This is a difficult epi to rate- the story is told well and I remember this happening at the time (of course the media pushed the theory that Manti was part of this) and that there's now a convenient movement to latch on to for 'Lennay' is just gross.
Of course he/she will make it all about themselves- not the complete and utter destruction for anyone else; when you can conveniently trot out the excuse that you 'identify' as a female therefore you didn't 'really' mean to destroy Manti because you were really in love with him, it's time to stop handing out insane excuses to criminals. Until you're willing to deal with punishment for criminal behavior, you don't get to play the trans card.
My God, will we ever learn from the past?
That Deadspin (trash, tabloid 'journalism', that's the standard now) was behind it all spoke volumes to me then, and infuriates me now- just listen to the actual giddiness of the intern that sends the story to Tim, and that Tim is oddly flexing about being some supposed 'brain' because 'anonymous collective, hurrrdurrr', and THEY HAD EVIDENCE that Manti was being taken yet chose to report disingenuous information. 'We didn't realize how voraciously the media would inhale this story!!', really?? The same story you COULD NOT WAIT to publish before any media could scoop you?
That Johnny Manzel was the person to win the Heisman should tell you everything you need to know about this year in sports.
'How could he have been so naive?!' was commonly bandied about, but what anyone saying this failed to recognize is, at the DI level, your life is not your own. He wanted to believe and having little to no time to yourself, having actual conversations with 'her', (his friends and parents heard her and believed it!!) along with losing his grandmother, focusing on your 'job' of football and making it to a national championship is no small feat. Catfishing wasn't part of the lexicon at that point, at least not as commonly known, and if you have even the slightest empathy for someone, you can see how easily this snowballed onto Manti.
I cannot reiterate enough my disgust for the CRIMINAL here- they actually BLAME MANTI for releasing the audio recordings, like THEY ARE THE REAL VICTIM! You are a monster that destroyed another person, and all you can see is yourself? It's just gross on so many levels and having some supposed gender confusion DOES NOT EXCUSE BEHAVIOR. It certainly doesn't excuse criminal acts, and that you're trying to push this as a poor you scenario tells me they're not sorry in the least, and that by 'coming out' it somehow negates previous bad actions; that once he and his family/friends learn of this, they'll have to forgive them because trans? That's exactly what I mean when I say we haven't learned from the past.
Of course he/she will make it all about themselves- not the complete and utter destruction for anyone else; when you can conveniently trot out the excuse that you 'identify' as a female therefore you didn't 'really' mean to destroy Manti because you were really in love with him, it's time to stop handing out insane excuses to criminals. Until you're willing to deal with punishment for criminal behavior, you don't get to play the trans card.
My God, will we ever learn from the past?
That Deadspin (trash, tabloid 'journalism', that's the standard now) was behind it all spoke volumes to me then, and infuriates me now- just listen to the actual giddiness of the intern that sends the story to Tim, and that Tim is oddly flexing about being some supposed 'brain' because 'anonymous collective, hurrrdurrr', and THEY HAD EVIDENCE that Manti was being taken yet chose to report disingenuous information. 'We didn't realize how voraciously the media would inhale this story!!', really?? The same story you COULD NOT WAIT to publish before any media could scoop you?
That Johnny Manzel was the person to win the Heisman should tell you everything you need to know about this year in sports.
'How could he have been so naive?!' was commonly bandied about, but what anyone saying this failed to recognize is, at the DI level, your life is not your own. He wanted to believe and having little to no time to yourself, having actual conversations with 'her', (his friends and parents heard her and believed it!!) along with losing his grandmother, focusing on your 'job' of football and making it to a national championship is no small feat. Catfishing wasn't part of the lexicon at that point, at least not as commonly known, and if you have even the slightest empathy for someone, you can see how easily this snowballed onto Manti.
I cannot reiterate enough my disgust for the CRIMINAL here- they actually BLAME MANTI for releasing the audio recordings, like THEY ARE THE REAL VICTIM! You are a monster that destroyed another person, and all you can see is yourself? It's just gross on so many levels and having some supposed gender confusion DOES NOT EXCUSE BEHAVIOR. It certainly doesn't excuse criminal acts, and that you're trying to push this as a poor you scenario tells me they're not sorry in the least, and that by 'coming out' it somehow negates previous bad actions; that once he and his family/friends learn of this, they'll have to forgive them because trans? That's exactly what I mean when I say we haven't learned from the past.