Good lord, the Stockholm Syndrome and historical illiteracy among some people is more than I can take!
Like Che Boludo said, you can begin with the treasonous acts by the Revolutionaries to secede from the British Empire. Brave abolitionists broke the law frequently to push the public to see slavery as the evil that it was. The next occupant of the $20 bill, Harriet Tubman, readily comes to mind. The women's suffrage movement included legal obstructionists too. The same with the Civil Rights movement. MLK's advocacy of civil disobedience in the tradition of Ghandi also comes to mind.
The more you investigate the history of social change, the more you find that the legal system has usually followed, not led, public sentiment. The sacrifices of brave dissidents is ALMOST ALWAYS REQUIRED to motivate the authority-fearing, authority-trusting public to get off their lazy asses and pressure lawmakers to improve the laws. Without the personal sacrifices made by lawbreakers, positive change is seldom granted by government.
My original intent wasnāt to teach a history lesson or to make a libertarian case for ending drug prohibition. My main point was to bring to your attention your own reflexive, unconscious, Pavlovian reactions to troubled players. Look at how authoritarian you guys are, so quick to side with the punishers over the punished, despite the fact that the punished have given so much to your program! Instead of quickly responding with accusations of players being dumb, ungrateful, lazy, thugs, etc., you could have just as easily reserved your condemnations and instead offered support for the guys who win championships that you claim as your own as you sit back in your recliner drinking beer. What about a response like, "Man, I wonder what NCAA rules or government laws could be changed to help gifted players avoid trouble in the future so that their lives and careers aren't needlessly harmed, not to mention our teamās season!
Look, I have no idea what Cam did or didnāt do. But at the time of your judgmental comments, you didnāt know either. Certainly, the potential charge of theft is a problem, but is it worth a felony? Is it worth being suspended for a season or even kicked off the team? Is it a felony only because the stolen property was a firearm? If so, how is that compatible with the typical Conservative claim that society should encourage gun possession, not fear it? On the other hand, is it only a felony because he was also in possession of drugs? Is our phobia of āillegalā drugs and our casual acceptance of the widespread consumption of legal drugs merited, or is it just the result of social/government conditioning? Was he consuming the drugs himself, say for pain management, which is common in the NFL? Besides gun theft (assuming that charge is confirmed), were there victims to his other offenses? If not, then why are victimless crimes illegal in the first place? For nonviolent crimes, can we at least consider principles of Restorative Justice rather than the punitive principles of Retributive Justice? And like I mentioned before, if we were more fairly compensating players for the product of their labor, they would be much less likely to engage in lucrative illegal activities in the first place, activities which are lucrative ONLY because of drug prohibition itself!
These are just some of numerous non-judgmental, positive, and constructive responses that were available to us as fans. But no, the players are stupid because they wasted an opportunity to give you your source of self-worth as a devout fan of a particular college athletic team! If you were a player, a key contributor to the team, who had helped your school win conference and national titles, who came from poverty and was used to a lifestyle of turning nickles into dimes for survival, would you want to play for a fan base that immediately jumps on you if you get into legal trouble? Or would you want to put your blood, sweat, and tears into a football program whose fans always respond with gratitude and support when you stumble and who advocate for common sense changes to the system (be it NCAA or government)?
