Re: That Saad Lad
Reply #46 –
You still haven't explained how the same inexorable shift in public opinion hasn't resulted in mandatory minimum drink-driving disqualifications being dumped. Seems that the sob stories haven't worked in that regard.
And maybe the sob stories have lost their potency in the PEDs area since Andre Agassi successfully argued that his drink had been spiked with chrystal meth and avoided any penalty for that in '97. He later admitted in his autobiography that this was a lie. Wonder if Warnie's "my mum gave me a diet pill" excuse impressed many either. And Sam Riley's coach saying he was the one who fed her the headache pill without checking it's contents and taking the bullet for her did much to lessen the need to sheet home responsibility to the athlete.
It's led to publicans exercising a moral (and within reason) a legal duty to advise intoxicated patrons they they shouldn't drive under the influence so as to avoid tort. It's led to friends and relatives doing the same, on moral grounds. It's led to employers (for fear of breach of legal duty of care) to provide taxi service for staff at company social gatherings. It's led to provision of clear identification (by way of apparatus that determine blood alcohol readings) in venues. It's led to a sharing of responsibility, precisely what I'm arguing here.
I'm arguing that without such a reasonable spread of responsibility eventually public opinion will shift away from a pure prosecutorial model. Sport has a far reach, tugs the heart of emotion and leaves a long memory in followers.