The most interesting aspect of the Duke Non-Rape Case has, for me, been the role that the Duke arts and sciences professoriate has played in stoking the fire. Eager for the content of their “gender†classes to be proved with some corpuscle of hard evidence, they had no trouble emulating Monty Python’s ‘burn her’ squad when three lacrosse players were accused of raping a girl. When it became irrefutably clear that the boys had done nothing wrong, one imaginesâ€â€one’s mind pleads with the professors, for their own sakeâ€â€that they’d fade quietly into the night.
Instead, the professors are using university computers to rig the student newspaper’s online poll, which asked Should President Brodhead have reinstated Finnerty and Selifmann? The response they caused to win was: “No, Duke does not need students like these.â€Â
Does Duke need professors like these?
I forget whose observation it was–perhaps Francis Bacon’s–that we most hate those whom we have most abused. Why? Because they rebuke us by their very existence, were we honest with ourselves.
I do not excuse the students from charges of stupidity and immaturity. I would like to point out, though, that it’s somewhat mitigated by the fact of their youth. I don’t see where the faculty who took part in this shameful episode are entitled to the same leniency. And to attempt now by fraudulent means to win in the court of public opinion the directed verdict that could not be supported by the evidence in a court of law is yet more abject, IF it’s true that someone has abused the voting process.
Apparently, at any rate, the poll has disappeared, like other documents associated with this debacle.
I found the original poll.
I thought that when this kind of pointy headed Southern corruption crept out from under the carpet, it was traditional to send in either the Feds or failing that a black copper from Chicago to bang a few heads together.
Just because this particular lynch mob appears to be composed of Professors and sundry lesser academics, I don’t think you should let your proud traditions lapse.
tw learned75, spooky eh
Now, wait just a cotton picking minute here! Of course they did wrong stuff! They’re little men, patriarchs in waiting. They were impolite and they held deep seated feelings of entitlement and meanness toward the downtrodden. Plus, they were going to kill her! And, and, and…well:
You’re not arguing with Ms. Murphy, are you?
MASHER!!!
tw: dead83
I thought it was 88.
Happy Birthday, Dr. King. Sorry that dream of yours hasn’t panned out. It seems that a lot of folks heard you talking, but didn’t catch your meaning.
I know you qualified this based on age, but at least one of the boys charged wasn’t even at the party. Secondly, we have no idea what happened at the party with the exception of the ever-changing story given by the accuser. Thirdly, the behavior of the accused students since the accusations have come to light has shown a distinct maturity, especially when compared to the hysterical freak-outs by the “Group of 88” and what can only be described as ass-covering by the DA.
Any male student who has had to take “core” liberal arts classes in order to graduate from a university in the last twenty or so years can probably dredge up at least one story where they felt they were treated unfairly because of their sex, looks, status, or major. Not to mention if they belonged to a Fraternity or were on a sports team or club.
I have two really good personal examples of what I couldn’t call sexual harrassment by professors, but I could call it intimidation, and one disgraceful episode that happened to a friend who was in Navy ROTC.
If I had known then what I know now about how things worked, well, I probably would have just relaxed, leaned back and thought of England.
LMC–
The question was whether students “like Seligman and Finnerty” ought to be welcome at the college. Presumably, that means students who hire strippers to come to their beer bash, which I take to be dumb and immature. Sort of like I was, at their age (though I didn’t hire any strippers).
Dan,
I can’t argue with your opinion. Mine is that hiring strippers for your beer bash is just…well…awesome.
The educational system in the colleges and universaties are in a shambles. Very little actual education comes from the professors.
The 88 professors should be fired and banned from ever letting their shadow fall on a college campus again. They are the total problem, not a part of the cure.
OF COURSE they did something wrong! They were white and they had penises!
Um…had penises?
Clearly a Jew and a Paddy. Don’t want that sort of thing creeping in.
I am sooooo warm and fuzzy this morning! I can add Duke Rape to Tawanna Brawley as proof of liberal hateful malice. Libs are such goofy bigots, so charming in their smug irony!
Well, off I go to the Martin Luther King “I Have A Dream Sale” at Shoe Festival! I think I’ll use the Let My People Go buy-one-pair-get-one-pair-free offer and buy some black sneakers! Hmmmm, and white mocs would be nice, too..
There are now in America entire areas of social norming where a citizen’s rights are routinely trampled—presumption of innocence, due process, right to face an accuser, redress, more. These typically include male vs female arenas, raising the question, why.
Why is that it pays. It pays in votes, ultimate currency of the realm. It pays in special legislation engineered specifically to victimize a group or groups on the outside looking in. And it’s typically in the spirit of social levelling, norming, or even revenge, if you prefer, as clearly is this case.
Don’t ever get caught in the middle of a gender war, whether personal or otherwise. You may become a victim yourself. And true to the spirit of the founding documents, you’ll then know the terribleness of government power.
Are you aware that judges in your state have likely legislated themselves immunity? That the Nifongs of the country act with virtually ultimate authority? That there are commonly-used laws on the books capable of jailing you without a trial?
These aren’t anecdotal incidents anymore. They’re parked in your backyard, your bedroom, your place of commerce or profession, your church, social group, school, and government. You step across the appearances-line, and you’ll go down. You have a kid and become single, you’ll go down. You own a business and act like an autonomous, lawabiding, free American citizen, and you’ll be told precisely what to do or you’ll go down. You say the wrong thing in the wrong place and you’ll go down. You stand against a SecProgg in government and you’ll go down.
This, folks, is the religion of State, and as this case shows, it’s not an isolated accident. It’s a policy decision with no redress option, that is provided you survive the initial assault.
So how long’s it going to take to become active, limit terms, sunset bad laws, and demand reform? By now I’m preaching, but I can speak from experience: If you’re not down at your statehouse, remember that they are. And they believe in their religion probably more than you do yours. Moreover, theirs has teeth. Yours has faith.
Government is your new live-in nanny. Socially, politically, and right in your life, rearranging your furniture. This case is only a symptom.
Jhoward:
Depressingly true, on every front.
Don’t say the wrong thing at school or work, or you’ll be publicly humiliated and cast out. Oh, we’ll tell you what the wrong thing is after you say it.
Oh, and BTW, the accusation is good enough to incur the penalty, because offense is in the eye of the victim, and perception of offense IS offense. No need for pesky reviews, trials, or any of that nonsense.
Oh, and be careful what you eat, or we’ll have to raise your health care premiums. How do we know what you eat? Hmmm, good point!
It goes on, ad nauseum.
While I fully understand everything you’re saying, this ballgame ain’t over yet. But it is going to get worse before it gets better. When it’s truly hopeless, I’ll be in Costa Rica.
Indeed, they knew. They saw this coming, and they were determined to prevent it.