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January 30, 2007
Duke's Tenured Vigilantes
The scandalous rush to judgment in the lacrosse "rape" case.
Mike Nifong's handling of the case was clearly outrageous. But he would probably not have gone so far, indeed would not have dared to go so far, had he not been egged on by two other groups that rushed just as quickly to judge the three accused young men guilty of gross and racially motivated carnal violence. Despite the repeated attempts by the three to clear themselves, a substantial and vocal percentage--about one-fifth--of the Duke University arts and sciences faculty and nearly all of the mainstream print media in America quickly organized themselves into a hanging party. Throughout the spring of 2006 and indeed well into the late summer, Nifong had the nearly unanimous backing of this country's (and especially Duke's) intellectual elite as he explored his lurid theories of sexual predation and racist stonewalling.
An important and incisive look into how the intellectual elite of this country, tenured leftist professors and the liberal mainstream media, organized themselves into a lynch mob. Notice, if you will, that these are the very same people who protest the Patriot Act, but self-righteously enable crooked lawyers to persecute those who should be presumed innocent. Why? Well, because the "rapists" were priveleged white males, southern (actually the accused are all from the north-east), and wealthy. And the "victim" was poor, black and a "sex worker."
True threats to personal freedom come from the left in America, not from the right.
To read Charlotte Allen's full article in the Weekly Standard, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at January 30, 2007 10:20 AM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
I'm not quite sure that Ms. Allen's portrayal of the Duke rape case is entirely accurate. The way I remember things is (1) the allegation of rape leaked out, (2) almost immediately journalists and legal experts started finding troubling holes in the allegation, (3) which resulted shortly thereafter into widespread criticism of the case by everyone except radical black activists and the left fringe of Duke's faculty.
Every attorney I've talked to about this case wants Mike Nifong to be disbarred. And they've had serious questions about the case almost from the begining. Likewise, the media coverage that I have seen has been pretty critical or skeptical from early on. Obviously my personal experiences don't constitute an academic analysis of all lawyers and news sources, but Ms. Allen's characterization doesn't sit well with me. My gut reaction is that she is exaggerating and stretching the truth, or has unreasonably restricted her data points.
Posted by: Fern R at January 30, 2007 12:30 PM
Fern:
I have no rerason to doubt your POV. I'd just like to se all the links from say The NY Times, The LA Times, NBC, CBS, ABC, etc. As I remember, they were quite scathing in their condemnation of the Duke Lacross players.
Every attorney now wants Nifong to be disbarred. Where were they at the genesis of the case? In the middle of the case? Now, when it's safe, they are ready to line up against him. Meanwhile, he has played havoc with the lives of several innocent young men and their families.
Disgusting.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 30, 2007 12:51 PM