What a great break for our Duke lacrosse discussion! Where to begin? How about prescribing what the Duke stripper accuser supporters must do to remain consistent to their standards:
I. Her feminist supporters:
1. Declare that the accusation is 100% accurate.
2. Demand the arrest of the accused.
3. Establish your support prior to learning any facts of the case, and maintian your support regardless of emerging facts.
4. Accept as fact that "only 2% of rape allegations are false" without applying any scrutiny.
II. Her racist supporters:
1. Wait to learn the race of the accuser and accused.
2. If the accused is black, either support him or express no opinion; see (4) below.
3. If the accuser is black, see (I) above.
4. If the accuser is white, scrutinize her story and keep an open mind to the possibilities of guilt and innocence... and even false accusation.
2006-05-03
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
This isn't a rape discussion. You are the only one discussing.
Rape is a crime that should not be tried in the media or on blogs. It comes down to evidence, and generally the word of the accuser against the accused. It is inappropriate and unproductive to discuss these cases otherwise.
I agree with what it ought to be, but I'm responding to the way it is. What happened to the Scottsboro boys, and now the Duke lacrosse boys (apparently so far), is an injustice, abetted by officials, and thus warrents public scrutiny. Inappropriate public discussion initiated by the prosecutor led (apparently) to the accuser getting boxed into a fabricated story, and the prosecutor himself getting boxed into filing file charges despite the evidence, rather than because of the evidence.
I assume that if an apparently false rape alegation by a white stripper had led to the arrest of some black guys that you would not take this position, Nadir. Am I incorrect?
If a black, resourceless stripper can get out of an arrest by successfully lodging false rape allegations against wealthy white guys, how do you think this bodes for black guys who are rude to a white stripper who subsequently faces an arrest and decides to concoct a rape allegation?
Nadir: Our legal system requires public observation to ensure that it operates fairly.
My position on the Mike Tyson rape was, "I wasn't there. I don't know what happened. I won't form an opinion."
My position on the Kobe Bryant rape was, "I wasn't there. I don't know what happened. I won't form an opinion."
My position on the R. Kelly case was, "That girl was only 14, but she looked 12! And that's definitely R. Kelly! He's guilty! He should go to jail!"
The difference? I saw the evidence.
I don't believe in putting the rape victim on trial. I also know that I wouldn't want to be falsely accused of rape. Therefore, I refrain from forming an opinion in rape cases.
But what often happens in these high profile cases is that both accuser and accused are paraded before the public in what is the most personal of crimes. Debating the individual stories doesn't get us any closer to the truth.
Those players know whether they raped those women or not, and the women know whether they have been raped or not. The problem with this case is the teammate's code of silence. We couldn't believe them either way. They will lie for each other. No question about it.
But I don't know the truth, so I'm not going to form an opinion.
Nadir: I pretty much agree with your view here. I think that it is important for people like us to consider these cases, though. I agree that you and I don't know what happened in the Tyson or Kobe hotel rooms. However, it should worry all of us that anybody could get convicted of rape based on the evidence that got presented in those cases, which precisely came down to conflicting accounts of accuser vs. accused. In either case, how could any outsider delcare "beyond a reasonable doubt" that a rape occured?
The rape laws over the years have been modified to the point that it is very easy now to make a false accusation, and make it stick. Bill Clinton played a role in this, making "rape" a special accusation in which the assuer -- but not the accused's! -- prior actions can be considered. A previous modification made the accuser's ID secret -- but not the accused's!
These modifications violate the special notion of US law protecting accused persons, and which considers a false accusation successfully prosecuted to be worse than a genuine accusation unsuccessfully prosecuted. Further, these modifications presume a provably false claim, that rape allegations are almost always accurate, much more so than any other accusation.
If people like you refuse to observe, scrutinize, and comment on this situation, it permits injustice to flourish. If people like you observe, scrutinize, and comment in the affirmative, that ensures that we have a sound process. But what if the process is unsound? Are you rejecting your democratic responsibility here?
The US legal system correctly (I think) involves transparancy, so that citizens can monitor it. There is certainly a history in the US of white folks falesly accusing blacks of crimes, and the resulting procecusions succeeding, putting innocent people (usually men) behind bars. Again I say to you: if indeed the lacrosse stripper is lying, and her lie can get innocent wealthy men arrested and convicted, what chance do the rest of us have?
You and I will never know what happed in Kobe and Tyson's hotel room. But we can know the facts that the jury considered in the Tyson case, and the facts that emerged from the Kobe case, and make our own certain assessment about the soundness of the cases against them. If this evidence does not convince you BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, then you should be outraged that Tyson get convicted, and that Kobe got arrested, for this means that you, your son, or friend can get arrested and convicted based on a rape allegation for which no evidence exists that demonstrates the rape BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT. This means for sure that people have a ready option to employ against their enemies: a fake rape allegation.
Nadir: There are accusations of "silence" by the players, but these accusations appear to be both false, and premised on an assumption that a rape occured. The only *facts* to have emerged show that the players cooperated, except to hide from charges of underage drinking and supplying drinks to minors. The people accusing them of not cooperating have a single definition for "cooperation": admit that a rape occured.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5567340
The accuser filed her report last Saturday. Now it's the following Friday, and the police haven't even approached the accused. Why no protesters demanding his immediate arrest? The Durham police got hammered by righteous demonstrators for waiting two days to search the lacrosse house. We're into day 7 now of the LA Laker center accusation.
Post a Comment