Sooo, what mere high school beatdown has EVER resulted in a 1 to 2 year jail term?

That is LOL stuff.

Slate ran a similar article last week.

http://www.slate.com/id/2174600/

The whole point of the “Jena 6″ story was that the charges for beating up a kid were/are far to great for the crime. Whitlock doesn’t mention this at all. No mention that the kid who was the victim was taken to the hospital, released a couple hours later, and attended his class ring ceremony later that night. For this the six were charged with ATTEMPTED MURDER. Finally the charge was reduced, but each still faces something like 15 years in jail. For something that obviously did not have too bad of consequences, and happens all the time with high school kids, seems like awfully harsh penalties. Should they be punished? Absolutely! 1 year, 2 years in jail would not be out of line. It’s the harshness of the penalties that is the real problem in this case.

Now compare Whitlock’s methods to those he decries. Ignore facts that don’t help your cause? Check, see above. Only get one side of the story? Check, just talking to the police and the prosecutor, think they have any reason to shade the story to their favor? Bring up irrelevant points? Check, any juvenile records are sealed and can be no basis for the harsh charges above.

Are the Sharpton’s of the world distorters of situations? Absolutely. Is Whitlock the exact same way? Pretty much. In all honesty, there are so many racial issues that go unreported, especially in the criminal justice system, that a story maybe getting a little more play than it should is something we should all live with.

Do you think Notre Dame will be this “newsworthy” next week, when they begin a streak where they play 5 games in a row at home (on NBC)?