Reply to Duke "Low Life Lying Thug" Comment

 

     Justice 58:

        As I said, I respect your opinion. You are certainly entitled to it, as is everyone. Lately, I've found some time to read various comments posted on the web about this case. Many of these comments disturb me greatly. Perhaps I am too naive. I guess I was kind of hoping that we had advanced further, as a society, than what I've been reading. I think the statement that these Duke boys should pay, whether they are guilty or not, just to make up for past injustices, was probably about the most offensive I've read so far.

   Take your comment for example:

    "Imagine this,your daughter being raped by some of the elite college students of Duke University ..."

      Well, we do have a daughter. And the fact is, God forbid, if she were raped, it wouldn't matter to us who she was raped by. White, black, rich, or poor, it wouldn't matter. The only thing that would matter to my husband and I would be the fact that she was even raped at all.

      We would feel extreme anger towards anyone who would commit violence against one of our children. Then again, we would feel just as angry should someone point the finger at our son and make a false accusation.

      All citizens of this country are entitled to be protected against offenders. All citizens of this country are entitled to see justice done, should they become a victim of a crime. And all citizens of this country are entitled to full protection, under the law, if they are accused of a crime. That means everyone.

     Under the law, every accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. We don't pick and choose who is presumed innocent and who is presumed guilty based just on someone's word or whatever slant the media might take. It means that until their guilt is proven, they are presumed innocent in the eyes of the law and should be offered every protection granted them.

"...and no one will hear her cries of help because she's poor, black, and she's employed as a stripper."

    Well, I'm going to have to disagree with you there too. I work in a large city hospital. Our city patients are primarily African-American, many of them poor. I can assure you, they are all "listened to" and respected.

     We do hear their cries and so does our DA. I happen to be very proud of our sexual assault unit and the professional job they do. Every person's claim is taken very seriously. That doesn't mean they all end up in court. Many don't. That doesn't mean there aren't some false accusations here and there either. There sure are. What it does mean is that no one ignores anyone's "cries."

     The stripper part - OK, let's talk about that. I could care less if she is a stripper. We get all kinds of people through our doors and we treat every single person with caring and respect no matter who they are.

   What I do have a problem with though is the fact that she showed up for her job impaired. I don't care whether you're a brain surgeon or a stripper, you don't show up for work intoxicated. Most people know this!

   The very fact that she would show up to work having, by her own admission, knowingly consumed alcohol and Flexeril, against medical warnings, indicates to me some serious pre-existing issues which causes me to question her credibility on that fact alone. Not to mention everything else.

    "Imagine that your daughter was trying to get an education ...lets say, at a less than prestigious college than Duke University and no one would listen because *GASP* she has no wealth, power or prestige."

     In addition to our city patients, we get many college kids through our doors. They don't come from prestigious colleges. And guess what? We still *GASP* listen! We don't ask our patients how much money they have. We don't ask them what they do for a living. It's none of our business! We only ask them what is relevant to treating them as a patient.

    Now I have no idea what the detectives may ask but I'm assuming, since they bring them to our ER, that they too are *GASP* listening!

   "The lowlife thugs (duke 3) brought this upon themselves and now must suffer the consequences of their own actions."

   I'm sorry, have I missed the trial? Did it somehow bi-pass me when I wasn't paying attention?

  "The parents of these thugs should have taught them to respect women..period.
Where is their d*mn morals? The parents should have spent more time raising their kids instead of counting all those dollar bills and leaving the kids to raise themselves.
These rich spoiled thugs were already headed on a collision course long before the Duke Rape Case."

     Now see, this is what I find offensive. The fact that we haven't managed to get away from stereo types yet. Do you know these boys personally, Justice 58? Have you been inside their homes? Have you actually seen how they were raised? If not, how can you judge? This is as bad as someone pointing a finger at a black man just because he came from the poor side of town. It's the same thing. There's no difference!

    You talk about those "spoiled rich white boys". They may be spoiled. They may even at times be arrogant. And then again, they may not. I personally don't know them, so I'm not going to judge them based on that fact alone. Show me some actual evidence. Show me some proof. Don't just point a finger and say they did it because they are rich and white!

   You want to talk about being spoiled and arrogant, have you taken a good look at our own middle class kids lately? I have and I've seen alot of spoiled kids with bad manners and an extreme sense of entitlement. The rich do not hold a monopoly on arrogance!

   Now I will agree with you on one thing and that is the college turning a blind eye to the abuse of alcohol by students. In the vast majority of rape allegations, alcohol is involved. I don't know why all the big surprise over this. From all my research, which was quite a bit, the booze parties have been an open secret at colleges and universities all over the country for a long time. Big and small, black and white, prestigious and not prestigious, it doesn't matter. It's everywhere.

   This is where I feel the universities do need to be held accountable, as well as the students. I personally feel that alcohol should be banned on all campuses, as well as rules enforced against alcohol use in off campus housing. I guess it will never happen but I'd also like to see co-ed housing disappear. Most campus rapes happen in the dorms. There needs to be more proactive steps taken  by our colleges and universities to prevent student alcohol use on and off campus.