UVA and the alleged frat rape - Rolling Stone backpedals

And, in thinking about "Cindy's" story; lot's of people have lamented the news that this story turned out to not be true.

They worried that fewer woman who had been raped would be believed if/when they came forward.

But, honestly, shouldn't they be relieved -- and not just because it means that Jackie didn't experience this horrible gang rape.

The idea that a young woman could be viciously raped, as part of a premeditated fraternity initiation, and despite being a bloody mess, would find not comfort from her friends would have to be more chilling to a rape victim than anything I can imagine.

If Jackie -- prim, proper, and sober -- couldn't find comfort, support, and help in seeking justice, what rape victim could? Who would possibly support a rape victim that might have had one drink too many, or had dressed a little provocatively, or had participated in a little innocent flirting?

 

There'll never be rape on college campuses again. Ever.

 

You've been kind of down on the invstigation into this story, it seems.

Do you think that the Rolling Stone story was fine, as written? Do you think that other entities shouldn't have looked into it?

 

It's interesting, right?

A rape victim's story is her own. And I would never demand that a rape victim come forward and tell her story, especially not publicly. But, it's becoming more apparent that Jackie wasn't raped, and that she set up an elaborate prank to mess with Randall.

She might not owe me an explanation, but she owes her friends one. She owes the rape advocates on campus one. She owes the fraternity brothers one.

And, by now, everyone on campus surly knows who she is. I don't know how she could remain on campus if she doesn't come clean. (Though coming clean might also get her expelled as an honor code violation.)

She didn't take her fall 2012 finals on time. I'm guessing she wont be taking her fall 2014 finals on time. Hopefully she's meeting with professionals -- mental health, legal, and public relations -- and trying to find a path forward for herself.

At some point, she'll have to make amends, likely in a public way.

As for Erdely, I don't know. Jackie can point to depression, or some other issue to mitigate her actions. She can say the story spun out of control, and she didn't know how to make it stop.

Erdely has less of a defense. She's a professional. She should have been treating this issue as a professional. She would have to admit to being horribly mistaken, or willfully misleading in her telling of the story. Neither is a good option.

I guess she lays low for a long time, as we saw with young Caleb Hannan.

 

Yeah, I'd like for Xan to give us a longer take on his thoughts.

 

YF, you have talked on this site before about how you don't trust survey results in which, say, 50 percent of Americans say something that sounds batshit, like they don't believe in this, that, or the other. (Global warming, evolution, etc.) Your theory, if I'm stating it right, is that they actually do believe in these things, but feel like if they answer "yes," what they are really agreeing to all the policy changes that seem to go hand-in-hand with that issue.

It seems like much the same here, but from the left. Conceding that Jackie probably lied, a lot of hold-outs seem to think, is akin to conceding that all or the majority of women lie, or that rape isn't a problem.

There's a battle for space going on right now less so, in some quarters, than any interest in figuring out what happened here.

 

Exactly.

It's like they're worried about being drawn in to some trap. Like if they answer "yes" to one question, that will be used against them. Their answer will be used in support of a political agenda they don't support.

In order to deny aiding an opposing political agenda, they refuse to acknowledge what is patently obvious.

 

Serious question: How in the hell, exactly, are politics and rape intertwined? I'd certainly like to believe that liberals, conservatives, libertarians and Green Party types all are fairly equal in their general opposition to rape.

 

Yes, they are. But that's the wrong question. The right questions are:

(1) What constitutes rape?
(2) What is the extent of the problem?
(3) What should be done about it?

It all flows from the abortion debate, really. The people who are likely to support abortion rights are the same people that encourage draconian rape laws. These people are part of the Democrats' base. The people who are likely to support fetal/embryonic rights are the same people that are likely to think that the rape problem is exaggerated. These peple are part of the Republicans' base.

 

Yes. You would think so, right?

I don't know a single conservative who wants women to be raped, who wishes fewer rape victims would come forward, who wants fewer rapists to be punished.

If you were to believe some, conservatives are somehow pro-rape, while liberals are anti-rape, and are advocates for rape victims.

But, look at the narrative Rolling Stone came up with for this story. And, look at how victims advocates treated anyone who had legitimate questions about the story.

Look at the setting, and the villains in the RS narrative. It was set in fraternity house in the South, made up of rich, white, elites. Do you think that was coincidental? Erdely has already told us it wasn't. She considered writing a story set at Ivy League schools in the Northeast, but they didn't feel right to her.

Her choice of setting and villain was political.

And rape victim advocacy knows know political ideology. I'm an advocate for rape victims.

But, the rape victim advocacy movement is political. It's tied to a greater women's movement that is political. And, if that wasn't obvious before this story came out, it should be abundantly clear in its aftermath.

 

It's a psychotic college freshman who may or may not have been raped paired with a hell-bent journalist hungry to rape the integrity of entitled frat-boys.

Sad had the story been true.

It became a comedy instead.

 

I wonder if she knew that Cantor's kid is in that fraternity.