Don't be ridiculous. I never implied anything of the sort. See #161.
Apparently, I need to be very careful to make sure every one of my posts stands on its own. People will read one post and understandably jump to conclusions about the scope of those comments.
Please understand this much: The only point I ever took up is the one where people are concerned with "restoring the boys' reputations." My comments have ONLY been concerned with the damage to their reputations and have nothing to do with any other damages they've suffered.
Yes, they were wrongly accused. Yes, the stripper should be in jail. Yes, Nifong should be in jail. Yes, the university owes them a huge apology. Yes, yes, yes, YES, YES there are a lot of wrongs that should be righted here.
But, when the question is about the young men's reputations—and, again, that has been the sole subject of my comments—by now, everyone knows they're not rapists. If they get branded as brutes or whoremongers for a few years, THAT is the risk they took in hiring a stripper. Those are the fleas they risked getting when they lied down with that dog.
Yes, right all the wrongs. But don't expect all the consequences to be magically erased. Some consequences are justly earned. In this case, that consequence is a damaged reputation. And we can all be thankful that whatever reputation we earn at 21 doesn't last forever.
Could you point me to the information showing where Reade and Collin hired the strippers?
You don't seem to understand, this was a spring break party, and to keep saying THESE BOYS HIRED THE STRIPPER, is factually incorrect!
For the THIRD time: are you going to tell us how you "played with fire" and what lumps you took? You raised the subject, now are you going to answer the question?
But these boys deserve public humiliation and the legacy of bogus rape etc., charges, that will follow their reputations for the rest of their lives, right? C'mon.
I beg to differ, newgeezer. This damage to their reputations will follow the Duke 3 for the rest of their lives. And this damage has nothing to do with their hiring a couple of strippers to perform at a private party.
Anyone with a shred of common sense knows that they did not rape the false accuser. But the truth does not eliminate the controversy of this case.
Take a good look at HR Departments in corporate America. These gatekeepers don't want controversial employees. They want good, bland corporate sheep.
How many opportunities have been lost and will continue to be lost to these three young men? And do you not think that the other players on the team won't be tainted to a lesser degree? After thousands of hours of work taking their team to a shot at a national title, how many of those players will consider deleting their participation on the 2006 Duke lacrosse team from their resumes?
None of us is against accepting the consequences for one's actions. But the acceptable consequences must be proportional. Here they aren't. And after all that's happened to these three defendants, the players, and the fired coach, you're spitting in the wind by trying to assign any blame to these young men.
Now shut up and go take your lumps elsewhere.
I have been trying to see your point through all your posts, but believing that "everyone" knows they're not rapists is incredibly naive. There are a whole bunch of people who still think that these boys are guilty of rape, and that the DA has pressured Mangum into recanting her story. That's where the damage to their reputations comes in. There are those who will think that getting the IDs tossed is just a "technicality". There are people out there who STILL believe that Mangum was raped, sodomized, and beaten at a privileged white boys' party. That these people are ignorant doesn't matter. The accused rapists' reputations have been permanently marred by this, in much the same way as someone who has truly been raped suffers (one of the reasons for the rape shield laws).
Apparently you are still suffering whatever reputation you no doubt deservedly earned at 21 and hope that seeing others suffer the same will somehow make you feel better.
Now, get back to your therapeutic porn sites and quit bugging us.