Ray Rice, a talented football player, was videotaped as he punched his fiancee in the face, knocking her unconscious. His team, the Ravens, fired him. The National Football League (NFL) suspended him.
Should the NFL fire Ray Rice altogether from the football league?
Write for three minutes, BELIEVING THE PROMPT: “Ray Rice Should Be Fired From Football For Punching Out His Fiancee.”
Write for three minutes, DOUBTING THE PROMPT: “Ray Rice Should Be Fired From Football For Punching Out His Fiancee.”
English is my Thinglish :: 
Belief:
Ray Rice should be suspended for beating his finance. It is a well know fact that when you are associated with an organization like the NFL your actions reflect the organization. His actions reflect badly on the entire organization. He must be punished swiftly to limit the damage that could be done to the NFL’s image.
Doubt:
Ray rice is an outstanding athlete with an impressive record. The incident regarding him and his fiance should not inhibit his ability to play. No criminal charges are being pressed on him so there is no reason for the NFL to impose a penalty on him. His job is to play football and as long as he can do that and do it well then the NFL should not be aloud to pass judgment on his personal life.
Belief- The statement that Ray Rice should be suspended for violence against his fiance is self-explanatory.No person with or without fame should be able to use violence especially on a loved one and be able to get away with it.
Doubt- Rice should not be suspended because this matter was a private matter and so it should be taken as such. business and private life matters should not mix.
Ray Rice should be suspended for abusing his fiance because he needs to learn from the consequences he chose to do. If he doesn’t get suspended he might do the same thing again or something even worse.
Ray Rice shouldn’t be suspended for abusing his fiance because he probably didn’t realize how serious the situation would have gotten.
(my) Belief – Ray Rice should definitely be suspended from football not only for domestic violence, but for being violent at all. Football players and other athletes are looked up to, and no violent person should be able to become a role model like that. Any violent celebrity should lose the respect of the public for being a bad influence on society.
Doubt- Should Ray Rice be suspended? Most of the anger directed at him is because he hit a woman, but by saying that, wouldn’t it make it seem like women are weaker, and less than men? Many celebrities are involved with domestic abuse cases, but remain much of their popularity, and some cases could be seen as a publicity stunt, and those abusers have barely any punishment.
Belief: Ray Rice should be suspended for violence against females because what he did was wrong. He brutally beat up his girlfriend in an elevator. He then lied about it for months until the elevator video was shared on the internet. If this was any other person he probably would be arrested, due to the fact that it is a domestic violence case.
Doubt: Ray Rice should not be suspended from football for his violence against women because his personal life and his professional life are two separate things. What happened with his wife is between the two of them and should not conflict with his career. Suspending him will fix nothing.
belief: Ray Rice should be suspended for the violence against his fiance. Football players are people that children look up to as role models and should not be showing kids such actions. He could have really hurt her and that is not a good example to be setting for kids.
doubt: Ray Rice should not be suspended because other athletes have showed violence for a family member too, and women can get away with it. For example, Hope Solo hit her very nephew but still got to play in all of her big soccer games. If she can get away with it then so should Ray Rice.
Belief:
This statement is true because a man should not put his hands on a female, just as a female should not put her hands on a male. However, it is clear that Rice has a lot more strength and power than his fiance, being a football player and could seriously injure her. This act of violence shows that he has no respect for women. He did this is a public place with the risk of being caught. With this being said, there should be a consequence.
Doubt:
This statement is untrue, because his personal life should not conflict with his business life. Violence against his fiance was not right in a legal sense, but that is a personal issue that has nothing to do with his football career. Being a football player, he is around violence almost everyday, so it may have just been in his nature for the fiest apporach to dealing with this problem to be violent.
Prompt: Ray Rice should be suspended for violence against his fiancee.
– Ray Rice should be suspended from football for beating his fiancee, why? Well no man should ever touch a woman in a violent way. No matter, a woman should always be treated with respect. By Ray Rice being a public figure, he can’t have actions that could influence violence in any kind of other violence
Believe: I believe Ray Rice should be suspended for violence against his fiance because they that reprimands him for the fact that he has clear disrespect for her, and she is a lady who should not be hit by a man. Also, if he shows disrespect for her, who else will he disrespect?
