Saints, Sanctions and Snitches, Oh My!

My awesome alliteration aside, unless you are currently living under a rock or are... well no, there is really no other excuse to not be aware of the most severe sanctions ever handed down by the NFL Commissioner. For the three of you who are unaware; the New Orleans Saints have been found guilty of running a "bounty program" for the last few years in which players would get paid extra money for injuring certain players on the opposing team. This being 100% counter to the goals of the NFL to promote player safety has caused Mr. Roger Goodell to, in layman's terms, "lay the dick down" on everyone involved.

While this will be dissected endlessly for literally years to come, there is one under appreciated aspect of the situation that really rubs my rump the wrong ray way. That would be the witch hunt for the alleged "snitch" [believed to be ex-Saints TE Jeremy Shockey].

First and foremost, this freaking investigation started in 2009, you know, when the Saints were very obviously gunning for people (Warner, Favre). So one individual in not responsible for this coming down.

Second, and infinitely more important than the first, a "snitch" by definition, can't be a snitch until someone else steps on their own dick. This mentality that you should stand by and watch people do immoral to illegal activities and not say anything is mind blowing. Do we as a society truly value tacit acceptance of illegality over someone giving a voice to integrity?

The "snitch" did nothing wrong, he was simply honest about others' indiscretions. These are values that should be held up and shown to children as examples how to act! Not spoken about with disdain and disgust in your voice (Talking to you Sapp!).

Let's say a woman is being mugged in an alley. Do you value the individuals who simply walk by and continue on their day, or the person who intervenes in the altercation? The answer is the intervener. He would be lauded as hero on the news for doing "the right thing." Yet for some reason, when it comes to "snitching" our views change. We no longer value doing the right thing. When did this happen? It certainly wasn't recently as I can recall as a child the term "tattletale" being negative even then.

I guess I don't have the answers as to why or when; only my supreme saddness at a society sickened by sycophancy run rampant.





Integrity, it's not a river in Egypt.(tm)