The NFL and the Ravens already knew that Ray Rice's then-fiancée ended up unconscious after a confrontation with Rice, so why did the newest video of the incident change their stance? How did they think Rice ended up dragging Janay Palmer's lifeless body out of that hotel elevator?
That's what plenty of people are asking now that the Ravens released Rice and the NFL suspended Rice, but the answer is obvious. It only has a little bit to do with how video evidence is more impactful than allegations made in a police report. It has a lot more to do with misogyny.
Before TMZ released the second video, the NFL and the Ravens knew they could count on being protected by the counter-narrative that says perhaps Palmer had it coming. The latest video shattered that narrative. The Ravens and the NFL knew that's would happen if the video ever got out. That's why they didn't try hard to obtain it before initially suspended Rice for two games (assuming they never saw it then, as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says, a claim this AP report puts in doubt).
The she-had-it-coming view was at the heart of Stephen A. Smith's "provocation" rant that got him suspended from ESPN. It's how Rice's lawyer smeared Palmer by implication in the aftermath even though he had seen the elevator video. The Ravens all-but-endorsed that line of thinking when they staged the despicable news conference in the wake of the incident, in which Palmer apologized for "the role I played in the incident that night."
It was a view that defied common sense, that somehow the 125-pound, unarmed woman threatened the muscled-up, 220-pound football player so much that he had to knock her out. But as long as there was no video of what happened in that elevator, the NFL and Ravens knew they could benefit from the misogynistic counter-narrative without ever explicitly saying so.
http://youtu.be/VbwTMJroTbI?list=PLNljeYqZrE_pizsM-HLlnNeqiG7pWhpOU
But now we see that Palmer’s transgression involved her, at most, pushing Rice in the chest (after he may have spit on her). He hits her in the face, she takes a step in his direction, and then Rice drops her with a vicious punch. In the aftermath Rice appears to show none of the signs of panic or concern that one would expect from a person who makes a compulsive mistake.
With that video, the NFL and the Ravens could no longer count on the misogynistic counter-narrative to protect them. No enlightened people are looking at those images and saying maybe Palmer deserved it. They are saying Rice is a menace. They are saying the Ravens and the NFL are complicit for glossing over the incident in the first place and conducting investigations that somehow didn’t turn up that video.
Their counter-narrative ruined, the misogynists have of course moved on to other lines of attack against Palmer: that she's stupid for marrying Rice after the incident, that she's nothing but a gold digger. Being simple-minded and insecure reactionaries, these misogynists ignore the complex psychology of abused women while defending the actions of the male abuser.
Suggesting a man who abuses a woman was provoked is the crutch for all men like that. They are losing the gender war on the political, economic and social fronts. Feeling emasculated, they get some kind of visceral satisfaction out of a man putting a woman in her place with physical abuse and intimidation--if they aren't doing it themselves.
That’s why the NFL and the Ravens thought they could suspend Rice for two games, take a minor PR hit and move on. But we’ve seen the video now and the misogynists are the only ones left saying Palmer deserved it.
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