Ray Rice cleared to play football again

The failure here belongs to the justice system rather than the NFL. The reason his suspension was overturned was because it was unfair and against what was collectively bargained. I listened to his wife and...I believe her. She seems strong and assured and if they have moved forward I wish them the best.
 
I think his wife is saying what HE wants her to say. I think she's probably suffering from batter woman's syndrome to some degree. I remember listening to her earlier this year when she said "it's our life" & DEFENDED Rice's actions. I've heard TOO MANY women do that same thing. A lot of women feel like they have to "keep it private" & suffer in silence, especially when the abuser has a lot of money or status & ppl "don't want to believe" he would do something like that.

I understand the technicality that got Rice's suspension overturned, but what about ETHICS? what about setting a standard & sending a message?
 
I can understand you saying that. Completely.

But I have taken a bit of time to examine what she has been saying as well as coupling it with what I know about Ray Rice. I think that we have to resist the urge to say that every man who ever hits a woman is automatically a batterer and every woman who has been hit is automatically battered. I think that rushing to that conclusion tries to paint every situation as the same and while I understand the desire to protect any woman in this situation, I think that at some point we have to take her at her word. Especially given the outsized amount of power she wields in comparison to your average victim of domestic violence. She is college educated, from a supportive two-parent home and could easily have left or could leave now.

As for the ethics of his suspension being overturned, we have to make certain that we focus on the implications of that. If an employer can ignore what you have collectively bargained in this situation, what keeps him from overruling employee rights in other matters such as perhaps those of race or gender or sexuality or fair pay or working hours and conditions?

The failure in this case was with the Justice System. I am personally not comfortable with the idea of people losing their livelihood over something that has been adjudicated already. The idea of someone losing their career over a misdemeanor doesn't seem right to me.
 
Rampage said:
I can understand you saying that. Completely.

But I have taken a bit of time to examine what she has been saying as well as coupling it with what I know about Ray Rice. I think that we have to resist the urge to say that every man who ever hits a woman is automatically a batterer and every woman who has been hit is automatically battered. I think that rushing to that conclusion tries to paint every situation as the same and while I understand the desire to protect any woman in this situation, I think that at some point we have to take her at her word. Especially given the outsized amount of power she wields in comparison to your average victim of domestic violence. She is college educated, from a supportive two-parent home and could easily have left or could leave now.
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She does have a lot going in her favor as a person, but we've seen other women of similar background facing the same situation & being battered for years. it could be a toss up. we'd think a woman w/ her background & presumed network of support WOULD leave, but some women retreate into shame, embarrassment, self blame...& honestly that's how SHE looked @ her earlier press conferences. She looked & sounded like a scared little deer who was more concerned about her husband's livelihood than her own well being.




As for the ethics of his suspension being overturned, we have to make certain that we focus on the implications of that. If an employer can ignore what you have collectively bargained in this situation, what keeps him from overruling employee rights in other matters such as perhaps those of race or gender or sexuality or fair pay or working hours and conditions?
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I would hope that what would keep an employer from overruling employee rights or collective bargaining in matters of race, gender, sexual orientation/gender identity , fair pay, vs domestic violence is that domestic violence is a crime! if you commit a crime, all bets should be off! collective bargaining shouldn't be used to shield or protect someone who does something as serious as that & even IF it was "just one time"...he should be dragged through the wringer & learn that when you cross that line & commit a crime, you will PAY for it!


The failure in this case was with the Justice System. I am personally not comfortable with the idea of people losing their livelihood over something that has been adjudicated already. The idea of someone losing their career over a misdemeanor doesn't seem right to me.
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I think some things[like domestic violence, child abuse, animal abuse] are WORTH revisiting. Maybe if that happened, Rice & others like him would think TWICE, maybe it would stop others from even STARTING to go down that road.

To me, it seems like the punishment that was given out never matched the serverity of the crime & the NFL commissioner KNEW that from the start.
 
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