Sunday, April 15, 2007

Reraping Duke Lacrosse Players

Dear Mr. Kane;

I have several concerns about your recent commentary, "Powerful bear blame in Duke case."

Of greatest concern are your factual errors. You wrote that the Duke rape case "fell apart because of the unreliable nature of the accuser." Wrong. The case fell apart because there is no evidence to support the rape allegation. No DNA, no witnesses, no consistent truthful statements to support a rape charge. Nothing. The accused are innocent. When you write that the case fell apart because the accuser was unreliable, it suggests that the rape may well have occured and that a more reliable victim might have helped secure a conviction. But we know that the rape did not occur.

Later you write "The Duke lacrosse players might be innocent of rape..." Correction: The Duke lacrosse players ARE innocent of the rape charge. When you write that they might be innocent, the obvious implication is that they might also be guilty. They are not guilty of rape. They are innocent.

But apparantly you are having difficulty accepting the innocence of the white lacrosse players. "Questions still remain" and your friend Mr. Farrell says "I still think something happened, but in the end it got so contaminated, it's hard to tell what the truth is." No, we now know what the truth is. The players are innocent.

You are now engaged in a very public smearing of innocent athletes. Despite the evidence, you continue to suggest that the players are guilty of something (aren't we all?), possibly even rape.

Given a choice between being called a "nappy headed ho" or being subjected to ongoing suggestions that I am a rapist, I would take the "ho." What you are doing to the Duke players is far worse than what Don Imus did to the Rutgers basketball players. Yet your job is safe I am sure.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.

You are right on about Kane. He is among many things a racist.

I know this won't be a popular comment, but those guys were hiring women to STRIP for them at their frat house. I find their behavior appalling, and think that they need to take responsibility for their actions that led up to this false rape accusation. It is about time we don't accept this kind of behavior from our young men. It makes me sick to think anyone would find it normal to hire a stripper to come to ones home, but frat "boys" are doing it all the time.

I can't help but think these Duke students reaped what they were sowing.

Anon 1

Denis Navratil said...

The issue, anon #1, is whether or not the Duke students raped the stripper. That they hired a stripper is irrelevant to the legal question of whether or not they raped the stripper.We now know that they didn't rape the stripper but instead were wrongly accused. An innocent person accused of a crime is a victim. But you seem to think that if someone attends a stripper party, they deserve to be wrongly accused of rape. That is much like saying a scantily clad women (or a stripper) deserves to be raped. You know, reaping what they sow. You are blaming the victims here anon.

The Badgerland Conservative said...

they need to take responsibility for their actions ...

Take responsibility for what? Stripping and hiring a stripper are legal activities. That's like saying if i take a walk through a bad neighborhood at night and get robbed at gunpoint, somehow it's my fault for being there.

You may somehow disapprove of the act of hiring a stripper or women who are exotic dancers. That doesn't mean these young men deserved to be falsely accused of rape.

Anonymous said...

Peter, by walking through a knowingly bad neighborhood at night, wouldn't you know that you might be subjecting yourself to harm or some potential conflict moreso than walking in a suburban neighborhood?

The Badgerland Conservative said...

That's not the issue. You don't ever blame the victim of crime for the crime occurring.

And these young men were raped by Mike Nifong with Duke University, the racebaiters and a three-word-phrase-used-by-Don-Imus as accomplices

Anonymous said...

Let's see, strippers, alcohol, drunk athletes, stupid behavior, i'm sure drugs were involved too. To make the assessment that this environment could not potentially lead to the situation that the Duke players got themselves in is downright idoitic. Guilty or not guilty, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But you say they don't have to be responsible for making stupid decisions. I agree with anon 1.

I wish people were just as sympathetic to the wrongfully accussed and incarcarated individuals of all ethnicities the government puts in jails and prisons on a daily basis. Former Illinois Gov. Ryan can definitely attest to that.

Anonymous said...

Obviously, the Rutgers girls didn't deserve to be denigrated and the Duke boys were falsely accused. If we're looking for role models the Rutgers girls win hands down. If we're after villans the Carolina DA and Imus filled those roles.

The Duke boys don't come across as sympathetic victims. Youthfull indiscretions and legal activities - but morally questionable by reasonable standards. The lesson about putting oneself in risky situations is relevant.

Its a false choice between being denigrated and being falsely accused, neither should occurr.

The Rutgers girls are the come-back story of the season and they deserve to be celebrated. The Duke boys are innocent but don't have much to be proud of. Imus and the DA blew it, and Kane apparently reinterprets the facts to suit his position. I repeat for the final time, the Rutger's gals are the one's who desrve our time.