Why Are People Hoping That The Prisoner Swap Doesn’t Go Through?

There are a number of people rooting that Brittney Griner doesn’t get freed. There are many reasons and the top two are she is Black and a lesbian.

The scientific theory of why some Americans don't want Brittney Griner to come home from a Russian prison
Insider
By Meredith Cash
August 11, 2022


Some Americans are rooting against Brittney Griner's return home to the United States.

The WNBA superstar was arrested in February after customs agents at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. She was found guilty of drug smuggling in early August and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison.

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"The fact that the American public might be really focused on the alleged drug possession and the outlandish accusation of drug smuggling might make the American public less willing to pay attention to this case," Gilbert said, adding that the public may also be "less supportive of government efforts to bring her home."

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Gilbert further explained that personal characteristics could have an effect on the way the public regards Griner's situation: Though "gender tends to be less influential in how the American public and how the media care about, sympathize with, pay attention to Americans who are held hostage abroad" than some other factors, "race is a huge deal here."

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"And then there are other demographic characteristics, including the fact that she is openly gay, that she is gender nonconforming, not traditionally feminine — all of these work against public sympathy for someone in her position," Gilbert added.

In other words they don’t want her freed because she is Black and lesbian, and there might be an that is driving the far-right wild in addition to being Black and lesbian. The British Independent wrote that…

Conservatives are slamming Brittney Griner for her 2020 comments about removing the national anthem from WNBA games and some are even comparing her to those jailed after the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021.

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“Brittney Griner actively refused to be present during the playing of the US National Anthem before games, and even demanded the Anthem and flag ceremony be avoided in all games. I wonder what it feels like now with her begging the Red, White and Blue to come to her rescue?” former Republican congressional candidate Errol Webber tweeted on Wednesday.

So she doesn’t conform to the conservatives notion of patriotism, my country right or wrong so they want to see her rot in jail.