Until the NFL completes its investigation on the Miami Dolphins and offensive linemen Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, I won't be commenting on the case directly. However, in light of the stories coming out about the Dolphins, I have found some of the public's commentary regarding it to be quite disturbing and thought I'd comment on that.
While I don't feel it's wise for me to fully conclude on the matter yet, the story has caught my attention; I've read several articles about it and have also read people's comments below the articles. Many of the comments read as follows:
- "Be a man! Stand up for yourself!"
- "Crying home to mommy again, I see..."
- "Punch him in the face!"
- "Fight!"
- "You're, what, 300 lbs.? Get into the guy's face and take care of it!"
- "This is football! Be a real man!"
- "Pansy!"
- "Deal with him and he won't be bothering you anymore; trust me!"
- "Wimp!"
Yes, it seems that to a decent percentage of the population, the only way to deal with problems is through violence, and if one doesn't resort to it, they're obviously not macho enough to be called a man. This bothers me. Should Martin have stood up for himself? Until the full story comes out, it's hard for me to say. However, I don't think it's right to insinuate that a person is weak for the simple fact he or she doesn't care to fight. Now, if someone close to an individual gets harassed or threatened, I think it should just be instinct to stick up for them. However, when in a work environment, the mature and professional thing to do is take the matter up with the proper authorities. That move may be seen as weak to some, but just because something feels good doesn't make it so. In the end, hopefully this matter can be sorted out by the league, the people responsible for the unprofessional behavior get punished, Jonathan Martin, Richie Incognito, and others, receive the help they need, and are all able to move forward both as professionals and human beings in the future.
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