Matt Araiza

[Eastport bills]

So poor Matt’s life is destroyed by San Diego prosecutors, who waited just long enough to exonerate him, effectively killing his NFL career aspirations. If it’s true that he wasn’t present at the time of the accusation, where is the outcry to resurrect this kids reputation from the NFL or the Bills. Does San Diego State get off without criticism for doing some half assed investigation and then hanging this kid out to dry. How about the accuser? She just gets to falsely perpetuate this shitstorm and walk away? Just imagine what this kid and his family has gone through for a year. Sickening.

[BillsFanSD]

1 minute ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

I definitely said the Bills had to release him, immediately. 

Are you still unable to see how Araiza might avoid charges?  Because a bunch of us were way ahead of you on that back in August.

 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Just now, BillsFanSD said:

Are you still unable to see how Araiza might avoid charges?  Because a bunch of us were way ahead of you on that back in August.

 

My opinion was wrong. Public opinion is often wrong. That’s why it should be illegal to release accused names before charges are filed.

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Quit being all talk then.  If you’re this against the Bills for not bringing back Araiza, then stop supporting them.  Do not watch a single game anymore if you’re this huge man of principle.

 

Because if you continue to complain about Buffalo doing the wrong thing, then you supporting the Bills makes you a huge hypocrite and makes you look weak.
 

“The Bills are doing an injustice on Araiza!!!  But I’ll continue to post on this message and watch every Bills game.”

Amen

13 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

Wait for the facts to come out.  It's not that difficult.  

 

There's no rule that says that you have to automatically believe every accusation that comes along.  Suspending judgement until you know the underlying facts is pretty much always the best course of action. 

Social media has changed the world.  The court of public opinion has never been so loud and defining as it is now.  Until something is somehow done to change the mindset on this, it will only get worse. 
 

 

[BillsFanNC]

43 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

What exactly are people supposed to do? A 17 year girl said she was gang raped. 
 

Blame the system for allowing the names of the accused to be released.

 

1. Assume with a very high degree of certainty that you, Joe Public, can't possibly know what's even close to the entire story.

 

2. Following logically from #1 don't rush to judgment in either direction.

 

Simple.

Edited May 9, 2023 by BillsFanNC

[StHustle]

11 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

Does San Diego State get off without criticism for doing some half assed investigation and then hanging this kid out to dry.

Im lost what did San Diego State do?

[BillsFanSD]

Just now, NewEra said:

Amen

Social media has changed the world.  The court of public opinion has never been so loud and defining as it is now.  Until something is somehow done to change the mindset on this, it will only get worse. 

I agree.  But "the court of public opinion" is made up of individual people, and it's not unreasonable to ask those people to just stop being villains.  On a very small level, that goes for guys like Buffalo_Stampede, who (charitably) get caught up in the crowd and ignored the little voice that says to maybe wait until you hear both sides of the story.  I will grant, though, that it's probably asking too much to expect randos from the internet to be calm and reasonable.

 

But what's the excuse for people like Tim Graham?  Or, for that matter, Aaron Quinn?  We should hold journalists and wannabe journalists to higher standards than internet randos.  Getting a call like this wrong should carry reputational consequences.

[4merper4mer]

7 hours ago, IronMaidenBills said:

All this franchise does is preach family and unity. You cut bait with someone who hasn’t even had a court case? Why would any player buy into this weak mantra company that won’t even see you get your day in court? 

Araiza had to clear his name.  You can call that unjust and scream and cry about it all you want but it is an absolute fact.  The release of this article does not complete his process of clearing his name.  In it, the woman’s lawyer gives the impression he still has work to do.  It doesn’t matter whether that situation is right or wrong….it is real.

 

Let’s get in our alternative universe machine and imagine the Bills kept Araiza.  Would that have made things easier or harder on him clearing his name?  We’re a year out and the process is still incomplete.  If he had put in a football player’s season worth of work, there would have been unimaginable chaos surrounding both him and the team.  The kid is 22.  It would have been 1000x more difficult on him.  On what planet is something like that improving his life or the situation? 
 