Doubt: Every person makes mistakes, and his personal life should not have anything to do with his professional one. Both were highly intoxicated during the dispute, so that shows they are not really like that.
Ray Rice should be suspended for violence against his fiance. I also think that he should go to jail because that is domestic violence and that is a felony. Nobody should be hit on and when you do hit somebody there is going to be consequences. Ray Rice made the NFL and his team look bad when he decided to take that action. If the NFL didn’t handle the situation then the NFL as a whole would look bad as in they accept domestic violence
Ray Rice shouldn’t be suspended. We don’t know the reason why he topped her. He didn’t even hit her that hard. Maybe she provoked him or hit him first. We don’t know what happened before because we wasn’t there. Anyways, his team needs him to play. The way i see it, it is her fault that she got hit
Ray Rice should be fired from football for punching out his fiancee because it shows that he is a bad representation of his team as well as being an abusive spouse. He should not be exempt from such consequences just because of his career and title., It creates a double standard for those who would be charged, resulting in consequences due to them living lives as “normal” people.
Ray Rice should not be fired from football for punching out his Fiancee due to the fact that she provoked him first. There’s always been the double standard that boys/males cannot hit girls/females… ever. It seems as if people never think about the contributing factors as to why he assaulted her. Now, I’m not saying that hitting one another (specifically a female/females for this case) is wrong, but females generally are not weaker than most males think. If females are so strong as we are, there is no reason as to why we should be allowed to assault or abuse a man without reaping consequences.
Believe
Ray Rice should be fired from football because he assaulted an innocent woman who was defenseless against his professional-football strength. this action cannot be accepted at any level of sports, let alone the pro level, and should be handled accordingly. This action can not be associated with the NFL as it defames it’s name and makes the league appear as if it condones the action.
Doubt
Ray Rice should not be fired from football because, apparently, his wife was partially responsible for his actions and pushed him over the edge. Also, Rice relies on his NFL career for an income and depends on his playing to generate enough money so that he will have enough after he retires, which is usually around 30 years old for running backs like himself. He didn’t mortally wound anyone. His fiance should have a say in his suspension since she was the victim and should therefore press the charges.
Belief: Last spring, the spring of 2015, the football player Ray Rice was caught on video violently abusing his fiance in an elevator and then dragging her unconscious body out the door. After the footage was released the NFL made the decision to suspend him from the game. I believe that not only should he be suspended but also be arrested for his heinous acts. Never in any world is treating a women, especially your fiance, in any acceptable.
Doubt: Ray Rice is just misunderstood, his violence against his fiance was no where near what the media made it out to be. His fiance, knowing there was a camera present, purposely antagonized him and overreacted in order to make a large sum of money in the lawsuit.
agree
Ray rice should be fired from football because actions like those cannot be tolerated. It was wrong and he deserves severe punishment. Firing Ray Rice from the NFL is the only acceptable thing. This man does not deserve to play in the NFL and certainly does not deserve redemption. When you watch the video you can see that he severely injured his fiancee in an act of domestic violence
disagree
Ray Rice shouldn’t be fired because the situation has nothing to do with his career. Shoukd he punished yes but not fired fromhis job. The thing that he did was unforgivable but this is a seperate case. His stance as a football player shouldn’t be demoted because of this.This is more of a personal case. Ray Rice was in a abusive relationship with his wife and should only be perceived as that.
Ray Rice should be suspended for violence against his fiance. Violence is already a major problem in today’s society whether it be with strangers, friends, partners, etc. and causing more violence wouldn’t help anything. He should be suspended because acting violent toward his fiance, causes harm to her, whether he thinks it or not. It could also escalate into something more serious and could be the start of an abusive relationship
Doubt – Ray Rice shouldn’t be suspended for violence against his fiance. She may have provoked him to a point where he felt like he needed to use violence to make cause her to stop. Also, every relationship has their fights, whether it be physically or verbally.
Belief
Of course Ray Rice should be fired from football for assaulting his fiancee! He had no right to knock his fiancee unconscious. Even for any reason he should not have done this. He has no good reason to justify his actions. Had she begun to attack him? Even if so, was he actually in serious danger? Would he have really gotten hurt? Was there a high enough possibility of being hurt that would justify his actions as “self-defense”? No, I don’t think so, at all. If anything, you shouldn’t be hitting people in the first place. Learn some self control.
