Now former Baltimore Ravens' running back Ray Rice has, once and for all, been dropped from the NFL. After striking his wife (then fiancé) in a hotel elevator to the point of unconsciousness, Rice's case was under investigation by Atlanta City law enforcement officials. However, the hallway surveillance video of Rice dragging his fiancé out of the elevator and to their room was not released until a TMZ report on Monday, September 8, 2014. Only after the video was released to the public did Rice receive just punishment in the form of his contract with the Ravens being terminated. Before the video was made public, Rice's only repercussions had been a two game suspension, per the NFL's rules on domestic violence committed by a player. This penalty was given under the guise that the NFL had not known the severity of the violence committed by Rice, but a hotel employee revealed to TMZ that the NFL had access to the security footage from the hallway even before the suspension was given. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been working on the NFL's cover, answering any and all questions regarding the matter by claiming ignorance, though such ignorance has been disproven. Evidence of this invalidation of ignorance comes in the form of the NFL changing its suspension policy for domestic violence, now giving a suspension of six games for such acts. It is suspected that no one will pick Rice up after this stunt, especially considering Nike cut their ties with him and EA Sports has removed him from their Madden 15 video game.
The way this news is presented is as if it is political. The spokesperson for the NFL is like any other politician, trying to appease the public after a terrible scandal in order to save their job. The article focuses more on the NFL's efforts to clean up their mess, rather that the criminal nature of this news. Legal actions taken against Rice are not mentioned, nor is the physical or mental well-being of the victim, his current wife. It is worrying to see that laws are not enforced due to social status or "classes" if you will. Just because someone is a celebrity does not mean they have a get out of jail, or rather court, free card. If there are allowances made for people who are very visible in the media, then how are we to trust the law enforcement unseen by the public eye?
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/sports/football/ray-rices-wife-defends-him-and-criticizes-the-media.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSumSmallMedia&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
I heard about this event prior to reading this post; the outraged caused in the time period where he was only suspended for two games was incredible. After seeing the violent video, I think that the punishment he got in the end was understandable.
ReplyDeleteI read about this on the skimm and heard about it on the radio. It is absolutely insane what celebrities can get away with. I read that it is near to impossible that the NFL didn't know about the incident and they were likely ignoring it so they could avoid losing a valuable member. Goes to show how selfish one's perspective can be
ReplyDeleteYes, it is crazy how celebrities can get away with something like this. This is something that goes against much of what we were founded on. We're supposed to make our own opportunities and have equal judgement, but in this example, we can see that his social status has saved him from the necessary judgement.
ReplyDeleteThis is so crazy. When he received his first punishment of not being able to play for two games i was enraged. I couldn't believe that he was going to get away with beating up on his fiance. I think that the new punishment is much better and maybe now he will learn from his mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your opinions about this incident. However, is his punishment really just? He's been suspended from six games, looses contracts with leading brands and that's it. To a celebrity, this is just a slap on the wrist. Let's not override the fact that he WILL be in future games and he WILL continue to be the face of various campaigns, etc. in the future. At the end of the day, he's going back to the luxurious life he has always led. What the public should be looking at, is what can we do to make sure this doesn't happen again, anywhere.
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