janay Rice (the ONLY victim here). We just want to hate Ray Rice.
Is it wrong to cry for justice? No, no, and no. This is about vengeance, though. We’re angry. We want something done NOW. Justice, as unfortunate as this fact is, requires time and patience. If Roger Goodell saw the video months ago or made an effort to cover up the video, then yes, he deserves to lose his job. But only AFTER the truth is discovered. If Danny Ferry was responsible for the inappropriate notes in those scouting reports, then he too should be punished. Truth and justice go hand-in-hand.
However, the cries for someone’s firing on a whim aren’t about justice. They’re about an angry mob wanting blood. An angry mob so bathed in self-righteousness its fails to smell its own sh**. Instead, it blindly throws stones wherever the winds of public outrage guide it.