I was reading this column by Cathy Young, when someone in the comments pointed a link to this forum from Duke University.
The forum is bizarre. Apparently, Farces insulted several of the women in the forum by saying that the evidence seemed to indicate the Duke lacrosse players weren't guilty, and, as such, shouldn't be convicted. At least two of the other commenters made statements that because white males have privilege, it is ok if some of them are falsely convicted of sexual crimes.
This shocking display of ignorance about the way our justice system is designed to work was only half the show in this thread, however. The other show was about the moderator's attempt to limit male voices in the discussion and pacify rabid feminists.
Farces, IMO, tried to be respectful whenever he spoke, but one or two of the female commenters were determined to not simply disagree with him, but castigate him for the sin of being male. Here was my favorite part:
there is an underlying dishonesty to the general tenor of farces postings---he makes certain that they are hard to pinpoint but writer had the idea.
this is why my furr goes up and perhaps why others get annoyed.
we know that the university offered this woman alot of money. one would assume that they had a good reason to believe that their guys weren't behaving well.
we know that globally, men are raping women in huge numbers all the time and going unpunished and usually even unreported.
most women on this site have friends who've been raped or they themselves have been assaulted.
we know that women who are poor, in the sex trade, in a minority group, etc, etc, are in a position of even less power than most women.
it has ever been a male ploy to scream for justice if they think they can weasel out of a conviction---it's done all the time---it has always been difficult to convict a man when it's his word against hers[at least we don't have all male judges and juries anymore] and they well know this.
the history of assault on women by men, the bias in the entire system against women and the almost knee jerk reaction of many men to assume false accusation[in spite of it's rarity] makes the discussion of 'innocent[the guys not the woman, note]until proven guilty seem false and contrived and dishonourable on this thread.
In other words, by virtue of being male and white, the Duke lacrosse players are guilty, regardless of whether they did anything or not. It is amazing how ideology can overrule any normal sense of justice for people.
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