Doubt
Ray Rice should not be fired from football for assaulting his fiancee, because this has nothing to do with his professional career. He should be able—everyone should be—to separate his personal and professional life. His personal choices, if done right, should not affect his professional career. He should only be penalized when a personal choice affects his gameplay or team. Since this incident doesn’t affect that, then his career also shouldn’t be affected either, therefore, he should not be fired.
Belief: I believe that the NFL would be right in firing Ray Rice. Even if the NFL is only doing it to protect their image there is nothing wrong with Rice losing his position on the team. The fact of the matter is that Rice went through with action of assaulting his wife and he should be punished for it. If losing his job is one of the punishments then so be it.
Doubt: While the NFL does have the power to fire Ray Rice it is not right. Rice did attack his fiance but that is apart his personal life. This has no effect on how he performs as an athlete. Personal life should be separated from his work life Since it doesn’t affect how he plays than it should not be a factor in if he keeps his position.
Believe-
Ray Rice should be suspended because he assaulted his soon-to-be wife. This incident gives the NFL a bad image if the don’t punish Rice. The league shouldn’t reward their players for wrong doings, especially due o the negative feed back the video was receiving from the public. They probably should have benched Rice for the rest of the season and gave him anger management courses.
Doubt-
Ray Rice shouldn’t be suspended because the incident didn’t have anything to do with the league.Ray should have been arrested and let the incident be handled by the police not the league. The NFL shouldn’t penalize Rice’s career due to an incident that happened between his fiance, who probably provoked him.
Ray Rice should be fired from football for assaulting his wife because you should never assault anyone, period. I believe the only time that any person should take physical action is when someone is trying to hurt you in a physical manner. Not just a little physical action like a push or a shove or someone spitting on you, although it is disgusting , that shouldn’t be enough to make you want to knock someone out. I’m talking about full out punching trying to hurt you with either their body or a weapon. Even when you do take physical action against any opponent your goal should not be to hurt them, your goal should be to protect yourself in any possible way that you can, not to hurt them.
Ray Rice shouldn’t be fired from football for assaulting his wife because she came at him first, she probably did something which made him mad and made him want to hit her with no other choice but to discipline her disgusting behavior. Playing football has nothing to do with whether or not Ray Rice is an abusive asshole.
Belief: Domestic violence is a big issue and needs to be treated as so . Although his girlfriend didn’t press charges it doesn’t disprove what occurred. Ray Rice beat his fiance and committed a crime , and just like anyone wake he needs to be reprimanded for his actions.
Doubt: Ray Rice should not be suspended simply because if his fiance feels he is genuinely remorseful why should everyone get invoked . He’s the victim, she was assaulted and is being assaulted all over again every time the media brings the story up or plays the video again , as well as when the whole world pressures her to press charges.
Belief: Ray Rice should be suspended for violence against females. Rice is a sports star who people, including kids, looks up to. By not punishing his actions, the NFL is allowing Rice’s behavior to be perceived as acceptable. Domestic violence is a serious issue, and being suspended is a mild punishment for such terrible actions. Letting Rice off the hook would only glorify and perpetuate domestic violence.
Doubt: Rice and his fiance’s relationship is none of the public’s business. By suspending Rice, his privacy is violated. Counseling, instead of punishment, should be encouraged and Rice should be allowed to play. Domestic violence is not against the rules of the game and therefore should not be policed by sports officials.
Belief-I think that Ray Rice should be suspended because he physically but his hands on a female. It wasn’t just a simple tap. He really hurt her and should be punished for his actions that he chose to do. They have evidence of him hitting her it wasn’t just an assumption that was made by someone.
Doubt-I don’t think that Ray Rice should be suspended because what he did although it was very wrong was not football related. Also everyone doesn’t know the whole story. It could’ve been instigated by the women for reasons we don’t know.
Ray rice should be suspended for violence agaist his Fiancee.
Ray rice should be suspended for violence towards his fiancee, because no man is alowed to put their hands on a Woman. Ray rice should also know that young men look up to him, so he shouldn’t be teaching them violence.
