The basketball player was sentenced to nine years in Russia.
She has been classified by the US government as being wrongly imprisoned.
A political scientist said two theories could explain why some Americans don't want to see him back.
Some Americans are against the return of the basketball player to the US.
Customs agents at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport claimed to have found marijuana in the luggage of the basketball player. She was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for drug dealing.
The timing of her detainment, the nature of her alleged offense, and the unjust reputation of the Russian courts make her a political pawn. The State Department said that he was wrongly held in May.
Many of the two-time Olympic gold medalist's countrymen are opposed to the Biden administration's efforts to secure her freedom through negotiating a prisoner, despite the fact that the US government does not believe that there is a legitimate case against her.
There could be a reason why they've sided with a foreign adversary.
How someone came to be in need of assistance affects whether or not the public is aware of it.
She said it's called the deservingness heuristic.
She used poverty as an example. People who think that poor people are unlucky are willing to support programs that help them. Poor people are less likely to support the same programs if they're deemed lazy.
Her research shows that the public perception of hostages and wrongly held individuals is related to the same theory. No one is exempt from that.
The American public might be less supportive of the government's efforts to bring her home due to the fact that they are focused on the alleged drug possession. The kind of dynamic that might be in play is what I mean.
She said it was predictable that Americans responded this way.
Gilbert said that personal characteristics could affect the way the public views the situation. Race is a huge deal here, even though gender tends to be less influential in how the American public and how the media care about sympathize with Americans who are held hostage abroad.
Gilbert told Insider that it's called the missing white woman syndrome.
"A white girl or a white woman who is taken captive or arrested or something like that elicits tons of sympathy from the American public in a way that women and girls of color don't," she said. The fact thatGriner is Black could be a factor in the lack of attention to her case.
"And then there are other demographic characteristics, including the fact that she is openly gay, that she is gender non conforming, not traditionally feminine - all of these work against public sympathy for someone in her position."
She spent nine years at a Russian colony because she believed she was deserving. She's received a lot of criticism for her views on the national anthem, even though she's not particularly political.
I don't think we should play the national anthem. When many athletes knelt or stayed off the court in order to protest police brutality and honor Black Americans who were killed by police, I think we should take that much of a stand.
She said that she didn't mean that in a disrespectful way. My father was a law officer for 30 years. I wanted to be a police officer. I'm proud of my country.
Some see him as unpatriotic If you hate the United States so much, how does it feel now?
Gilbert thinks that feeds into the deservingness thing. If someone protests or has a particular political persuasion, that's when people decide that they aren't worthy of government assistance.
She said that the focus should be on the fact that she was wrongly imprisoned in Russia. Any American who is in that situation should be helped to come home.
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