Don't feel too sorry for the Dukies

[little mixed girl]

i saw this on the err... ABC news website today.
i think he makes some pretty good points, but if you look at the comments under his post, a majority of people want to hang him.

Mike Nifong, the North Carolina prosecutor who pursued a case of rape and kidnapping against three Duke University lacrosse players, has been found to have been reckless and deceitful in the discharge of his duties according to the state's attorney general. He abused the power the people of Durham granted him. Based on the public record of what he did in this case, he may well be properly disbarred.

The accuser in this case has been shown to be either a vicious liar or a troubled fantasist.

The three young men who she accused are truly innocent of the charges brought against them according to the North Carolina Attorney General and the investigation led by his office.

But perhaps the outpouring of sympathy for Reade Seligman, Collin Finnerty and David Evans is just a bit misplaced. They got special treatment in the justice system--both negative and positive. The conduct of the lacrosse team of which they were members was not admirable on the night of the incident, to say the least. And there are so many other victims of prosecutorial misconduct in this country who never get the high-priced legal representation and the high-profile, high-minded vindication that it strikes me as just a bit unseemly to heap praise and sympathy on these particular men.

So as we rightly cover the vindication of these young men and focus on the genuine ordeal they have endured, let us also remember a few other things:

They were part of a team that collected $800 to purchase the time of two strippers.

Their team specifically requested at least one white stripper.

During the incident, racial epithets were hurled at the strippers.

Colin Finnerty was charged with assault in Washington, DC, in 2005.

The young men were able to retain a battery of top-flight attorneys, investigators and media strategists.

As students of Duke University or other elite institutions, these young men will get on with their privileged lives. There is a very large cushion under them--the one that softens the blows of life for most of those who go to Duke or similar places, and have connections through family, friends and school to all kinds of prospects for success. They are very differently situated in life from, say, the young women of the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

And, MOST IMPORTANT, there are many, many cases of prosecutorial misconduct across our country every year. The media covers few, if any, of these cases. Most of the victims in these cases are poor or minority Americans--or both. I would hate to say the color of their skin is one reason journalists do not focus on these victims of injustices perpetrated by police and prosecutors, but I am afraid if we ask ourselves the question honestly, we would likely find that it is. Look for a moment at what James Giles endured:

I hope we all keep him and others in mind, as we cover the celebrated exoneration of well-heeled, well-connected, well-publicized young men whose conduct, while not illegal, was not entirely admirable, either. They aren't heroes. They aren't boys. They are young men who were victimized by a reckless prosecutor--and had the resources the fight him off.

April 12, 2007 | Permalink

http://blogs.abcnews.com/terrymoran/2007/04/dont_feel_too_s_1.html

[Scowl]

i think he makes some pretty good points, but if you look at the comments under his post, a majority of people want to hang him.

Haha, you weren't kidding. Some of these comments are just too much.... it sounds like shit I would write if I was being sarcastic.

I was going to quote some comments, but there's too much stupid to fit on one page.

[atlasien]

What irritates me is how conservatives are always freaking out about some kind of rising tide of evil castrating women falsely accusing the poor poor men of rape. It's so totally illogical.

There's no definitive study on the figure, especially because so many rapes go unreported or get dropped, but a figure of 2-4% false claims seems reasonable.

And then think about who makes those false claims... what motivates someone to make a false claim of rape? Would YOU do it to "get back" at someone? You would have to be insane. A tiny percentage of the population would be capable of making a false rape claim, in cold blood, maybe a highly functional narcissist who thought they had a lot to gain... the rest of the people who do it are obviously barking mad.

And the dramatic irony... being a woman suffering from severe mental illness makes you much more vulnerable to being raped.

[angi]

I think anyone who makes a false rape claim should be punished with the same amount of time as a convicted rapist would face. Everytime this happens, it makes it that much harder for a rape victim to come forward and get a conviction.

[jaehwan]

I agree with Angi, though it seems possible that this particular accuser may have a very limited grasp on reality. In this case, it was a bad prosecutor who was fanning the flames of a false accusation, and Nifong should serve some jail time.

I totally disagree with the Terry Moran, the writer of the blog. He's right about their privilege, but so what? Terry himself is privileged as a white man, but would he feel the same way if he were falsely accused of rape in the middle of college, had his family dragged through the media, and had his family spend thousands of dollars to defend him against an immoral prosecutor? Would he deter people from sympathizing while he was rebuilding his own life?

Moran makes it seem like these boys are just going to go back to their lives, as if nothing happened. How is that possible? Two of the three boys haven't graduated from college yet, and they still have an upward climb. Every girl who meets them, every prospective employer, every new potential friend is going to think of these men as racist rapists--which they aren't. Moran has the good fortunate to be speaking from a position where he wasn't victimized by false accusations, and I think it's hypocritical of him to attack the privilege of these boys when they're in a very uncomfortable situation.

Bottom line is this: it doesn't matter what race you are or how much money or privilege you have. It sucks to be accused of something you didn't do, especially when the media is involved.

[nonasian]

This Terry Moran is an ***hole.

So 18+ year old boys did some underage drinking and hired a couple of strippers, paying them good money even though they did not get the one they wanted. The other thing about the "racial epithet" is that one of the lacrosse players did use one, but one of the strippers used one at him first. In my opinion, "good words come out, good words come back" (Korean proverb). And the lacrosse player that used it was not even one of the accused.

I second what jaehwan says. Terry Moran would be screaming "injustice" if the same thing happened to him.

I hope the Duke boys are able to sue everyone involved in this, Nifong, the police department, and the university administration. My god, imagine how many innocent people are locked away because of Nifong!