Condoning And Condemning Violence

News item:

 

Ray Rice just lost his career, his multimillion dollar endorsements and his reputation – all because of a video that just went viral.

 

Rice is – or perhaps more correctly, was – a National Football League superstar. One of the league’s top rushers of the past few years, he was instrumental in bringing about the Baltimore Ravens 2012 championship season. As a reward, he signed a five-year $40 million contract extension that included 24 million in guaranteed money. Nike, the world’s largest sporting goods maker, paid Rice a magnificent sum to serve as their national spokesman.

All that has now come to an end. Rice has been permanently suspended by his team and the NFL as the result of an elevator video that showed him brutally punching in the face the woman who was then his fiancée, now his wife, a blow that banged her head against the rail and rendered her unconscious.

First, a side comment. Why did his fiance marry him after he knocked her out? Makes you wonder.... Seems that he has a middos problem. She doesn't want a bochur with good middois?

But my main point is as follows: He was being paid millions of dollars to knock innocent people senseless. Now he is being suspended for doing the same thing.

?????

The entire sport of football is extremely violent. Sometimetimes you can have ten hungry Lions or Bears [if you are in Detriot or Chicago] hungrily pursuing one 'gentleman' and if they get him on time, they will gang up on him and violently crash their helmets and heavy shoulder pads into different parts of his already war torn body. Then they will aggresively and mercilessly throw him down to the ground and pile up on top of him.

His sin? He was holding the football.

Then 65,000 fans will jump out of their seats with uncontrolled euphoria and cheer on this wild bunch, encouraging them to do more of much of the same.

Fourth down and twenty five!:-)

I am not defending Mr. Rice. He is a criminal and should be treated as such. But violence breeds violence and American pop-culture encourages and supports violence. Football is just violence that society has mandated "legal" and/or "good fun", while knocking one's wife has not [Baruch Hashem] been given a stamp of approval by society. But violence remains violence.

Pro Football is a multi-billion dollar business which shows how much people love this violence. Watch the six pm news and see highlights of "great hits" which means one man caused severe and ultimately lasting pain to another. No former pro player even lives without pain again.

What is the Jewish angle? How many yidden are avid and die hard fans of this barbarism?! How difficult is it for them to open a sefer or spend time with their loved one's when an "important game" is taking place?!

Think about it:-).