I’ll Write What You’re Thinking: It’s ok to question plaintiff’s motives in UT lawsuit
In only the second installment of his column, “I’ll Write What You’re Thinking,” sports editor Cody McClure says that being skeptical is not a bad thing.
Coach Butch Jones speaks with the white team after a series. Photo by Zach Dennis.
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There are already rumblings around Knoxville that Butch Jones could be fired if sexual assault allegations made by eight women against the University of Tennessee turn out to be true.
I’m not going to go into detail about the lawsuit, because you probably already know about it. But if you need a refresher, read this.
Most people I talk to and see on Twitter are already condemning UT, its student-athletes, and its leaders for their alleged actions. Of course, there are many people condemning the women and automatically siding with UT, but that group is mostly made up of rabid Vol fans. It doesn’t reflect the current national perspective.
Why is it that we, as a people, always tend to initially believe the accuser over the accused?
As my colleague, David Bradford, puts it, “Accusers and their legal teams do a great job of wording allegations that force an emotional outburst and cause people to sympathize with them. It’s hard for the accused to recover from that, even if they are innocent.”
In a culture of increased awareness and more serious attention paid to sexual assault and rape, it seems that every allegation of such an offense means that it happened. Based on simple probability alone, that just can’t be true.
Sexual assault and rape are heinous crimes. That is something most of us (aside from rapists and predators) can agree on. If a person sexually assaults or rapes someone, then that person should pay for it. I would be in favor of the maximum penalty allowed for such a crime to be implemented.
In light of this, if you’re facing criminal charges, don’t delay in seeking legal representation. The sooner you consult with a qualified attorney, the better your chances of a favorable outcome. For those in New Jersey, click here for trusted legal help right away.
But let’s all take a step back and understand something. Just because someone shouts “rape” does not mean that rape has occurred. That statement will come with a bolt of shock for some. How could I say such a thing, right?
Well, here’s the deal. Women’s rights activists will tell you the number of false rape accusations is somewhere between 2-10 percent. Men’s rights activists will tell you that number is over 40 percent. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. By the way, sexual assault numbers are about the same. For the record, according to the Rape Crisis Center of Central New Mexico, rape is defined as unwanted penetration, whether that is oral, anal, or vaginal. Sexual assault refers to any unwanted sexual contact, including fondling and molestation.
You could look at this peer-reviewed study to prove to everyone that false rape accusations are extremely common, or you could look at this academic study to prove to everyone that false rape accusations are extremely rare.
Isn’t it funny how you can find any “reliable” study on the internet to prove whatever narrative you are trying to get people to believe? The point is, sometimes those who report a rape didn’t really get raped. Remember the Duke lacrosse scandal?
Here is something I dug really deep to find when thinking about this topic. It turns out that this is indeed a FACT (a thing that is indisputably the case). Ready for it? Drum roll…
People lie.
In fact, they lie a lot, and you don’t need a study about lying to tell you that. Think about your own life in the last 24 hours. How many lies have you told? I would dare to say I’ve probably told at least five. What about in the last week? Could you even count your lies over the span of a year?
Think about white lies even. Maybe they aren’t significant, but they prove that we like to kid ourselves in some way.
And lying in court? That happens all the time, and it is something that can actually be proven by perjury records. Cops do it all the time, at least according to former San Francisco police commissioner, Peter Keane, who said that police officer perjury in court is “commonplace.” Cops lie in court, and so do regular folks.
On a related note, here is a video of comedic legend George Carlin talking about lying in court. WARNING: The language in the video could be offensive to some.
So, now that you’ve watched Carlin, back to the point. People lie. This is a proven phenomenon that doesn’t require a study to back it up. Everyone reading this has lied to someone and been lied to, probably recently.
Whether the number of false rape accusations (which is an extremely difficult number to measure) is closer to 2-10 percent or 40 percent, we don’t know.
But we do know that people lie. And if we know that much, how can we be certain that the eight women filing a lawsuit against UT aren’t lying? Just because someone says something does not make it true. What evidence is there for us to believe or disbelieve any allegation based on word of mouth? None, at this point.
Nor is there any reason for us to immediately side with UT, Butch Jones, the football team, or any of the current or former players accused of sexual assault.
As the wise-beyond-his-time Carlin once said, “If it suits their purposes, people are going to lie.”
Cases that are severe in nature, such as this one, will always have two sides to the story. I’m not a legal expert, but I can see where it would be possible for someone who sexually assaulted someone else to lie about it. I can also see where it would be possible for someone to lie for money.
