This is going off-topic, I think...
I have a son. And I have 4 nieces we spend a ton of time with and look after my kid.
But you understand that that's not the same as actually having and raising a daughter.. I get what you're saying, but.. surely you can see the difference?
Once I became a father to a little girl, I had to think about what that entailed. I've thought long and hard about how best to raise my daughter and what values I wanted to instill in her.
A sense of chastity is fine, but that's not enough.. Sexuality is a natural part of life, and relationships. I'd expect my daughter to know better than to reduce herself to a one-time fling with a guy because of his status; and if she didn't that would fall squarely on the both of us.
I tend to think people think differently when you know first hand how immature 16 year old girls are. Perhaps not in your situation.
I'm not sure what this means, but I wouldn't venture to guess that all people think any one way or another about a particular subject.
Some fathers smother their girls with unrealistic expectations that are often more damaging to them and their understanding of their own sexuality.
With regards to myself, I know exactly how immature 16 years are, and it's not just girls...
When I was 16, I lived on my own, had a full-time job, and had sex with different girls
regularly. But maturity and age doesn't necessarily beget wisdom.
All of that aside, that doesn't mean a 16-year cannot consent to sex, and in most states that's considered legal. As someone who was having sex well before I was 16, I can't say as a 16-year old I was being raped by college students whom I'm sleeping with.
To be fair, a 28 yr old is currently in jail for messing with the oldest of my nieces.
...
I can't speak to your individual situation, but
if your niece is over 16 and "messing with" means just having sex, well, I obviously would have a different opinion on that than you.
Putting a guy in prison for having
consensual sex is ridiculous. Putting a guy in prison for actual rape, or
child rape (without consent) is completely different.
You appear to have a lot more faith in humanity than I do.
I think I've probably just lived a bit more life and I've seen a few things that changed my opinions from the moral rigidity that yours seem to express. And as I mentioned, I have a teenage daughter myself..
If Dwight had known her age (and I think he did) and he bought that plane ticket when she was underage thats prison time.
Both of them have said that he didn't know her age. Not sure what you know to state that he did. It's pretty obvious to me that he had no clue, since that was one of the things she lamented about ("he didn't even know my age")...
As far as "prison time," yeesh.. I'm not so sure as to why you'd be so quick to put a guy in
prison for consensual sex for what would be an of-age girl. That's way overboard, imho..
If there was a 17-year old H.S. football player fucking a 28-year old actress, would you want that actress locked away in
prison too?
Like, there's more important ways to spend tax payer dollars than locking up some guy for sticking his dick in a hot in the pants 17 year old. Who cares?
My experience with these things is that he wrote someone a check for her not to escalate the matter. But who knows.
Why would he bother without a legal settlement? I kind of doubt that, and I think that's more fiction than reality. She already put him on blast, I think that was all she had on him and it was over. She had her 15 minutes of fame, and life moves on.
Remember James Franco? Nothing happens to these guys...
I just know its seedy as hell and I just wasn't going to be the last guy out on the limb defending him after all these years if that is the guy he is.
I hear you...
He came into the league as a devoutly religious person and now has 8 kids by 8 women.
Isn't that his business and no one else's though? I mean really, who cares about his religion?
The religious people I've known in my life have been among the most amoral individuals I've ever known. I also don't understand why anyone cares how many women he's impregnated?
They
all had the option to use condoms, they had the option of getting a pill, taking a shot, or getting an abortion. They chose to have unprotected sex without contraception and then carry those children to term.
Does that make Howard a scum bag for continually knocking chicks up? It might.. But what does it make the chick who was on her back, 5th, 6th, 7th, etc in line?
It's a two way street.. Who is the victim here? The children? Why didn't the future mothers take that into consideration before breaking off some ass for Dwight? Not to say that he's not partially responsible, but I do think there's some financial motivation and incentive there as well - among other things (
"I want a baby by a basketball player").
And flies in girls who should be trying to get their drivers licenses'.
If I was 17 and someone like Scarlett Johansen says to me "I'm going to fly you to Los Angeles, we'll get a room, and we'll have a great time.." I'm going to say "Fucking A! OMFG, yes!" I don't think this is any different.
That type of behavior belies a lack of character.
The having numerous children bit, yes, I'm with you with respect to character.
Flying in a girl whom you might think is 19? No, I have no problem with that at all... So what? I'm not sure why he'd do it, but if that's his taste then so be it..
And given that he has taken so many slings for a lack of character on the court, etc it seemed a fine time to stop supporting him. If you don't agree so be it.
I don't support Howard and never have.
We all make our evaluations based on own experiences and priorities. It just seems to me that there isn't anyone left that he hasn't alienated in some fashion.
Meh... I wouldn't worry about him man, he's rolling in dough and liable to sign another max deal. He'll be fine, and frankly he's not worth either our time.
We've gone way off-topic here, just thought I'd offer my views as someone who is seeing this from a very different vantage point.
You could not be more off-base.