Crisis Management at the NFL Created a Worse Problem
The NFL has been sucked into the maw of the Political Correctness Twilight Zone where nothing escapes punishment, where you cannot win no matter what you do.
Think of the crazy position they are in now - they are in crisis mode to appease a group of people that are marginal at best to their interests - women (yes, I said it, women are marginal to the economics and standing of the NFL). The primary victim in the touchstone scandal - Janay Rice - is pleading for her privacy and for this all to go away, and yet the NFL is bowing to the domestic abuse furies putatively in the interests of this woman and all women.
Such are the dynamics of Political Correctness in America today, you are forced into an illogical and untenable position. The NFL could have avoided this by taking a bold stance on one of the two sides, either a) we have zero tolerance for domestic abuse, therefore Ray Rice (and whoever else) is banned from the league for life, no appeals, or b) we are not moral arbiters, we are an entertainment business and our employees' personal lives are their own; crimes will be referred to the justice system, but we don't adjudicate behavior.
I don't know which position is the better one, but either one would be clear and unequivocal, and thus defensible in a pluralistic society. Instead they find themselves in the murky middle trying to assuage and muddle through with no strong position against their attackers and no strong stance in favor of their interests.
Such are wages of bowing to the gods of Political Correctness in America.
Think of the crazy position they are in now - they are in crisis mode to appease a group of people that are marginal at best to their interests - women (yes, I said it, women are marginal to the economics and standing of the NFL). The primary victim in the touchstone scandal - Janay Rice - is pleading for her privacy and for this all to go away, and yet the NFL is bowing to the domestic abuse furies putatively in the interests of this woman and all women.
Such are the dynamics of Political Correctness in America today, you are forced into an illogical and untenable position. The NFL could have avoided this by taking a bold stance on one of the two sides, either a) we have zero tolerance for domestic abuse, therefore Ray Rice (and whoever else) is banned from the league for life, no appeals, or b) we are not moral arbiters, we are an entertainment business and our employees' personal lives are their own; crimes will be referred to the justice system, but we don't adjudicate behavior.
I don't know which position is the better one, but either one would be clear and unequivocal, and thus defensible in a pluralistic society. Instead they find themselves in the murky middle trying to assuage and muddle through with no strong position against their attackers and no strong stance in favor of their interests.
Such are wages of bowing to the gods of Political Correctness in America.
posted by Donny Baseball at 4:31 PM
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