Double Standards
According to most psychological babble (and everything having to do with common sense), past behaviour is usually a solid indicator of future results. If a person continually puts themselves in situations that are patently illegal and/or violent in nature, then chances are that the person will, in the future, find themselves in the same types of situations. It isn't exactly rocket science.
Yet, there is a certain segment of the population where this logical assumption seems to have no place - amongst those that are athletes or celebrities. The same people are seemingly constantly in the news for all sorts of indisgressions, yet the general public seems to want to fall all over themselves in order to justify the situation and to make excuses for the people involved. Why? Why is that?
If the same incidents were to be perpetuated by a regular lay-person, then the person would generally be condemned for their behaviour and be shunned by most society (provided that their actions were general knowledge). No one rushes to defend the actions of the drug addicted welfare mother that loses her children, or the gang member that gets shot. Yet, the public will make excuse after excuse for the likes of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Michael Vick, and the popular rapper du jour.
I suppose that it is too much for me to expect, but I wonder why people are incapable of objective thinking. Why can they not look at a situation and ask themselves if they would want to know someone like that if they weren't famous and/or wealthy?
So why do I bring this up? Well, Sean Taylor (a safety for the Washington Redskins) was shot Sunday night in his home in Florida. He died last night. Looking back at Taylor's track record, he has been in a number of dumb situations - such as spitting in the face of an opposing player during a playoff game, facing jail time for off the field incidents, and having his home broken into a week prior, just to name a few. Is it any surprise that someone who has a history of transgressions and run-ins with authority may find themselves in a situation such as this? Not to me it isn't.
Yet, all one hears about is how Taylor had been getting his life back on track. What is this based upon - the fact that he hadn't been arrested in the past year? Just because he had not been caught doing anything illegal does not mean that he was on the straight and narrow. It just means that he had not been caught. Yes, there is the chance - albeit slim - that he had really turned the page on his life, and was beginning to realize the types of situations he had found himself in. But that is unlikely at best.
If this was anyone else with the same sort of track record, would anyone be surprised?
Yet, there is a certain segment of the population where this logical assumption seems to have no place - amongst those that are athletes or celebrities. The same people are seemingly constantly in the news for all sorts of indisgressions, yet the general public seems to want to fall all over themselves in order to justify the situation and to make excuses for the people involved. Why? Why is that?
If the same incidents were to be perpetuated by a regular lay-person, then the person would generally be condemned for their behaviour and be shunned by most society (provided that their actions were general knowledge). No one rushes to defend the actions of the drug addicted welfare mother that loses her children, or the gang member that gets shot. Yet, the public will make excuse after excuse for the likes of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Michael Vick, and the popular rapper du jour.
I suppose that it is too much for me to expect, but I wonder why people are incapable of objective thinking. Why can they not look at a situation and ask themselves if they would want to know someone like that if they weren't famous and/or wealthy?
So why do I bring this up? Well, Sean Taylor (a safety for the Washington Redskins) was shot Sunday night in his home in Florida. He died last night. Looking back at Taylor's track record, he has been in a number of dumb situations - such as spitting in the face of an opposing player during a playoff game, facing jail time for off the field incidents, and having his home broken into a week prior, just to name a few. Is it any surprise that someone who has a history of transgressions and run-ins with authority may find themselves in a situation such as this? Not to me it isn't.
Yet, all one hears about is how Taylor had been getting his life back on track. What is this based upon - the fact that he hadn't been arrested in the past year? Just because he had not been caught doing anything illegal does not mean that he was on the straight and narrow. It just means that he had not been caught. Yes, there is the chance - albeit slim - that he had really turned the page on his life, and was beginning to realize the types of situations he had found himself in. But that is unlikely at best.
If this was anyone else with the same sort of track record, would anyone be surprised?