No evidence, no proof, no truth. “Because i said so” can be the starting point of an investigation, but on it’s own should never be enough to prove anything. You would have to believe anti-vaccination people if you used that logic. If enough people with zero evidence repeat something, it MUST be true.
4 Likes
The problem is that there rarely is any evidence in rape cases. That’s why rapists rarely get convicted. Can you imagine how hard it is for a person who gets raped to try to get some justice? Because most never do. That’s why most never talk about it. You’d be surprised how many women have been raped. So when a women, or in this case, over a dozen women (what’s the number right now? it just keeps growing) accuse a prominent public figure, maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt.
See what I said above.
7 Likes
As regulars here know, I worked with rape victims for 5 years, helping them navigate the medical and legal aspects. I’ve seen the district attorney’s office decline to prosecute countless times, despite such compelling evidence as the police catching the guy in the act or a perpetrator voluntarily coming into a precinct and making a confession. It’s not about truth, it’s about whether or not they think they can get a “win”. I used to joke that you needed to be an 80-year-old nun helping orphans in the nave of a church to be considered a sympathetic enough victim for a case to go to trial. I don’t joke about that anymore because it’s too gorram true to be funny.
13 Likes
That’s a common impression many Americans have of the US legal system as well, but that’s largely because certain moneyed interests have worked hard to cultivate that impression.
In the case of the Cosby rape allegations, most of his accusers have little or no legal standing for suing him because the alleged assaults happened so long ago that he would be protected by the statute of limitations. A few are attempting another strategy by suing him for defamation, essentially saying he hurt their reputations by publicly accusing them of lying about the attacks. This is a bit of a legal long-shot and clearly wasn’t part of the original plan for most of Cosby’s accusers.
7 Likes
Remember: OJ SImpson and that book. Geroge Zimmerann and everything he said and did after the trial.
They re all the same sort of sociopath.
2 Likes
That means you’re working under the assumption that THIRTY WOMEN are lying. How the fuck is it easier to assume that one man is lying than THIRTY WOMEN, unless you distrust and hate women?
And an innocent man wouldn’t joke about this shit. He hasn’t even DENIED this shit!
You and the 7 people who like this are disgusting.
8 Likes
You mean the same vintage material that included rape jokes?
HE HAS BEEN MAKING RAPE JOKES SINCE THE 60’S, PEOPLE. THIS IS NOTHING NEW.
1 Like
It doesn’t matter what someone is accused of, or how many people say “because I said so”, unless you can prove it there is zero reason to believe it. Zero evidence is still zero evidence. Do you really think that many people can have a similar experience and not one have any evidence whatsoever?
Just because they are women and just because it’s rape is no reason to believe them. I could find 30 people who can claim any conspiracy theory is in fact true, but without any proof, it’s just talk.
Prove me wrong, prove him wrong. You can’t.
2 Likes
Then prove it. With evidence.
2 Likes
What are you talking about? People are sent to prison based on witness testimony alone every single day. Before the advent of modern forensics, witness testimony was almost the only evidence used to convict rapists (in the rare cases they actually were convicted).
The lack of physical evidence so many years after the fact and statutes of limitation explain why Cosby isn’t in jail. Those things don’t explain why so many people choose to believe he is innocent.
11 Likes
And by all reports*, it was simply HI-lari-OUS!
*These reports being from those in the audience that had never been raped, known someone who had been raped, heard of or understood the concept of rape, or are in any way disgusted by rapistry, raping rapists and/or their rapey ways. Also, several service animals.
Oh god, I can’t deal with this bullshit right now.
All I’m gonna say is: Why is the burden of proof always on the women? When someone rapes you in a dark room and it leaves no marks, how do you prove it? Do you think rapists should never get convicted because they have no physical evidence to show? Witness testimony is used everyday to send people to jail. Unfortunately, in cases of rape, women (or men) are rarely believed. That’s the world we live in; us rape victims pretty much never get justice. You seem to be just fine with that.
Besides, we’re not in court, you know. We don’t have to provide conclusive evidence of anything. The only thing us ordinary people can do is come to our own conclusions, and I for one believe the over 20 people (is it 30 now?) over Bill Cosby, who keeps making jokes about rape even after all these years. I’m not calling for a witch hunt, I just think that all accusations of rape should be taken very seriously, because unlike some people like to pretend, false accusations of this sort are extremely rare.
Bah. There’s nothing worse in this world than being a rape victim in my opinion (and from my own experience). The rape itself is just a start, physical pain is one thing - it’s the people’s reactions and all the shit that comes afterwards. People want to silence you, because no one wants to hear about how you were raped, it makes people uncomfortable.
14 Likes
I so do know.
It happens all the time. And we like to act like it doesn’t… And the only way that works is by silencing victims.
3 Likes
You don’t know how rape works, do you? You have no idea. I have no desire to argue with someone like you. Someone who hates women so much that they think THIRTY women are lying, and that ONE man is telling the truth.
Oh, and BY THE FUCKING WAY: Witness testimony is admissible in court. It is proof. It’s used every day.
How am I supposed to discuss this with someone who is so clearly willfully ignorant? Educate yourself. Because you don’t know shit.
13 Likes
A few years back, I endured a surprising set (surprising to me - who knew him mainly from mid-sixities comedy records) of this rapist/fraud’s crappy misogynistic ‘jokes’, whilst waiting for Buffy Ste. Marie to take stage. It was a double bill, but the Bill on the bill was really hard to take. And few had heard much back then about the allegations. Like most people, I had heard none of that. But the jokes! NOT female-friendly.
1 Like
Governments don’t provide justice. They keep the peace.
Yep they are disgusting. The backlash against victims and the fact that this stuff holds up a mirror to us all, and some who don’t like what they see lash out at the mirror… Rather than deal with what that mirror shows…
A culture where women are subject to rape and assault all the goddamn time, with no recourse…
Disgusting people who probably wonder out loud why women get so bent out of shape about some smarmy asshole on the street saying ‘smile’.
Much less some smarmy asshole defending a dude who’s been accused of rape by thirty women. On the internet.
10 Likes
11 Likes
A friend of mine was beaten and raped in the alley by three men after the bar closed. It took the police THREE DAYS to take a report. THREE DAYS. I was there when they showed up, and witnessed most of the interview. They took about 10 minutes to listen to her story, took a few notes, told her to go to the hospital and have a nice day. That told me all that I need to know about rape in America.
14 Likes
