John Sutton:
Say what you will about Ann Coulter, she mercilessly skewered the two recent… let’s just say flawed accounts of rape. The Rolling Stone’s UVA story which she also drew parallels to the ’06 Duke Lacrosse case and Lena Dunham’s incredulous and, frankly, bizarre description of events from her gonzo autobiography.
There are several things jumbled in here which can be described as horrible, not the least of which is that if, buried underneath all of this garbage, there is any validity to either case in question the actions of the “victims” have enabled the perpetrators to get away and perhaps repeat themselves. In the case of Ms. Dunham and anybody at Rolling Stone, that should tell you all you need to know about their true motivations.
There isn’t a pressing need to go back over them. Crucial details of the Rolling Stone article fell apart under scrutiny and upon further inspection it turns out the author didn’t even do basic, like journalism 101 basic, fact checking. But where as the UVA story looks like maybe something happened but the alleged victim told falsehoods that permanently muddied the water, Lena’s book account is beginning to look like a total fabrication complete with embellishments. A mustachioed, purple cowboy boots wearing, violent, repeat offender villain. Sounds more like a cartoon character.
And how convenient, he’s the campus’ lone right-winger. Would someone of Dunham’s sensibilities even be attracted to a guy on the right and leave a party with him? Yes, guys on the left do tend to be beta-males, but come on. He’s… republican. Doesn’t he want to take away all of your women’s rights and hate black people? Is this the lefty version of a good girl falling for the bad boy?
Through the gossamer weave of whatever progressive cause of the moment there shines a few ideological beams of thought consistent across various topics. Examples include the downplaying of personal responsibility, the destigmatizion, even exultation of victimhood, and false equivalence. Hence trends like “Stop Slut Shaming.” The sentiment, even when genuine and not based in an agenda, is like everything else with the left. It’s based on feelings, not answers.
A coed has every right to dress as risqué as she wants and get blackout drunk at a frat party without having to fear if a guy will advantage of her. Yes, that’s true. But a person also has every right to carry a bag overstuffed with cash down every dark alley in every big city in the world without having to fear they will be mugged. It doesn’t change the fact that it is a foolish thing to do.
