Does it strike anyone else that we've most certainly breached the absurd here in our world?
I mean, ESPN has suspended Simmons because he called NFL Commissioner, Goodell, a liar. He dared them to do it, so they kind of had to, admittedly, but certainly he's most likely not wrong. And Goodell is on the hot-seat for how he's handled, or mishandled, as the case may be, the "Ray Rice incident" and by extension, the issue of domestic violence more generally, in the NFL. Good grief. It makes my stomach turn just to refer to "it" that way - the incident, "the issue of..." ....it's about power and violence. It's about our legal system and its laws and how it protects men first, over/against women and children. Period. And no one is talking about that. No one.
Yes, some are talking about systemic problems. Or want to. Some want the league and the nation and communities and coaches and players to talk about power and systems and agencies and services to talk about gender and roles and jokes and what zero tolerance means. Kudos to Hannah Storm. And Keith Olbermann. And Bill Simmons. But where is the conversation about how the law does not protect women and children. Where is the conversation about an assault that was recorded on video, resulting in an arrest and a charge, ended in a plea of not guilty and no conviction. How do our laws result in that? And how does that happen even with an uncooperative victim? Even if the victim does not want to press charges (and there are all kinds of reasons why she might not want to, and I do not begrudge her that or blame her or question her - she has rights and reasons for how her life moves forward that are hers to choose - I wish for her the strength and respect and space she deserves, and I wish for her every access to support that victims of domestic violence ought have.), THERE IS A VIDEO TAPE OF THE ASSAULT! That should be enough for a District Attorney to press charges and find the assaulting party guilty of something more than anger management or behavioral correction classes. Mr. Rice, himself, admits remorse for his actions, though he pleads not guilty - how absurd!
And that brings us to the NFL and the continued absurdity. After it happened, the coach of the Ravens says you have to look to Ray Rice's character...what?! He hit her and knocked her unconscious. If he has "good" character, he admits what he has done and takes responsibility for his actions. And the Commissioner and the league...the only reason they backpedaled this summer is because of the outcry after TMZ released the actual recording of the hit. Good grief. Again. You have to see the video of the actual assault. You can't just know it occurred. And the fans, too, for that matter. They were okay until they saw the actual assault. The video makes the difference. Not the transcript and reports of the assault. What's the message here - pictures make the difference. They do say, "a picture's worth a thousand words." All of this returns to the point - our legal system and laws do not protect women and children. They are written and enforced to protect men. And until we as a society acknowledge this truth, domestic violence will continue to occur at the rates it does, to the extent it does, as viciously as it does, and women and children, in particular will suffer.
I could end by saying - "and so the absurdity abounds" and that's the end of it. And while I don't exactly feel so optimistic about the situation - I mean, the NFL is a billion-dollar industry-run by white men and so is the broadcasting industry (both rather disheartening truths with a capital T, really!!) and it's ultimately about the bottomline, right?!, I'm the parent of three children, and I can't accept that we just accept such absurdity. I can't accept that we abandon the safety and livelihood and esteem of my sisters and our children in this world. I can't accept that we abandon victims of domestic violence to those exercising power over them just because they think they can and think they can get away with it. We have to work harder. We have to be serious about changing our laws to protect everyone more and better. We have to. I hope that those who have called out all the perpetrators and Commissioner Goodell and the NFL as a whole, includes addressing our politicians, too, in an effort to work to change our laws. That's the only way we really start to change our culture that so allows the absurd world in which we're living where domestic violence just goes on and on and on, and people suffer so horribly. If it's not the world we want, together we have to do something about it.