Ray rice should’t be suspended, because we all have times where we’re really mad and its hard to control our emotions. I feel that the audience nees to understand that he didn’t mean to be violent, he couldn’t control himself. His fiancee should also know thats he’s not like that.
Ray rice should’t be suspended, because we all have times where we’re really mad and its hard to control our emotions. I feel that the audience nees to understand that he didn’t mean to be violent, he couldn’t control himself. His fiancee should also know thats he’s not like that.
Ray rice should be suspended for violence agaist his fiancee.
Ray rice should be suspended for violence towards his fiancee, because no man should put their hands on woman. Ray rice should also know that young men look up to him and he shouldn’t be teaching any type og violence.
Ray rice should’t be suspended, because we all have times where we’re really mad and its hard to control our emotions. I feel that the audience nees to understand that he didn’t mean to be violent, he couldn’t control himself. His fiancee should also know thats he’s not like that.
Belief: Ray Rice should be suspended from the NFL for beating his fiancee, why? Well no man should ever treat a woman with violence. Ray Rice is a public figure and he can’t have these negative behaviors towards a woman. Without him being aware he is influencing violence to his fans, more violence that is not necessary in this country. If the NFL were to forgive him and revoke his suspension, I believe a lot of people are going to boycott the NFL for allowing and in some way influencing woman abuse.
Doubt: I disagree with everyone who demands Ray Rice immediate suspension from the NFL because I believe the NFL should take in consideration that his actions weren’t meant to harm the NFL and his action was done during his personal time. Away from the press.
Ray Rice deserves to be suspended for hitting his fiancee. She did nothing wrong to deserve such wrongdoing and disrespect. With one punch he knocked her out in an elevator.
Sure a video of Ray Rice has been seen hitting his fiancee, but there could have been a reason for his actions. He doesn’t need to be suspended for a one time offense.
Belief: I strongly believe that Ray should be suspended for violence against his fiancé, because no matter how bad an argument is between them violence should not be a solution. Ray plays football and if something happens that he isn’t pleased with he might bring violence to them as much as he did to his wife to be.
Doubt: I doubt that Ray Rice should be suspended for violence against his fiancé, because him been violent to his fiancé is his personal life and that doesn’t necessarily mean that it would affect him in playing football
Believing the prompt Ray Rice should be suspended. Violence should be intolerable between anyone. If he doesn’t get suspended he could end up pursuing future violence against her and other people. The fiance because of the violence could develop depression since her significant other, a person who she is getting married to her betrayed and hurt her violently. Because of that she may not see her self worth anymore.
Doubting the prompt Ray Rice shouldn’t be suspended. Him and his team and him and his fiance are different sets of people. His team is part of his career and his fiance is part of his personal life. It’s not fair for the team to suspend him since the team didn’t do anything wrong. I believe legal actions should be taken such as arrest or jail time but I don’t think it’s the NFL’s place to discipline him since if he wasn’t on the team he wouldn’t have received that type of punishment. Since Rice is a major figure in football the NFL wanted to show everyone that the league has a no violence policy.
Belief: Ray Rice: He should be fired because he did assault his wife and it was on camera in an elevator, since he was in a more private space and area. No man has the right to put his hands on a woman and it works both ways. He could’ve been less violent and refrained from using his hands and instead, use his mouth. If he were to return to the field, he’d only bring about his own self-destruction since he committed such a wrongful act and millions of fans for the Ravens is watching. Just because he did it once before, doesn’t mean it won’t happen again. He just shouldn’t have hit his wife anyway.
Doubt: Ray Rice: He shouldn’t be fired because he has worked all his life to become a very talented football player. Just because of on incident, he shouldn’t throw away his whole life of accomplishments and dreams. Instead, he should just be suspended as punishment, less harsh way of punishment to teach him a lesson. Domestic violence is never positive and he shouldn’t have hit his wife in the first place, but maybe he was really angry or under the influence and made a mistake. She is his wife after all that he should be loving and not hitting. Firing him would make life for
Belief
It think it is wrong and disrespectful to assault someone. The thought about Rice just physically abusing his wife is very disturbing. He assaulted his wife in an elevator and he literally looked like he knocked her out. He has a family and I believe that he also has children. I think his stupid behavior took the happiness out of his family and replaced it with darkness. It is very unfair for his family, suffering from his behavior. The media and press also did no justice for him. I wonder if his wife stayed with him. If she did she probably think she can change him or for the kids.
