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cinema_babeLet’s all shed a tear of joy for the Duke University Lacrosse players who were cleared of the (false) allegations of rape.
Um, let’s not.
I believe in justice. It doesn’t matter if you’re accused of raping a jogger in Central Park or raping a stripper in the bathroom, people should not be accused of crimes they did not commit. However, watching the pained indignation of the “Duke 3” and their parents as they did the morning show circuit left me as chilly as a soup bowl of vichyssoise.
I felt like inviting them to have a steaming hot mug of “Shut The Fuck Up”.
To paraphrase my grandmother, “If you lay down with a dog, you’ll wake up with fleas. These women were not hired to dress like June Cleaver and answer the door. These boys were having a party and they hired these women put on a show that was (they hoped) sexually changed, it’s not unusual or events like this are accompanied by a blow job or quickie in the bathroom. They hired a couple of women of dubious character to come to their party and perform dubious acts and they are *shocked* and *horrified* when some of that dubiousness rubs off on them.
I heard one of them lament that when he dies his obit will mention his involvement in this sordid affair. Sucks to be him, doesn’t it?
I’m tired of people portraying themselves as victims, especially pampered children of privilege attending a private institution of higher education. I wonder how many times one of them or their families referred to their accuser as a nigger? Plenty I bet. Or maybe they used the more genteel, “those people”.
The players’ defense team portrayed this woman as being low class. They implied she did this for money. She was always referred to as her role as a stripper. There were barely any mentions of the fact that she was also a single mother and a student. From the moment this story hit, the PR machine for these trust fund babies was cranking overtime to smear the victim (who we now know was not a victim of the players after all.) The dehumanized and caricaturized her but it’s okay, she’s one of those people, after all.
And what about the faux victim?
I do think that something happened to her that night. It is unlikely that any woman would be willing to go through the gauntlet that a rape survivor has to endure just for fun. Few would even do it for money. I think something happened to her that night, maybe she was high, maybe she was frightened, I don’t know. What I do know is that she did become a pawn of yet another financially comfortable, powerful man, Mike Nifong the DA. He was going to ride this case to reelection human beings involved be damned! I only hope he gets what he deserves.
As I said at the outset, I don’t condone the lies that were told that might have sent these men to jail. Any perversion of the American Justice system is never a good thing. However, by the choices the Lacrosse players made them ripe for this kind of accusation.
When you dodge a bullet that you essentially set yourself up for, just say thank you and fade back into the woodwork. Please skip that TV tour, your outrage sounds very thin and whiny to my ears.
Um, let’s not.
I believe in justice. It doesn’t matter if you’re accused of raping a jogger in Central Park or raping a stripper in the bathroom, people should not be accused of crimes they did not commit. However, watching the pained indignation of the “Duke 3” and their parents as they did the morning show circuit left me as chilly as a soup bowl of vichyssoise.
I felt like inviting them to have a steaming hot mug of “Shut The Fuck Up”.
To paraphrase my grandmother, “If you lay down with a dog, you’ll wake up with fleas. These women were not hired to dress like June Cleaver and answer the door. These boys were having a party and they hired these women put on a show that was (they hoped) sexually changed, it’s not unusual or events like this are accompanied by a blow job or quickie in the bathroom. They hired a couple of women of dubious character to come to their party and perform dubious acts and they are *shocked* and *horrified* when some of that dubiousness rubs off on them.
I heard one of them lament that when he dies his obit will mention his involvement in this sordid affair. Sucks to be him, doesn’t it?
I’m tired of people portraying themselves as victims, especially pampered children of privilege attending a private institution of higher education. I wonder how many times one of them or their families referred to their accuser as a nigger? Plenty I bet. Or maybe they used the more genteel, “those people”.
The players’ defense team portrayed this woman as being low class. They implied she did this for money. She was always referred to as her role as a stripper. There were barely any mentions of the fact that she was also a single mother and a student. From the moment this story hit, the PR machine for these trust fund babies was cranking overtime to smear the victim (who we now know was not a victim of the players after all.) The dehumanized and caricaturized her but it’s okay, she’s one of those people, after all.
And what about the faux victim?
I do think that something happened to her that night. It is unlikely that any woman would be willing to go through the gauntlet that a rape survivor has to endure just for fun. Few would even do it for money. I think something happened to her that night, maybe she was high, maybe she was frightened, I don’t know. What I do know is that she did become a pawn of yet another financially comfortable, powerful man, Mike Nifong the DA. He was going to ride this case to reelection human beings involved be damned! I only hope he gets what he deserves.
As I said at the outset, I don’t condone the lies that were told that might have sent these men to jail. Any perversion of the American Justice system is never a good thing. However, by the choices the Lacrosse players made them ripe for this kind of accusation.
When you dodge a bullet that you essentially set yourself up for, just say thank you and fade back into the woodwork. Please skip that TV tour, your outrage sounds very thin and whiny to my ears.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-17 05:16 pm (UTC)The saddest part is that is these were 3 boys from working class homes, they would probably be sitting in jail now because they would not have had access to the legal or public relations machine these boys did.
I still believe that *something* happened to that young woman, maybe not in that place, maybe not that night, but something happened. In the end she might be the only person I would label a victim in this whole debacle.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-17 06:02 pm (UTC)I completely agree with you and I also think you're right when you say that had they been from working class homes they'd be in jail right now. That's what's most scary though....and I blame the prosecutor for that. He was beyond overzealous in this matter.
As for the woman, i wouldn't be at all surprised if she's suffered all kinds of abuse from all kinds of people in her life. I think she needs help she's most likely never going to get. We let people fall by the wayside all the time unfortunately, and I'm not even sure what we can do sometimes. I do know that the system shouldn't further abuse her, so I'm glad they're not trying to prosecute her. If I thought for one minute she was just an opportunist, I'd be screaming for her prosecution. But I don't....I think she's got problems. I just hope her kids wind up okay, and maybe, just maybe, this has pointed out that she can use some help.