There was a piece in Grantland discussing the media in response to the Ray Rice incident.
1. During the Donald Sterling fiasco, I argued that the sportswriting class had gone from holding a range of political opinions to fusing into a single, united liberal bloc. You can see that in the coverage of Goodell, too. Reading sports this week is like being on a Nation magazine cruise.
I take issue with the author categorizing this as a “liberal” issue. Now, I don’t think the author generally thinks that conservatives are “okay” with domestic violence, and it’s not like I’m offended as someone who is typically culturally conservative, it’s just that I think the author thinks this issue falls in line with more black coaches in the NFL or more women with front office jobs (it’s not that those latter issues aren’t important, it’s just people disagree on the importance of diversity or even the ways to achieve those).
In a similar vein
Honestly, I didn’t think fans would ever turn on the NFL — or any league — because of a “woman’s issue.” I was wrong.
— Jane McManus (@janesports) September 14, 2014
and
@janesports Fans turned? Or the news is telling everyone that? I think more fans wish the sport media give it a rest with the social causes.
— Todd Kron (@Toddkron) September 14, 2014
Whether Jane McManus sees this as a “woman’s issue” or is making the point that most people see this as a “woman’s issue” I’m not sure. But either way I disagree. Calling something a “woman’s issue” has political/social connotations, of which there is often disagreement. I think the domestic violence issue transcends that. Yes, it affects women more than men (at least on the victim end), but people see men beating the crap out of women as more than a “woman’s issue”.
Likewise, many people don’t see,in my mind, the domestic violence issue as some “social cause”. This isn’t like the Michael Sam storyline (where most people don’t have an issue with a gay NFL player, just the constant coverage of it). In one sense, he is right, people want to hear about football and not about Rice, but I think it’s in the sense of getting tired of all the bad news in the world.
In short, I think the domestic violence issue is less politicized than people think it is. People are painting it in the same vein as the Michael Sam issue or any other intersection of politics and sports, and I think this is inaccurate. It’s also not an issue where people are just coming around to in the sense of domestic violence being immoral, although people often aren’t aware how commonplace it is. But obviously there is a problem with how domestic violence is handled. I don’t think the NFL’s lack of response is one of political values, I think it is one of money and image.