Doubt
I think what Ray Rice did was an honest mistake. Ray Rice should not be fired from his football career because it is simply an accident. Everyone deserves a second chance, therefor I think this is his second chance. He is stressed because of his career and his family, it’s very hard for his to juggle both. He did not mean to hurt her, it was just an accident. The media and the press is even worst. He still loves his family and he wants to provide for them. He needs his job in doing so. He needs the support and encouragement so that he can keep his family happy.
I agree with Neliekah because if he does itonce, he is bound to lash out again.
I agree Agree Betsy, he should be fired because of his violent behavior. Actions do speak louder than words, he has younger fans and they probably thinks its okay to abuse someone because their role model did it.
Belief :
Ray Rice should be fired from the NFL because it shows that the NFL takes the matter of domestic violence serious. He is supposed to represent his team on and off the field so what he does in public will represent the NFL as a whole. Rice knew that he was stronger than his fiancee but proceeded to use his power and strength to physically abuse her.
Doubt :
Ray Rice should not be fired from the NFL completely because the situation was a personal matter. Though domestic violence should not be condoned, Rice and his fiancee were having a private argument that should not be associated his his business life. His private affairs do not affect his performance on the field.
Belief:
Ray Rice should be fired due to his diminishing actions. He is abusive and is not serving the public in a positive manner. As a public figure, he has accepted the responsibility of acting morally and behaving properly to set the example for his followers. Due to the massive amounts of over sharing and viewing information through the internet, there is ever more light shining on his career. It is Rice’s responsibility to not promote violence. Thus, the team should do what is correct and kick him of the team due to his misconduct. All team members learn that they must practice good sportsmanship on and off the field. His actions reflect otherwise. The consequences of his actions should serve as an example for all players worldwide that it is not correct to be abusive.
Doubt:
Ray Rice should not have his career threatened due to his actions outside of work. It is his personal life and his career should not be threatened. Also, the media should not be interfering in his personal life. It is the media’s fault for over sharing this video and in no way should he be held accountable for the promotion of violence or for other players to think that it is okay to misbehave outside of the field. There may have been outside factors that justified his actions, such as medical problems. Even so, he did not show misconduct in his football career. Thus, his career should not be threatened.
Belief: I believe that Ray Rice should get fired from his team because assaulting his spouse is unacceptable. Being that he is physically fit and way bigger than his spouse that should be more of a reason why he shouldn’t keep his job. He had hit her and also knocked her out unconscious. He could’ve killed her and that would’ve been an even bigger problem on his hands. He is a male with a strong physical appearance then his spouse so that should be a red flag and that should be a sign to release him from his job.
Doubt: I believe that Ray Rice should not be fired from his job because that incident wasn’t anyone else’s business. We as people don’t know what goes on the inside world. We only see what they decide to show us. It’s honestly none of his job’s business to know if he beats his wife or not. Maybe his wife provokes him to hit her. Maybe she hit him before and they had fought multiple times.
Support:
Ray Rice should be fired because of assaulting his fiancee. He hit her hard enough for her to become unconscious. This was recorded in an elevator by the elevator camera, which also displayed him trying to drag her unconscious body out without getting witnessed. He knew what he had done to her and was knew the consequences yet he tried to hide it. He used the strength he had gained over the years of training to hit his wife-to-be. Such actions deserve the exact punishments he is getting.
Doubt:
Ray Rice shouldn’t have been faced with such a consequence for his actions. He was obviously emotionally and for many people like Ray his body corresponded with his emotions. He spent years of training to use his strength and anger which could affect his personal life of losing to rage and anger. His career was all about using anger and strength and as soon as it got involved in his personal life he used his strength just like in his career. It was a mistake he made and it is not deserving of ruining his career, even his wife forgave him. They got married afterwards. So if his wife forgave him and he has better control over his emotions, why must he suffer the loss of his career his only way to make a living doing what he loves?
@Samantha:
I completely agree with your response! If Ray Rice does not get suspended he might do the same thing again and worse consequences can result. All people should face the consequences of their actions!