Into the mailbag today came another example of the sort of mail you should never forward. If I could easily do it, I’d eliminate the pictures – but most of the email is pictures, not only of the unwritten material, but written material as well. Analysis follows the entirety of the mail this time.
http://nflarrest.com/
NFL arrest record by team since 2000
Team # of Arrests Since 2000
Minnesota Vikings 42
Cincinnati Bengals 40
Denver Broncos 36
Tennessee Titans 33
Miami Dolphins 28
Kansas City Chiefs 28
Jacksonville Jaguars 27
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27
Cleveland Browns 26
San Diego Chargers 25
Indianapolis Colts 24
Chicago Bears 23
Seattle Seahawks 20
New Orleans Saints 20
Washington Redskins 18
Oakland Raiders 18
Baltimore Ravens 18
Carolina Panthers 18
Green Bay Packers 17
Pittsburgh Steelers 17
Atlanta Falcons 16
San Francisco 49ers 16
Detroit Lions 15
New England Patriots 15
Buffalo Bills 14
Dallas Cowboys 13
New York Giants 13
Arizona Cardinals 12
New York Jets 11
Philadelphia Eagles 10
Houston Texans 9
St Louis Rams 8Total 656
If we’re not predisposed to be upset at the NFL, then what can we see here?
- They’re all black. Along with Colin Kaepernick, whose crimes include giving nearly a million dollars to charity in this year alone, as well as Black Lives Matter, the black community’s willingness to speak out concerning injustice has made it a prime target. If this was all about the alleged evils of the NFL, then we should include such athletes as Fran Tarkenton (financial fraud, even if he avoided conviction and admitting to it), Tommy Kramer (DUI), or Justin Strzelcyzk (trying to outrun troopers).But it’s not. The NFL has refused to knuckle under to President Trump’s demand that the American flag be held sacred. It’s not sacred and it’s not healthy to consider it to be, as I discussed here, previously. So we can interpret this as a hit-job on the NFL, but the fact that only black athletes are referenced indicates that it’s meant to play on the racial fears that many folks have.
- The numbers are out of context. Is 656 a big number? Since 2000? Let’s do the math:
656 ÷ 16 =41
So 41 arrests (not convictions) per year. No doubt some arrests don’t make it to trial, some are found Not Guilty, and of course now we’re thinking about how the author of this post managed to neglect this critically important information. Maybe we’re talking about just DUIs and a little rowdiness in the bars.
And, more importantly, what percentage of players are involved? Do these numbers include coaching staff, admin, etc, or is it limited to just the players?
- And are all of your colleagues, current and former, completely innocent? Condemning the NFL for having some employees who don’t always follow the rules is hypocritical. I know that a person who used to work at one of my employers was arrested for allegedly attempting to hire a hitman to kill his wife. Should I condemn that employer? Should I condemn my entire industry? How about the cops arrested in Baltimore for planting evidence? Time to condemn all cops? Utter nonsense in all three cases.
- Are the facts correct? Some I was able to confirm, but I was also able to confirm that “Dante Stallworth” is actually “Donte’ Stallworth”, there was indeed a manslaughter conviction, and I was unable to confirm that President Obama invited him to the White House. The point is not that this appears to be a lie, because my research was relatively shallow. The point is that whoever wrote this up chose not to make it easy to confirm these claims, probably because the details can muddle this person’s hidden agenda. As an example, Stallworth’s punishment was more than just 24 days in jail:
… he received a sentence of 30 days in the county jail, plus 1,000 hours of community service, 2 years of community control, and 8 years’ probation. He has also received a life-time suspension of his Florida state driver’s license. [Wikipedia]
Context is once again lost.
- The entire slant of this mail is un-American. One of the finest themes of the United States is redemption, the opportunity to learn from one’s mistakes and live a better life. This mail has nothing of that in it, now does it? A few arrests, oh, quick, let’s condemn the NFL! This is not the type of mail I would expect from any reasonable patriot, because it denies the chance to learn from one’s mistakes – to do better.
In the end, this is a fairly clumsy attempt at manipulative mail. A few “outrageous” numbers get thrown out, an unsubtle attempt to stir up racial hatred (we all did catch that attempt to muddy President Obama), and a pointer at a website of official data, as if that means anything at all.
Look, I have my own problems with the NFL, first to do with the treatment of Kaepernick, a highly rated, Super Bowl-experienced quarterback with excellent stats who can’t get a job – and the Vikes could sure use him.
Second, the entire concussions leading to dementia thing really bothers me. Is it ethical to be a fan of a sport which can leave its participants in dire straits on a regular basis?
But this assassination of the NFL is inappropriate, and its attempts to paint all the black players as criminals is divisive. It’s really an attack on the American polity, a recognition that when we work together we’re stronger than anyone else – and so that engenders this sort of attack mail by folks who don’t like America. And that’s why we should ignore and rebuff such sordid attempts to manipulate us.
[10/17/2017 Added missing word.]
