Yep, I agree that this was the case for some people–i.e., they applied a “benefit of the doubt” assumption that said maybe it was bad, but it might have some extenuating circumstances. She attacked him, he shoved her and she slipped, whatever. But if that’s the case, doesn’t the NFL get the same benefit of the doubt (assuming they aren’t caught in a lie in saying they never saw the video)? They didn’t know it was a bad as it was, that is. Why the heated calls for Goodell’s resignation only after the video comes out? Again, I personally don’t care if they run him out of town. I’m just questioning the reaction.
I agree with this, that this bias exists. That sensibility, though, seems like it might have some level of sympathy for the NFL’s tone deafness in the first 2-game decision. But that’s not how it feels. Again, I’m not trying to drum up sympathy for the NFL and Goodell. Just seems like a non sequitur.
Nothing changes except we now had video of what we earlier had to picture in our heads.
The news media had nothing new to talk about, but they did have this new clip, the new clip is being run and the aggrieved women’s advocates took up the cause anew, having suddenly being given more air time.
The original punishment was far too light in my opinion and Goodell should resign over that, not the “new” video.
People who believe that are, I think, logically consistent (or at least could be). I heard clamor for his resignation right out of the gate, though, before that voice mail data point came out. And I still hear people on the air who in the same speech chide the NFL for not being more aggressive in getting the video (if they didn’t see it) and saying that the video is essentially an irrelevancy, since we knew what happened all along. Just an anecdote, I know…
I don’t see how much clearer it got. As Really Not All That Bright points out, we already knew he knocked out his girlfriend and dragged her off an elevator. Then we saw a video of him knocking out his girlfriend and dragging her off an elevator, and the suspension changed from two games to life. That’s like saying the penalty for armed robbery is two years, but if you are picked up by the surveillance camera you get five.
Right. Either he was guilty all along and should have received a harsh penalty or he shouldn’t have been penalized at all. You can’t give him two games because he might have done it. For the record, he received an indefinite suspension, not a lifetime one. Based on past experience he will probably be reinstated in a year or two at the most (assuming Goodell keeps his job.)
What changed was that once the video was widely seen, a new question started to get asked:
Why did Rice only get a 2-game suspension for THAT?
<turns spotlight to Goodell and the NFL>
Goodell and the NFL came out swinging right away saying they did not see THAT part of the video until the rest of us did. That is where the heat is now - on the NFL - to explain that.
FWIW, I am not an expert or anything, but Goodell’s rushed denial reeks of lying. He’s blinking like a mofo while he is saying “we never saw that part of the video until today”, and hardly looking the interviewer in the eye. Looking at past denials-turning-out-to-be-lies*, ISTM Goodell is trying to lie his way out of this mess.
Lance Armstrong, that governor from S Carolina, Anthony Weiner, etc.
As Astoran said, the justice system gave Rice a slap on the wrist. To people who want to believe in a just world, this means there must be some mitigating circumstance - she attacked him, it was an accident, whatever. The video showed this wasn’t really the case.
I just watched the video. She took a jab at him that didn’t connect (and wouldn’t have done anything if it did), he retreated and just lunged at him to take another worthless jab, and he dropped her with one punch without putting weight behind it.
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills here. Am I the only one that notices that he hit her one time? He didn’t “beat the shit out of her,” he didn’t “pound her to the ground,” he didn’t “wail on her.”
She lunged at him from across the elevator. He punched her one time. She had a glass jaw. KO.
What changed was the video didn’t show her attacking him enough to warrant a knockout blow, in people’s eyes. Before the video, we assumed she was smacking the shit out of him, especially after she admitted as much. We assumed she deserved it. That proved false.
She only smacked him once or twice outside the elevator and then tried to attack him inside the elevator. People didn’t think that should’ve earned her a busted face.
I don’t see what’s so hard about this.