Anyone find it ironic the way America has embraced Martha Stewart versus how she has dealt with Barry Bonds? To make a long argument short, Barry Bonds is being maligned because many suspect that he took steroids to enhance his performance. Critics challenge that he "compromised the integrity of the game" by taking drugs to gain unfair advantage over others. For the record, he has denied knowingly taking steroids. Martha, on the other hand, committed a felony, was convicted by a jury of her peers, and sent to jail. At the very least she lied to gain unfair financial advantage in disposing of stock that she was told would lose value. Yet through all of this, she has flourished. Her stock has more than doubled since she has been in prison (she will be named to the current Forbes Richest list as a new billionaire as a result). While in prison she even inked a new deal for a reality show that she will star in. Barry on the other hand is a pariah, someone who is a magnet for animus and dislike from most of America.
Barry is said to have "compromised the integrity of the game" (whatever that means). Martha, a convicted felon, actually compromised the integrity of the financial markets - a cornerstone of our entire economic system - yet just coming out of the clink she is, arguably, in the very best position in her life right now. Barry made millions upon millions for Major League Baseball, yet Martha criminally manipulated the financial markets to save a few dollars! Barry continues to take shots from a sanctimonious media, yet that same media swoons over Martha's every step. Why the enormous double standard here? Some suggest that it is because Barry is a "sullen and disagreeable" sort. Well, through testimony in her trial, we learned that Martha is certainly Barry's equal in the area of interpersonal skills.
Anyone care to speculate on what the deal is here?
