On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 7:04 PM, Doug Fields <[email protected]> wrote: > I made the exact same argument as you, below, earlier today, wondering > what everybody’s seeing in the new video that didn’t just confirm what we > were all assuming happened after we saw the first video. The “best” > response anybody could give me was “yeah, but now you actually see the act > as it happens, and it gets everybody’s emotions involved!” Which to me > indicates that (due to the new “emotional” component) the new video should * > *especially** not be used to consider any new/changed punishment. Not > that I’m disputing the need to get the guy out of the game…I would’ve > suspended him for the year based on the first video alone. I just can’t > see what “new evidence” we get with the new release that warrants a change > in punishment that wasn’t dished out in the first place. >
I think your are right about the emotional response to actually seeing the violence, and that explains the change in the public reaction, but I don't see how it relates to the rationale for the NFL's response. There is nothing in the NFL rules (even the new ones) that say that a player gets a 2 game suspension if we only hear about him punching his girlfriend in the face, but gets an indefinite suspension if we actually see it. In its statement today, the NFL said: "We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today." Aside from doubling down on their tactic of shifting blame to the police (which is another issue) this gives the appearance that there was some new information in the video that justifies a new, more severe punishment. But this of course is simply not true - there is no new information in that video. I guess a more honest statement would be something like: "We gave Ray Rice the smallest penalty we thought the public would tolerate. We misjudged that, which is why we issues the new guidelines. The video released today made even the punishment under the new guidelines unlikely to find support among the public, so we went with a larger punishment." And the lesson from the NFL about domestic violence? "Guys, Its not that bad to punch your girlfriend in the face, as long as you make sure not to do it in front of video cameras". -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