The Bills 100% did the right thing for Araiza…..they acted like adults and made the right decision for him based on objective reality….even if that reality was ugly and perhaps unfair.
 

If you want to call the Bills a family then Beane is like a parent.  Sometimes parents have to do things they don’t enjoy and the kids get mad about, but that they know is the right thing to do.  In this case there are two types of kids.  The players and the fans.  I’d guess that most players understand exactly the scrutiny Araiza and the team would have gone through had he stayed.  The fans that take your simplistic view of the situation are like kids that are now 45 but are still mad at mom for not buying those Lucky Charms when they were four years old. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

1 minute ago, BillsFanNC said:

 

1. Assume with a very high degree of certainty that you, Joe Public, can't possibly know what's even close to the entire story.

 

2. Following from #1 don't rush to judgment in either direction.

 

Simple.

I don’t there is much worse to be accused of. Affects so many people. Very traumatic. It’s a lot easier said then done.

 

 

 

[StHustle]

11 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

Are you still unable to see how Araiza might avoid charges?  Because a bunch of us were way ahead of you on that back in August.

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

My opinion was wrong. Public opinion is often wrong. That’s why it should be illegal to release accused names before charges are filed.

 

 

Unfortunately Buffalo Stampede was in the majority. My record on where I stood was very clear. The fact that the story didn’t add up was enough for me to be willing to stand in that man’s corner until prof he did it came out.

 

claiming your friends were at a party the whole time you got raped then simply dropped you off at home after didn’t make any sense at all. So many other glaring holes as well and yet the masses wanted to crucify the kid. Didn’t make any sense to me.

 

I probably have 20 posts in that thread defending Araiza.

[SCBills]

7 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

I agree.  But "the court of public opinion" is made up of individual people, and it's not unreasonable to ask those people to just stop being villains.  On a very small level, that goes for guys like Buffalo_Stampede, who (charitably) get caught up in the crowd and ignored the little voice that says to maybe wait until you hear both sides of the story.  I will grant, though, that it's probably asking too much to expect randos from the internet to be calm and reasonable.

 

But what's the excuse for people like Tim Graham?  Or, for that matter, Aaron Quinn?  We should hold journalists and wannabe journalists to higher standards than internet randos.  Getting a call like this wrong should carry reputational consequences.

This.  
 

Will any of the WGR hosts, Buffalo journalists, national journos and imo.. ESPECIALLY the Bills podcast hosts and content creators be as loud in their apology as they were their premature condemnation?

 

Ive seen it from one, tepid, but at least they owned up.  Pat McAfee retweeted the Greg Price post of the Yahoo article, so it will be interesting to see if he addresses it today.  
 

Will our podcast peeps address it on their streams this week?  Take a special moment to apologize, when they took multiple moments to join the mob for clout?

 

I don’t expect much from groups like Bills Mafia Babes… they’re far too entrenched in their position .. it wouldn’t even shock me if that consider him justifiable collateral damage.  Maybe they prove me wrong. 
 

But it was these accounts, the podcasters, these content creators that organized the online mafia mob.   They silenced all of us who cautioned patience and could have tempered the rage … they stoked it … for clout. 
 

We can’t control a national narrative, but our local influencers can be above it.  Clearly, they’ve shown, they’re not. 
 

Edited May 9, 2023 by SCBills

[SoCal Deek]

I'll make it very simple:  As a society, we've abandoned the basic principle of innocent until proven guilty. And that's on everyone. But it doesn't have to remain that way. 

[Eastport bills]

Just now, BillsFanSD said:

I agree.  But "the court of public opinion" is made up of individual people, and it's not unreasonable to ask those people to just stop being villains.  On a very small level, that goes for guys like Buffalo_Stampede, who (charitably) get caught up in the crowd and ignored the little voice that says to maybe wait until you hear both sides of the story.  I will grant, though, that it's probably asking too much to expect randos from the internet to be calm and reasonable.

 

But what's the excuse for people like Tim Graham?  Or, for that matter, Aaron Quinn?  We should hold journalists and wannabe journalists to higher standards than internet randos.  Getting a call like this wrong should carry reputational consequences.

