Duke Lacrosse

My Response to Kathleen Parker
I'm angry. There, I said it! Everyone knows it is better not to write/ speak/ or do anything except scrub a floor or box angry. But I am going to ignore my better judgment to respond to Kathleen Parker's defense of the Duke Lacrosse team. She said in her article which was published in the Star Telegram that the collective societal "we" should not jump to judge the Lacrosse players guilty just because they hired a stripper who claims she was "gang raped" by some of the young men. Here is what I know. Hiring strippers is seedy. Going to strip clubs is seedy. Watching a virtual stranger move for personal arousal is bordering on adultery. It denigrates the humanity of both the stripper and the person who hired the stripper. And, although she said in her article that viewing the lacrosse players as "privileged thus guilty" is wrong, I disagree. Kathleen, people aren't assuming their guilt. They're angry because these boys should know/do better! These boys are privileged. They have been blessed with athletic ability, strength, and an excellent opportunity to earn a college education while playing sports at an elite school. Somewhere along the way, didn't they learn that to whom much is given, much is required? While I refuse to assume their guilt in the rape, much of the anger regarding the situation is because they seem unchanged by their excellent opportunities and gifts. And, they also seem unchanged by the experience. This outrage, she argues, equates to a mob mentality waiting to for blood from the players. This analogy is laughable. Ironically she mentions a mob mentality, which, in my mind, is reminiscent of the mobs of white people who hung blacks who were accused of raping white women. A black youth was even murdered for whistling at a white woman. So, obviously, there is the race factor. All of the players of the lacrosse team were white, save one. The dancers were black. Also, all of the players, obviously, were male. At best, thirty to forty males to one or two female ratio. The balance of power there is obvious. Thirty male college athletes versus one female stripper. Even if you discount race, sex and socioeconomic status, thirty to one odds don't sound great. Perhaps to get a clear picture of what that looks like, we could use a sports analogy. Thirty NBA athletes playing a game against one. Even if all things are equal, and the one athlete was also an NBA athlete, that wouldn't be a game I'd like to watch. And, speaking of watching, what if no one was watching? What if all the athletes were playing in a dark house at night while drinking? What if one of them, after the game, sent out an email in which he said he wanted to skin the other player and murder him? I'm sorry Kathleen, I just don't' buy your, "even though they were lubricated with testosterone and liquor, they're not guilty," defense; and your caveat that "no one deserves a citizenship award," rings hollow. The thing is, I'm betting at least half of these guys are from a priviledged background. And, although it doesn't convict them, it does set them up to be more than just a stupid meat-head athlete. These young men don't need your defense, Kathleen. They have plenty of people willing to defend them, including the lawyer their parents hired, and even their coach! Not to mention all the elitist of the world, like you, who cry reverse racism. These athletes should apologize, at least, for their insensitivities in hiring a stripper, getting drunker than Dick Cheney on a duck hunt, and stop hiding behind their parents. Their behavior, although possibly not criminal belies the privildges and blessings they have recieved. And, although I do expect more of them, I expect more of you, too, Kathleen. Defending the already defended and priviledged class of people in society will not win you a Peabody or a Pulitzer, Kathleen, but it might get you a season pass to the next year's Duke Lacrosse games.