strigori
New member
We have a 'toughness/thin skin' in this country right now, and to some degree this is a magnified example.Ulty said:I don't know how anyone can say that Richie didn't go overboard. Perhaps this sort of behavior is common or acceptable in NFL locker rooms, but it shouldn't be. You're not going to stop a$sholes from being as$holes or people from hazing each other to some extent, but even going by the voicemail, assuming it wasn't a joke and happened more than once (and Richie has an extended history of asshattery), this stuff is totally unacceptable. If it is somewhat common or accepted, that needs to change.Bye Bye Big XII said:Different people respond differently to different situations. We wouldn't be hearing anything about this had Martin "toughened up." We also wouldn't be hearing anything about this if Richie didn't go too overboard in Martin's opinion.
As far as Martin toughening up, it sure looks like the guy has mental health issues. Most people are able to handle some extent of bullying, and we all deal with jerks on a day to day basis everywhere we go, dealing with that is part of life. Richie's bullying (and we certainly don't know the full story) should not be excused, but Martin was not able to handle it the way some others might have. But that is not a matter of being tough, it is a matter of making sure a person is mentally and emotionally healthy. Trying to force a mentally unbalanced person to "toughen up" is sort of like asking a paraplegic to run a little faster.
Every time there is a mass shooting, we as a society briefly have a dialogue about addressing mental health in this country, but it extends to other areas as well, such as NFL locker rooms, the poor and addicted who are in all of our communities. Martin needed more help. Either someone should have seen the signs and found help for him, or he should have done more to make sure his own issues were known and addressed. A therapist should have been provided to help Martin cope. Instead, if the rumors coming out today are true, the Dolphins assigned a raging douchebag in Richie Incognito to address Martin's issues, which is wholly inappropriate and dangerous.
We do not see context on the texts or voicemails, and most of us on here being guys, I feel pretty confident in saying if you went though our texts and voicemails with friends, there would be stuff in there that taken by itself, by very thin skinned outsiders would look just about as bad.