OK, you know sometimes these public floggings of celebs caught red-handed (these days routinely exposed by Youtube video) can get almost as ugly as the events that precipitate them.
Yes, I am appalled and disgusted by the video of Ray Rice punching out his fiance in an elevator. I don’t want to see it again…ever.
I would like a show of hands…
How many have endured familial episodes of domestic violence (by the way, my own hand is raised right now)?
And it occurs in millions of homes and situations across the land every moment of every day.
Should it be roundly condemned?
Of course it should.
Should one man be singled out for selective judgment against every episode of domestic abuse?
No, in my opinion he shouldn’t.
According to the predominant religion of the land, we’ve already had someone sacrificed for “our” sins.
Oh for sure, the natural reaction to a video like that is to seek vengeance.
It seems every guy out there wants to punch Ray out…probably a few who are just as guilty as he is.
And every woman would surely like to see him subjected to an even worse and more permanent fate.
But vengeance won’t solve the bigger problem.
Violence against violence usually begets more of the same.
Scapegoating one guy who happens to be a pro football star, who was caught in the act, is not going to solve this issue.
It’s kinda like capital punishment. Sure it makes us feel better that “justice” has been administered…
but the crime still goes on, wholly undeterred.
My views should in no way be taken as excusing the behaviour of Ray Rice. He should be punished and he will be (in fact, he’s already been pretty severely “clocked”).
Should his life be completely and utterly destroyed?
No, I don’t think so…not if he’s truly repentant about the act.
And it appears that he is.
So, why not get away from publicly crucifying one man and place our focus on the much bigger issue…
Violence, specifically in this case, domestic violence…
but maybe its a good excuse to attack the whole issue of violence in our society…in general…
because, in my opinion, there’s way too much of it.
Speaking as one who endured the horror of domestic violence as a child…
(you see, the victims aren’t just the ones that get battered.)
I will say that the sort of violence that occurred on that video is deplorable, but in reality it’s something that we humans do to one another all too often.
How about we just stop that altogether?
That’s the point of this post.
You see, the issue is really not Ray Rice…
It’s us.
image credit: zwartevis via Compfight cc
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