Are you saying that public figures get treated more harshly by the justice system?
No, they get punished by their employers or constituents. Pay attention. ;[ If Bob from accounting hits his wife, lays some dude out at the bar or breaks into his neighbor's house, do you think H&R Block gives a shit? They don't. But if Johnny McSuperstar does those things, he's getting his pay docked for "poorly representing Sports League."
Even if he didn't actually do those things and was merely in the vicinity of the crime being committed or falsely accused by some asshole dead-set on tarnishing his reputation, he's getting his pay docked for poorly representing Sports League.
It's not fair to them. (And yeah, it might be difficult to garner sympathy for the rich ones, for all their other advantages, but not every public figure is loaded.) I also think the problem is self-correcting, so there's no need for extralegal punishments. Rice doesn't really need punished at all (by the NFL) for his actions. He may, however, still suffer the consequences if it tarnished his reputation to the degree that people stopped coming to Baltimore Ravens games and buying their merch. If not, it shouldn't bother them.
And yeah, you could say it's costing the NFL money and as such, Rice should be punished... But that's only because society expected him to be punished. I just wish the culture was different, perhaps amend my previous statement to "the NFL
should not be the fucking morality police." They shouldn't have to be. Is it not enough that he was legally punished and socially earned the ire of many an NFL fan? It hasn't affected his ability to do his job, so his employer shouldn't also be expected to punish him. Unfortunately, it is and it did. But let's say he want to jail instead of rehab and started missing practice? They would be well within their right to punish him!
The legal system doesn't care for your fame anyway, only your fortune.
Tell that to the 40% of the NFL fanbase that is female that is currently up in arms. 2 games sends the wrong message.
I'll tell them the same thing I would tell any anti-Redskins (the team name) bandwagoner. Get the fuck over yourselves.
That's a bad analogy. The Redskins haters are so much worse since the origin of the term is arguably not even derogatory (depending on which sources you want to believe) and even a majority of Native Americans don't give a shit. At least there's a good reason for people to dislike Ray Rice but yeah, shouldn't be the NFL's problem. *shrug* It's a social and legal problem, where he's already received his due.