The National Football League has seriously dropped the ball on the Ray Rice situation.
The league has made a martyr of Rice by exploiting him in his domestic violence case, when other players have had situations worthy of reprimand.
The Rice incident didn’t become an issue until we, the public, saw the video. This leads us to a moral question. Do we, as the public, hold our athletes to a higher standard than that of others?
With cases like that of the singers Rihanna and Chris Brown’s incident of domestic violence, the public played a larger role in the situation than what would have held true in days before TMZ, Facebook and Twitter. In each situation there is a difference of opinions and no current rule stands for any national league. When athletes are guilty or accused of being involved in domestic violence, are those issues the concern of public opinion?
When men are putting their hands on females and getting away with it because they are stars, athletes or famous, how big is the problem?
The language we use early on with our children is that boys should not get physical with girls. Can any league forcibly impose morals to state punishment for not adhering to moral standards?
Knowing a lady should be respected and treated as such is one thing, but who can regulate the athletes of our nation to adopt these morals if they choose not to? Would not a man that breaks laws by having domestic violence acts being committed against another be seen as unworthy of our praise and admiration, or do athletes deserve the same respect given to convicts; and once they serve time or fines are imposed as reparations, do we find it a “forgivable sin?”
What would be the appropriate action of society and what is OK by the leagues to impose as rules and what is not? With the knowledge that domestic violence may happen in the home, can we suspend or fire people because they have a home-life that we don’t approve of?
In cases of domestic violence, we often see the victim take the perpetrators back as a vicious cycle of the abuse. Is it not to victimize the significant other of perpetrators even furthermore to put their lover on trial a second time, for the approval of general society?
Simply put, the real issue with domestic violence is a moral issue. To ask that our national sports leagues get involved is ludicrous. In a perfect world, I’d love to tell you how to raise your kids, what to value and approve in your relationship, and what is the true religion for you to put your faith in, but these are each moral standards of our way of living. Women have rights, and should be valued. Yet, no league or organization should be able to get involved in another’s home life.
What will be next? A societal rule set on what morals and values we should all adhere to? If there isn’t an official rule set to the way issues of domestic violence is handled in the world of sports, it just may be that the sports world we all love in our own way shouldn’t be plagued by moral dilemma.