@Smashley Many of my opinions are outliers. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I find it strange that you took so much offense at being told you have a different perspective than the one I was criticizing. In any case, you seem to have misunderstood what I said. For one, I didn’t say that this whole situation is about the vilification of cannabis in the US. I said that most (not all) of the unsympathetic opinions regarding Griner’s case that I have personally encountered are colored by an underlying negative view about marijuana itself.
For another, I didn’t say that Griner needs to go to Russia. I noted that she does go there in order to continue making a living during the off season. Furthermore, Griner does not make $500,000 per year during the regular season. That is the WNBA salary cap, not her actual salary. She has a three year contract for $664,544, and her salary for the 2021–2022 season was $221,450.
That’s a lot of money, but much less than a comparable player in the NBA. The comparison I’ve seen is Rudy Gobert, who plays the same position for the Utah Jazz and has been in the league for a similar length of time with similar statistical results (though a direct comparison is difficult here). He makes over $431,000 per game during the regular season. And basketball is not a 40 year career. The average NBA career lasts 4½ years, and the average WNBA career lasts 3½ years (with fewer opportunities for WNBA players afterwards).
There’s a lot to criticize about the American system of economics in general and the salaries of sports stars in specific. But I can’t really blame Griner for making her decisions based on the economic realities she faces rather than some sort of ideal alternative system.
As for the US and the rule of law: as I already said, there’s no question that some countries are worse than others. And while you focus on Griner’s celebrity status, there’s also the fact that she is black and a lesbian. It’s possible that is part of why she was targeted in Russia, but it’s also something that has surely gotten her targeted in the US as well. When it comes to “knowing who we work for” (not that Griner works for the US or Russia, she only operates within them), we’re talking more of a difference in degree than a difference in kind.