Tom Bevan over at Real Clear Politics brings up this about the Duke case:
It's hard to believe anyone could write the following line, but John McCann does it anyway in today's Durham Herald-Sun:
"The lacrosse boys brought it on themselves, though -- even if the accuser's lying.
This is despicable. Would McCann, who is black, even think of writing the same thing if the case involved a white accuser and 44 black members of the football team? Of course not.
McCann brushes off the injustice suffered by the Duke lacrosse players with the trite phrase, "that's what can happen when you don't keep your nose clean." This is a cowardly cop-out, not to mention McCann is invoking a standard that is unrealistic as well as unjust. Does he mean anyone who attends a party where there is beer and strippers can be falsely accused of anything under the logic that attending the party in the first place isn't "keeping your nose clean?"
In my view, there is a great deal of reason to doubt the accuser - no one can make a definitive judgement, but from what I've heard so far, rape seems to be about the only thing that didn't happen that night. This, of course, is a matter for the courts to decide as best they can. I'll abide by the judgement of the legal system in this matter.
That said, I'm afraid I'll have to agree with McCann - the boys did bring it on themselves.
I am a bit sympathetic to the boys: once upon a time I was a very dumb twenty-something male and I, too, engaged in that sort of depraved activity: drinking until severe intoxication and treating women like objects for my personal gratification. We are what we are - and part of what we are is the society we grew up in: in 2006, any twenty year old has been routinely exposed to at least soft-core porn on a regular basis since early childhood - small wonder that sexual and social irresponsibility easily rears its ugly head.
I am also a bit unsympathetic to the boys: men are, well, supposed to be men. One of the requirements of being a man is to treat women with deep respect...and you are not treating a woman with respect if you hire her to jiggle in front of you while you stuff dollar bills into her underwear. This goes even if the woman is a willing volunteer for such degradation - a real man just doesn't do that sort of thing.
These boys do represent the cream of the American crop - given their financial and educational circumstances, these boys are the future elite of the United States of America. These are the boys, become men, who will play a large role in guiding the destiny of the most powerful nation in human history. We should be expecting more of them than beer bashes and scantily clad young women. Additionally, when you lie down with dogs, you come up with fleas - these boys are in trouble, and even those who aren't indicted are going to have a rough time of it for the next few years. The boys should have had a bit more sense - when you decide to do something trashy, it is likely that trashy things will happen - in this case, what happened was either a rape (a very, very bad thing) or a false accusation of rape (also a bad thing), but in either case something that could only happen after the boys deliberately set things up so that it could happen.
My advice to young men just starting out in life: if you wish to avoid scandal and/or jail time, then stay away from scandalous activity. I realise this makes me a bit of a hypocrit - I did, after all: but my escape without public scandal and/or jail time was more a co-efficient of luck rather than skill. I thank God that I managed to get out of it, but I still stand ashamed over what I did - and if a bit of advice can spare someone some trouble, then I'll gladly give it.
Posted by Mark Noonan at June 1, 2006 04:33 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/president.cgi/7242
Comments
I hope those boys sue the snot out of Duke University, the stripper, the escort service and do whatever they legally can against that agenda-ridden prosecutor.
Posted by: Bret Helm at June 1, 2006 04:43 PM
I couldn't agree more and said about as much (and maybe more) at my blog at the Houston Chronicle:
http://blogs.chron.com/texassparkle/2006/05/the_duke_lacrosse_team_debacle.html
Posted by:
rightwingsparkle at June 1, 2006 06:40 PM
No Mark, the boys didn't do anything whatsoever to bring this upon themselves. No one deserves to have their lives ruined by someone falsly claiming they raped them.
Posted by:
CJ at June 1, 2006 06:58 PM
Can I assume that the idiot who wrote this column believes that, if a rape did take place, that the"victim" deserved it because she was a stripper?
Posted by:
Rhymes With Right at June 1, 2006 07:32 PM
This case rings just like the Mike Jackson trial, lots of race cards, talk, allegations and innuendo but all evidence points to innocence.
Posted by: axis at June 2, 2006 12:47 AM
those white boyz put themselves in a position to be falsely accused & smeared thru idiotic misjudgement.
they shoulda gone to the strip club if that's what they wanted.
Posted by: OhioOrrin at June 2, 2006 09:53 AM
wellllll ohioorrin
Maybe the girl should have gone to the strip club herself.
By your thinking her behavior SHE brought on this rape by putting herself in a position to be allegedly raped and beaten so it is her fault.
Posted by: bill at June 3, 2006 11:56 AM
Post a comment
I hope those boys sue the snot out of Duke University, the stripper, the escort service and do whatever they legally can against that agenda-ridden prosecutor.
I couldn't agree more and said about as much (and maybe more) at my blog at the Houston Chronicle:
http://blogs.chron.com/texassparkle/2006/05/the_duke_lacrosse_team_debacle.html
No Mark, the boys didn't do anything whatsoever to bring this upon themselves. No one deserves to have their lives ruined by someone falsly claiming they raped them.
Can I assume that the idiot who wrote this column believes that, if a rape did take place, that the"victim" deserved it because she was a stripper?
This case rings just like the Mike Jackson trial, lots of race cards, talk, allegations and innuendo but all evidence points to innocence.
those white boyz put themselves in a position to be falsely accused & smeared thru idiotic misjudgement.
they shoulda gone to the strip club if that's what they wanted.
wellllll ohioorrin
Maybe the girl should have gone to the strip club herself.
By your thinking her behavior SHE brought on this rape by putting herself in a position to be allegedly raped and beaten so it is her fault.