On Bad Decisions, the Brittney Griner Edition

I don't care about Brittney Griner.

That's somewhat inaccurate, I suppose. In relation to her as a human being, I care about her: I don't want her to be abused, or mistreated, or killed, etc. But in relation to the plethora of stories and attention that her situation continues to receive, I don't care as much, and I certainly don't think any of it warrants news media or Presidential administration copy. If you need to catch up, here's the latest as of today, for reference: https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/34982248/brittney-griner-moves-russian-penal-colony-exact-location-unknown

I don't care about her (beyond as any other person) because she's largely responsible for her current situation. First, she's a criminal: she brought known-illegal stuff into Russia, without respecting their laws. As Americans, we project our views and opinions a lot on other countries, but Russia has their own laws, and if you're going to visit there and you ignore them, you do so at your own peril. Second, while there's a reasonable argument that Russia is trying to use her as a bargaining chip in their tensions with the US (vis-a-vis their invasion of Ukraine), she knew (or should have known) that reality when she chose to travel to Russia. If you choose to put yourself in a known-dangerous situation, you also have to bear some of the responsibility when something bad happens.

Third, just for reference, consider the broader context. Russia is a terrorist state which literally assassinates people their leaders don't like enough to get on their radar, even if those people are totally innocent of any crimes. Griner is being punished for a crime, which she did actually commit, and is also nominally a crime in the US also (lest we forgot), and is serving the "normal" sentence for such. The fact that she is a professional athlete in the US shouldn't really be a factor in how she's treated in a criminal justice system, and it seems like Russia is the country here which is practicing that ideal.

So yeah... I don't care. Moreover, as an ironic side-note, the less people in the US cared, the less power Russia would think this "bargaining chip" had; if the White House wasn't talking about it, it would probably actually increase the chances of a exchange deal or something. Like many, many, many other criminals in the world who are serving time, she made some bad decisions, and now she's paying the price for them. Let's stop writing stories like the situation is something more than that, okay?

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