One of my favourite Onion stories:
http://www.theonion.com/video/judge-rules-white-girl-will-be-tried-as-black-adul-18896
14 Likes
ââŚand retrospectively charged her with assaulting the arresting officerâŚâ
Genius.
1 Like
It puzzles me that people often task men with imagining how theyâd feel if something like this happened to their wife/mother/sister/daughter. Why donât we ask men to imagine it happening to themselves and their own bodies? I would personally rather be considered to be a generic human being rather than the embodiment of a role such as a wife/mother/sister/daughter.
For all I know, I suppose, the average man could be more upset at the idea of the rape of a female relative than at the thought of being raped himself?
On that thought, last night I happened to read a story on the BBC looking back at a womanâs campaign to get people to re-examine their concept of rape as an assault only carried out by strangers. At that time (1990) her father, an FBI agent, apparently responded to her telling him sheâd been raped by her date with:
My dad said matter-of-factly, âIt would not have happened if you had not let him in your room, Katie,â and then hung up the phone. So I was on my own.
12 Likes
Well, if there´s one thing this piece of shit has certainly learned from this, it´s that he can get away with pretty much anything.
4 Likes
Heâs not even actually âremorsefulâ. In his statement, he blamed alcohol and âhookup cultureâ and consistently insisted the woman was awake and consenting. How the HELL is that âtrue remorseâ?
19 Likes
He´s remorseful he got caught and had to endure some unpleasantness because of it.
9 Likes
What point are you trying to make here?
This may actually be a correct judicial decision, from a public-policy standpoint: it may be adequate to deter, to safeguard the public, and to rehabilitate. It lacks the kind of crowd-pleasing retributive punch that the American justice system seems to specialize in, but that is objectively a good thing: vengeance is not (or should not be) a policy goal.
What is outrageous is that such âlenientâ judicial decisions are vanishingly rare in the USA, unless the defendant is a member of the elite, in which case they are the standard.
3 Likes
That Swedish jails look to Americans more like college dorm rooms than prison cells?
5 Likes
And that dude has really nice shoes.
3 Likes
I read that story and I was appalled at what her father said, but fully expected it from a clash of two generations. You can tell that his reaction still upsets her a bit.
In retrospect, itâs odd that her FBI-father gave her pepper spray for attacks by stranger, but didnât discuss with her the realities of male/female relationships.
2 Likes
From personal experience (having multiple families means Iâve seen everything!), I would say that men in older generations are angry and/or frustrated and/or confused that their similar stories from their own youth are no longer getting the positive chuckles they always did. Theyâve never thought that their actions harmed the women they did them to. So why would they warn their younger female relatives to be careful of men like them?
17 Likes
Yeah. Also, I was going to mention that my parents were unusual in that my mom would have questioned my decision to invite a date into my dorm room. Whereas my father, on the other hand, would have encouraged me to go to the cops.
6 Likes
Iâm not sure if youâre being serious, or sarcastic in a subtle way, but Iâll assume the former.
Rape is a crime, not a mental illness. This guy may or may not have a mental illness, but itâs probably not related to the crime he committed. This guy is in all likelihood completely sane, but appears to have a value system where consent = not saying no; the unconscious woman didnât say no, therefore sheâs fair game.
11 Likes
Ace. Really well thought process there, glad to get some discussion on the idea.
Swedenâs system believes in rehabilitation rather than repeat customers.
12 Likes
The judge ignored the sentencing guidelines. According to folks on Twitter, Judge Persky had been captain of the lacrosse team when heâd been an undergrad at Stanford, and is up for re-election this fall.
3 Likes
Trump also didnât think Mike Tyson should be in jail. After all, being a profitable boxer is more important than whether he raped somebody.
Clearly.
And, sadly, I can already hear the responses of so many in the U.S. â âWhat?! It makes no sense to coddle criminals like that. Put them back on the street, and all theyâll want to do is get right back in! I say do what Sheriff Joe does â put em in tents in the desert and make em work on chain gangs. Serves em right,â etc etc ad nauseam.
15 Likes
Iâve always felt that the âif it had been the judgeâs / lawyerâs / etc. daughter theyâd feel differentlyâ line to be really offensive. If Persky or Herhold had been the victim, maybe then theyâd feel differently. Perskyâs up for re-election.
2 Likes
