Ann Althouse for some mysterious and perhaps disturbing reason felt the extreme screed by some guy who “writes about influence and the new right” deserved attention. It’s worth reading, I guess, if you still need to be convinced that the New York Times has become little more than propaganda arm of the increasingly bonkers Left and is really working hard to get the vote out for Democrats. Let’s get the feminist base of the Democratic Party—you know, the pro-abortion, pro-child strangling, and now revived “believe all women” fanatics!—energized by advancing the absurd narrative that Lucy Craig is a misunderstood victim of a gang rape that she helped organize, got completely smashed to prepare for, and later airily excused of any claims of illegality with the old abortion trope, “our bodies our choice“!
This jerk earned a platform in the Times by writing in part,
The accusations brought by Jane Doe against seven men at Cornell have given the online right what it’s been missing most: a woman to hate on…Unable to dispute the basic narrative of the assault, including a lurid fraternity group chat, they’ve elected to argue that Doe is the actual aggressor, a once-willing participant in sexual debauchery now seeking vengeance against her hapless partners…
Gee, I wonder why they would think that—after the woman signed a police report indicating there was no rape, waited 20 days to file a complaint, and sued Cornell and the seven Cornell students after her own statements and conduct made a criminal conviction of any of them well nigh impossible? Boy, those conservative conspiracy theorists.. Sorry for interrupting. Back to the op-ed:
“…The message embedded in the right’s freakout is that feminism’s moral permissiveness is corrupting women, our institutions, traditional values and even the left as a whole. The conservative influencer Michael Knowles suggested that [Lucy] is not a victim of violent masculinity, but rather of “hookup culture” run amok. Another conservative, Matt Walsh, declared that “feminists fundamentally reject the idea that women can ever be truly responsible for any wrongdoing of any kind.”
I think they suggest that because it’s true. And the right’s “freakout”? Are these conservatives screaming?
Back to this gaslighting exercise:
The problem, you see, is not that a young woman falsely accused 7 young men of rape. Nor is it that authorities in New York have organized to demonize and punish them without regard to the facts. Nor is it the media’s dishonest reporting on the case, nor the millions of leftists calling for the blood of, if not the innocent, at least those not guilty of what they’re accused.
No, the problem is that the Online Right has the temerity to be correct about it.
Well! Here we are in the EA Commentariat, boys and girls, “out on the hard edge of the American masculine psyche!” Good to know. Get ready for the “No Guys” rally coming to a town near you.
When the definition of “sexual assault” includes a contact-less failed attempt at an exploratory pat on the fully-clothed rump at party, I’m surprized that the figure isn’t higher than 1 in 4.
About 10 years ago I worked on a case (defense) where a young fellow was charged with attempted rape after he got thrown out trying to steal second. The defense was successful, fully. But that is an example of acts that can feed the “1 in 4” claim.