Double Standard Justice

What's happening folks?!  Glad you decided to come back and pay me another visit.  Much respect indeed.  This week's topic could ire some people, actually a lot of people.  It deals with double standards within society, especially within the justice system.  It's based on the above video, which has set off some occasionally heated debates about the subject overall, much less this video.  We will touch on that shortly.

Before I touch on it, I must give a R.I.P. salute to the great comedienne, Joan Rivers.  Brash, bold, and definitely fearless, Rivers was a giant in a male-dominated field and comedically told it like it was and was unrelenting and unapologetic.  With the tragic passing of Robin Williams still fresh in our minds a couple weeks ago, this opened up yet another wound.  I'm sure Williams and Rivers are making the residents in heaven or wherever they're residing at now crack up in hysteria.  They've joined the likes of other comedic icons that have transcended this life such as Richard Pryor, Chris Farley, and Robin Harris.  Prayers go out to her daughter Melissa and the rest of her family and friends.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming, or in this case blogging.  The above video was a disgusting look at how uneven our justice system can be, and I don't just mean racially this time either.  In this video, you see a woman openly threatening and ultimately striking this man with a metal pipe.  The irony is, she never got arrested...HE DID!!!  She apparently went to the police after this altercation and claimed he struck her, and without any questions, Beaver County police (these damn police people again) took twenty-four year old Justin Lindsay into custody for assault.  Keep in mind, the only thing he was armed with was a cell phone recording the whole thing, however police never took a look at the video before putting him in jail.  He did a week and a half in jail before charges got dropped and there's still no word as to whether this woman will be charged.

Okay, this is where I'm gonna have to loosen my collar and be prepared for any type of backlash I may get, but frankly I don't care.  Please spare me the whole "We don't know what happened before he pressed the record button" mess, stop it, I don't want to hear it.  Regardless of what was done beforehand, the fact still remains that this woman (and I'll use that term very loosely here) used an inanimate object, a pipe at that, to strike another human being.  This was not defensive, this was strictly offensive.  However, the fact that local PD immediately took her word and didn't check the video out until a week had past is unbelievable.  This is just an all too common example of the legal and justice system taking a woman's side over a man's side in practically everything.  We've seen plenty of instances where there were domestic violence scenarios where both the man and woman involved were in the wrong, however the man will be two to three times more likely to see arrest before he does unless he presses charges.

Domestic violence is only one example.  Let's talk about divorces and custody hearings.  We've heard about the unfortunate divorce news concerning Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon after six years of marriage.  The two have two children together.  In spite of Cannon's Twitter rant a couple of days ago concerning the media's twisting of quotes and words used by Cannon, Carey is reportedly going through divorce proceedings, according to Eonline.com.  Here's what will likely happen: they go to court, he will have to provide spousal support/alimony and likely child support because the courts will side with her one hundred percent totally over custody of the kids unless she was shown to be abusive, negligent or been a substance abuser.  That's how it goes in society and in the courts.  Unless there was a prenup involved, that's your most likely scenario and more.

Remember a few weeks ago when Beyonce's wanna-be-star sister Solange went to town on Jay-Z in the now infamous video in the elevator in the building that his industry party took place in?  We clearly saw an assault on this man, yet he stood his ground and never struck back.  However, in the court of public judgment and opinion, he was laughed at and clowned vehemently the next day or two afterwards.  It was pathetic, uncalled for, and hypocritical.  Had Jay as so much as laid one finger on her, he would've been vilified the world over.  Also there was the video that went viral of the young (ahem) lady that continuously cussed at, spat at, and punched the bus driver who was having an argument with her about her standing on his bus.  After the verbal and physical provocation apexed, he finally got up when the bus topped, and gave her an uppercut the likes of which would make Lennox Lewis or Mike Tyson proud.  The next day, this same tough acting woman went to the media, and played the '...but I'm a woman' card.  The driver, unfortunately because of the negative press behind it all, was subsequently let go by his job.  In this scenario, the "woman" was clowned and ridiculed because people actually did have a little sympathy for this man who was just doing his job and was in all honesty getting bullied.  However, situations like these, both in the legal courts and in the court of public judgment are far more the exception than the more.

That's not to say that there aren't cases where the female isn't taken to task legally due to actions like that woman with the pipe because we are hearing about these situations more and more.  However, here's another example of the double standard: if there was history of abuse in her life by her then boyfriend or anyone else in her life, and it may have been thought that these things could've "helped" to bring out this violent outburst, the judge or jury would give her some sympathy and might even give her a lesser sentence.  The man, on the other hand, wouldn't come out as fortunate, for there would still be seen as a "no excuse" mantra labeled upon him and he would have his reputation ruined.

To all those that still feel that society is not fair to them and there's no equality, please spare me.  As I just pointed out, incidents like these and many more clearly point out that not only do females have society on their side a lot more than they think, they definitely have the court system on there side a lot more than they think as well.  Although many know that very well and take full advantage of it like leeches and manipulative...females (I had to catch myself).  To those that think it's humorous and are, in fact, that evil, you will get yours one day and nobody will have sympathy for you.  None whatsoever so don't look for any, unless you're a plain out liar.

Also spare me the "what about the men" argument and speech.  This isn't about what men do.  We hear about it all the time.  About our screwups and everything along those lines.  This is about the unfair reality that there's just as much of a double standard towards men as there are towards women. Accept it or not.

Until next time, take it easy and enjoy your weekend!