I’m not writing this column to accuse either side of this lawsuit as a liar. The truth will come out. I’m just pointing out that lying is common in order to peak the thinking caps of people who may immediately view this one way or the other.
As it seems to me, the majority of people tend to side with the accuser in most cases. Remember, it is accuser vs. accused. The eight women are the accuser, and UT is the accused in this scenario.
The reason I’m writing this is because it seems that everyone else is too scared to consider the possibility that these women could be looking for a pay day.
I think this is in part because of the society we live in where a progressive generation values women’s rights more. THAT IS A GOOD THING. But with that, it seems that a lot of people want to completely dismiss the idea that there might be bad women out there, just like there are bad men.
Now you say, OMG how could he question that? Who would fabricate a story about being sexually assaulted? Surely, these women would not lie about such serious matters, only for a financial settlement. Plus, there are multiple women! It’s not like it’s just one individual case we’re talking about.
Folks, this is a strange world we live in, and it’s getting even stranger. I know, and you know, people will do anything for money. I’m not saying that’s what is happening here, because I don’t know any more about the lawsuit than you do.
But what I am saying is that if you are going to automatically assume they are telling the truth, you should think twice. Don’t limit yourself to one side of the brain. It’s ok to question the women’s motives, just as it’s ok to question whether UT enables student-athletes to demean and assault women.
This isn’t victim shaming or victim blaming. This is alleged victim skepticism. If we lose the ability to question things in our society, that is when we begin to give up our rights. We owe it to ourselves to be skeptical. It is healthy.
Nobody wins in this situation. Either you have a group of lying women who want money, or you have a group of sick, dangerous athletes and a university that turns the other cheek.
Either way, this is bad.
Just don’t assume that Butch Jones is a piece of sh*t and that he has recruited a group of thugs until you know all the facts. Am I here to defend the athletes? No. I’m here to defend treating both sides fairly. And I’m here to defend the truth.
In this situation, I would like to see UT and its athletes treated with the same respect as the eight women.
If the truth happens to be that Jones and his staff have covered up or enabled a multitude of disgusting acts, then so be it. I hope he goes to jail and never coaches another game. But I’m not ready to make those kinds of accusations, and you shouldn’t be either.
Innocent until proven guilty, that’s why this is America.
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-police-lie-2013-2
http://sf-criminaldefense.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/KaninFalseRapeAllegations.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-investigates-the-duke-rape-case/
http://www.icdv.idaho.gov/conference/handouts/False-Allegations.pdf
http://rapecrisiscnm.org/faq/86-what-is-the-difference-between-rape-and-sexual-assault
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/416536/how-common-are-false-rape-charges-really-jason-richwine
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-09-19/how-many-rape-reports-are-false
“I’ll Write What You’re Thinking” is a sports column written by Tennessee Journalist sports editor Cody McClure. The opinion of our writers/bloggers are not a reflection of the opinion of the Tennessee Journalist as a whole.
Featued image by the Tennessee Journalist
Edited by Jessica Carr
Sports Editor, Cody McClure, has been with TNJN since January 2014. He is passionate about SEC football and basketball. To him, there's nothing better in life than game day in Neyland Stadium. Cody covers the SEC for Athlon Sports. Additionally, he co-hosts Rock Solid Sports for WUTK 90.3 FM on Fridays from 7-8 p.m. ET. Cody is also interning at Sports Radio WNML working under Jimmy Hyams. In his spare time, he plays golf, travels the country, and plays guitar, badly. Follow him on Twitter @CodyMcClureCFB.
This is a great article. Thank you for your rationale voice in discussing this topic. Every sex assault college activist should read this article. But first you’d have to add the term ‘trigger warning’ for the special snowflakes.
“Women’s rights activists will tell you the number of false rape accusations is somewhere between 2-10 percent. Men’s rights activists will tell you that number is over 40 percent.”
No, what Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) will tell you is that the true number of false allegations is what is known in statistical analysis as a dark number, in other words it is unknown. What we do know however is that it is more common than the 2-10 percent lie that is being pushed by feminist activists, which they arrive at by taking all cases of rape, both reported and unreported, removing the few percent who are indisputably guilty or innocent and then assuming, of the other ~94 percent of reports, that every single one is a genuine claim of rape and that none are false. By manipulating the figures in that way they can claim that false allegations are rare at 2-10 percent and also that other canard, that only 3 percent of rapists ever see a day in jail, a very handy thing for both their funding and their ideology. Informal (read non-scientific) surveys have pegged the number at anywhere from 14 percent to well over 40 percent.
You are correct in one thing though, the truth probably lays somewhere in between, probably between 20-30 percent.