Well said, the print and mainstream media have been rendered a politicized, negative influence on objectivity in a society that used to trust people that report the news.

[Captain Hindsight]

12 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

The Bills did nothing wrong. I respect that Beane didn't jump on the bandwagon, I could tell that he found it difficult to let Araiza go after the Bills had run their own investigation and found nothing incriminating. But there was a black cloud hanging over the team after the allegation came out and it just isn't worth holding on to a punter with that kind of baggage. I just hope he gets his NFL career back.

Same. I was always in the camp of "I hope it isn't true" Some of the report was scary but it did seem a bit off.

 

Bills had no choice. They werent going to take the backlash over a punter when the team had SB aspirations 

[4merper4mer]

4 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

 

 

But what's the excuse for people like Tim Graham?  Or, for that matter, Aaron Quinn?  We should hold journalists and wannabe journalists to higher standards than internet randos.  Getting a call like this wrong should carry reputational consequences.

You misunderstand.  Tim Graham is our superior in every way.  This has been established so accept it.  Sometimes when he makes a mistake we just have to move on.  Other times we have to alter objective reality to bend to his will.  
 

Because of his superior morality and intellect, the third option of pointing out his mistakes or having him acknowledge them does not exist.  Can you imagine the ramifications of that?  If we knew he was capable of being wrong, who would we turn to for guidance when the next crisis he helped manufacture came along?

[Buffalo_Stampede]

7 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

I agree.  But "the court of public opinion" is made up of individual people, and it's not unreasonable to ask those people to just stop being villains.  On a very small level, that goes for guys like Buffalo_Stampede, who (charitably) get caught up in the crowd and ignored the little voice that says to maybe wait until you hear both sides of the story.  I will grant, though, that it's probably asking too much to expect randos from the internet to be calm and reasonable.

 

But what's the excuse for people like Tim Graham?  Or, for that matter, Aaron Quinn?  We should hold journalists and wannabe journalists to higher standards than internet randos.  Getting a call like this wrong should carry reputational consequences.

I don’t think I was screaming to lock him

up, I don’t remember. I did call for his release because he’s a public figure and I personally don’t want to root for a player accused of rape. It’s literally no different than the Watson cases.

 

We should never know who the accused is until charged. I did say that back then as well.  I also said the only thing that could save him is if he wasn’t there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SoCal Deek]

1 minute ago, Captain Hindsight said:

Same. I was always in the camp of "I hope it isn't true" Some of the report was scary but it did seem a bit off.

 

Bills had no choice. They werent going to take the backlash over a punter when the team had SB aspirations 

So you're saying that a team without SB aspirations would've made a different choice? (kidding)

[PromoTheRobot]

11 hours ago, CapeBreton said:

Astonishing how many people here concluded he was guilty without knowing anything, maybe reserve judgement next time.

 

Nah. That's no fun.

[NewEra]

3 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

I agree.  But "the court of public opinion" is made up of individual people, and it's not unreasonable to ask those people to just stop being villains.  On a very small level, that goes for guys like Buffalo_Stampede, who (charitably) get caught up in the crowd and ignored the little voice that says to maybe wait until you hear both sides of the story.  I will grant, though, that it's probably asking too much to expect randos from the internet to be calm and reasonable.

 

But what's the excuse for people like Tim Graham?  Or, for that matter, Aaron Quinn?  We should hold journalists and wannabe journalists to higher standards than internet randos.  Getting a call like this wrong should carry reputational consequences.

Which is the biggest problem.  It will never stop. Ever.  Billions of people.  Thousands  of journalists and wannabe’s.  
 

Regarding this case, I didn’t pay attention to what the journalists were saying.  If you think they (journalists and wannabe’s) should suffer reputational consequences, then you should get the ball rolling. 
 

I couldn’t care less tbh.  I’ve (sadly)  accepted that this is now the world that we know live and things will likely only get worse in many aspects of life that are heavily influenced by social media.  I’m not a world changer. I’m a my life protector.  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

How many people here think Dashaun Watson is guilty?