A-skewering We Will Go – Ray Rice Destruction Continues
A
Richard E. Vatz
Is it possible that so few people can see what the over-skewering of
Ray Rice and his wife Janay Palmer Rice says about the perpetrators
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of the skewering?
Just some observations to add to my previous column on this
irresponsibility:
This buying back of Ray Rice sweatshirts is a smarmy, vindictive
smack down of an undilutedly contrite man who made a horrible
error, an error for which he will suffer, but enough, people.
The ganging up on Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National
Football League, whose error-free press conference continued sincere
could
could
efforts to rectify the problem of domestic violence among NFLers,
profes was as unseemly as it was unjustifiable and
profes was as unseemly as it was unjustifiable and
predictable. So many critics, enjoying their newfound spotlight, are
angry anew by the fact that Goodell would not discuss details of
matters under appeal, matters his attorneys have told him not to
discuss publicly.
To the Professionally Outraged: please spare us in the future any
claim regarding how “if only there had been sincere contrition” the
problem would have been solved early on. Really? How far has that
gotten Ray Rice, save his initial (admittedly clumsy – no, he is no
professional orator) comments, again constrained by sound legal
advice.
There have been just a few responsible pundits – WBAL Radio’s
Keith Mills and Jamison Hensley are as excellent a team for analysis
and judgment as I have ever heard, and not just on the Ray Rice case.
Those who want yet more pounds of flesh, you are an
embarrassment to decent discourse over public issues regarding even
unacceptable, outrageous behavior, but in this case outrageous
behavior for which there has been no evidence that it has a history.
The victim, Janay Palmer Rice, has pleaded for you to stop
already, but you don’t really care much about her suffering at this
point.
Professor Vatz is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion
(Kendall Hunt, 2013)
