We can’t be surprised at the outpouring of outrage. Rape is the substitution of raw power for love, brutality for tenderness, and dehumanization for intimacy. It is also the crudest assertion of inequality, a way to show that the strong are superior to the weak and can rightfully use them as the objects of their pleasure. When reports of racial abuse are added to the mix, the evil is compounded, reviving memories of the systematic racial oppression we had hoped to have left behind us.
This is nothing but pandering to the "seriousness of the charge is more important than the truth of the allegations" crowd.
But it is clear that the acts the police are investigating are only part of the problem. This episode has touched off angers, fears, resentments, and suspicions that range far beyond this immediate cause. It has done so because the episode has brought to glaring visibility underlying issues that have been of concern on this campus and in this town for some time—issues that are not unique to Duke or Durham but that have been brought to the fore in our midst. They include concerns of women about sexual coercion and assault. They include concerns about the culture of certain student groups that regularly abuse alcohol and the attitudes these groups promote. They include concerns about the survival of the legacy of racism, the most hateful feature American history has produced.
What if the acts the police are investigating are false? So imaginary acts are considered "part of the problem?" What if the only real "underlying issue" here is fake charges, and the cynical use of these fake charges to further narrow partisan political agendas by certain groups?
But if the dark aspect is not the whole truth, this is not a moment to take comfort or mount defenses.
Not the whole truth? What if the "dark aspect" is a complete lie here, as appears very likely to be the case? This is the VERY time to mount a defense instead of cowering before the race hustlers and feminazis. The university claims its mission is the pursuit of truth - and here the Duke president is telling us not to mount a defense for truth.
Aarrgh.