Idiots and their idiotic views
I watched Around the Horn today, and one of the talking heads went on and on about how it would be wrong or even illegal to prosecute Barry Bonds for perjury when other baseball players also lied under oath about steroids, because this constitutes "discrimination." This may be the dumbest thing I've heard all month. Prosecutors have to decide between prosecutions every single day. They choose to pursue one case and not another every single day, based on individual fact patterns. And that's exactly what they would do with Bonds. There is more evidence that he took steroids prior to his testimony than any other player who lied. There's nothing wrong with going after Bonds and not them. Hell, even if Bonds arguably had a weaker case against him, prosecutorial discretion is wide and as long as you're not prosecuting on the basis of race, gender, etc. there's nothing illegal or even unethical about picking one case over others.
posted by Todd Martin at 5:03 PM
3 Comments:
Exactly. But I'm sure "race will be an issue" if there is a trial even though it patently is not.
If you aren't black, you probably can't understand this issue. You haven't ever had to be in the position of being openly discriminated against multiple times because of your skin color. It makes you less trusting of all situations when a group that primarily consists of white men is targeting a black man. I agree whole-heartedly that this is not really an issue of race, but I don't think you guys understand what the thought process is for certain people because of their experiences.
I wasn't trying to bring up the issue of race at all. I don't think the talking head was either. My point was solely on the idea of a prosecutor choosing to go after one case and not another. His argument was you have to prosecute them all, or it's unfair to the individual. And that is a preposterous argument.
I have no interest in arguing against the role race plays in Barry Bonds' situation, because I think it does play a role. And you don't have to simply consider open and active discrimination. I think it's a matter of implicit biases and perceptions more with Bonds, that can sometimes play a much more harmful role in racism than active "I hate so and so because of the way he looks." I'm not discounting racism at all. It's an issue that's *extremely* important to me, and I'll leave it at that without running down "creds" that qualify me to comment. It's just an aside to what I was getting at here.
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