The Mayor of Miami has some harsh words for the Marlins Stadium deal:
With just two weeks until opening day, the Miami Marlins are making headlines again, this time in Sports Illustrated.
The magazine is profiling the ballpark deal that is being compared to “rape.” The comparison was made by Miami’s Mayor.
To go off topic for a minute, I’ve been seeing a lot of rape metaphors lately. When an extremely strong word gets used to much, it loses value. The citizens of Miami were not raped. Their elected representatives made a very bad deal. The mayor was not one of those, and he’s scoring points now. But no one forced the citizens of Miami to do anything. They got exactly what they voted for.
I really hate these “rape” analogies. It trivializes a very traumatic event that leaves lifelong psychological scars.
Thank you, Mr. Pinto. I agree wholeheartedly, on all counts.
Excellent point.
Good on you, David.
Exactly. You can’t vote on being raped or not. Well, maybe you can, if you have elected officials using that kind of rhetoric, then perhaps you have voted to be intellectually raped.
Once the voters elect someone they have little control over what they do in office except to withhold their vote in future elections.
It’s like consenting to go out on a date with a guy and once you are alone with him he forces himself on you. All you can do afterwards is not go out with him anymore , and to report that you were raped , which may or may not result in punishment
Unfortunately, the term in this case is not entirely inappropriate, distasteful as it may be.
However, there were 2 parties to this rape. Unlike the elected officials the voters have a marriage contract with the Marlins arranged by ousted elected officials, where divorce is not an option in a land where rape is acceptable, or at least legal. The voters have no choice but to live with it.
“Betrayed” seems a more appropriate word.