Observations

Ron Artest Should Go to Jail

Ron Artest, who plays for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and using force or violence to prevent his victim from reporting a crime, sheriff's spokeswoman Dena Erwin said. Deputies responded to Artest's five-acre estate in the Sacramento suburb of Loomis about 9:30 a.m., where they found a woman who had suffered injuries, officials said. She declined medical attention. Artest was released later on $50,000 bail.

Dogs owned by Mr. Artest have spent a total of 77 nights at the pound since July because of poor care by their owner, costing the NBA star $1,942 in boarding and impound fees, county records show. Placer County animal control officers have gone to Artest's five-acre estate seven times in that period in response to callers' complaints about dogs being loose or not being fed.

And if all that isn’t enough, Mr. Artest was just released from a year’s probation for the brawl he participated in when several NBA players went into the stands after fans.

Artest is one of a legion of “professional” athletes who can play a sport, but are socially dysfunctional. They think they have a different set of rules than everyone else; that they can do pretty much what they please, because of who they are. We blame society for all sorts of ills for which society is not to blame, but this is one phenomenon that is clearly and totally the fault of society. We have screwed up priorities that make gods out of one-trick ponies like Ron Artest, and teach them that they can do what they want with impunity.

Ron Artest needs a slap in the face to get his attention; he needs to go to jail this time. His team needs to be deprived of his talents so that the management starts to get the message that paying thugs and hoodlums millions of dollars a year because they look good in shorts and can jump is stupid when those over-paid degenerates slap people around and behave like spoiled children. The team needs to tell Mr. Artest, “Okay, bub, you screwed up, and you are suspended without pay until you straighten out.”

But more importantly, some judge needs to tell him, “Mr. Artest, you aren’t special. You just play a game well. Life is about more than just games, despite what you have learned from our society’s twisted priorities. You will learn how to live peacefully with other people, you will learn that you are just one person among the 6 billion that inhabit this planet, and you don’t have any more rights than any other individual in this country. And if you keep living the way you’ve been going, breaking laws with abandon and acting like you’re something special, you’ll go back to jail until you figure out this simple lesson.”

These same messages should be delivered to every professional athlete and entertainer and Hollywood idol that hasn’t quite grasped the simple message that they really aren’t as special as they think they are. And the sooner the better!

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