“Survivors” are the new sacred class in academia, and criticizing them the new heresy
The pattern is clear.
Georgetown University refuses to sanction Professor Christine Fair for one of the most egregiously vile and violent comments I’ve ever seen on Twitter, whereas Catholic University comes down hard on Dean Rainford for merely stating a rather mild truth critical of already-debunked “accuser” Julie Swetnick.
If I had to choose only one of the two disparate responses, I’d chose Georgetown’s, which at least comes down on the side of liberty, and then let the market decide if students wish to attend Prof. Fair’s (a more inappropriate name was never seen) classes.
Catholic University’s response, on the other hand is craven and anti-liberty. And it’s not a one-off. A similar event has occurred at USC, where tenured professor James Moore is in trouble for saying that 2+2=4.
Yes, for merely stating an obvious, non-abusive, inoffensive (except to SJWs) truth about accusers (otherwise known as “survivors” and “victims,” because even false accusers are to be regarded as victims, right?):
Nearly 100 students at the University of Southern California attended a rally at noon on Monday demanding a tenured professor be fired after he sent a reply-all email last Thursday to the student body noting that “accusers sometimes lie.”
“If the day comes you are accused of some crime or tort of which you are not guilty, and you find your peers automatically believing your accuser, I expect you find yourself a stronger proponent of due process than you are now,” emailed Professor James Moore.
The email — in response to a reply-all email that urged students to “Believe Survivors” on the day of Christine Ford’s testimony — triggered what one school admin said was “hundreds” of emails from concerned students and alumni since Thursday.
USC students Audrey Mechling and Joelle Montier then organized a Facebook rally against the engineering professor, entitled “Times Up for James Moore.”
These anti-free-speech zealots can rally all they want; that’s free speech, too. It’s intensely depressing that they can draw any sort of crowd at all, but that’s what decades of leftist control of schools has wrought. The bigger problem is the response of USC’s administration in the person of Dean Jack Knott, the dancing bear du jour:
“What [Professor Moore] sent was extremely inappropriate, hurtful, insensitive. We are going to try to do everything we can to try to create a better school, to educate the faculty,” said Dean Knott to the crowd.
He then announced that USC would take action.
“This is going to be a multi-pronged effort. We are going to have a faculty meeting later this week around implicit bias, sensitivity towards [sexual assault]….” he said.
Isn’t that special, Dean Knott. Maybe the crocodile will eat you last. Send whatever portion of your faculty still retaining the values of logic and truth to the re-education camps for the proper training in right-thinking. And by the way, what Professor Moore said was actually extremely appropriate. If it hurt some sensitive SJW creatures who would like to do away with the protections Western civilization has struggled to put in place against false accusations, well then, tough.
Moore’s apology was tepid, and his defense of himself robust:
It is never my intention to hurt anyone. My intention is to protect more students than we currently do from being punished for acts of misconduct they have not committed. Any of us might stand accused of any number of misdeeds, and each of us at that point will want to be treated fairly under due process.
In light of all of this, consider the widespread criticism President Trump has gotten for mocking Christine Ford in a speech he gave recently. I happen to think he should have refrained for strategic reasons because (as the article demonstrates) the wavering senators who are gumming up the works didn’t like it. What he said may have essentially been true, but I think it didn’t help achieve the goal at all, and gave Ford’s defenders and Kavanaugh’s enemies grist for their mill. It was also unnecessary; Ford’s veracity problems and memory lapses have already been pointed out, and he was preaching to the choir.
On the other hand, I’ve been wrong many times about Trump’s controversial tweets and statements and their effect. I think he was trying to highlight the inconsistencies in Ford’s story in a way that really sinks in for people. He knew that his statements would get wide coverage, of course, much wider than if he’d said the same thing in a more restrained way.
Who knows? I suspect that on the whole what Trump did was a bad idea. But I also think that Ford’s lack of truthfulness is coming more and more into focus, and it should be fair game for criticism. Is she a “victim” of something? Who knows? But the lies of accusers are not to be afforded some special kid glove treatment merely because the accusers choose to couch those lies in accusations of sexual abuse, and/or because they are women. And yet that’s the hill most of our universities have chosen to die on.
Already seeing The Flake and The Merq will take his comments into account when they vote No on Kavanaugh. Will not comment further.
I agree that President Trump should have continued to soft pedal his remarks about Blasey Ford. However, the new letter from Blasey Ford’s old boy friend has really punched holes in her testimony. Afraid of flying? Nope. Knows little to nothing about polygraphs? Nope. Claustrophobic about small, enclosed spaces? Nope. Enough dishonesty in her soul to use a credit card illegally? Yep.
Read about it here: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2018/10/02/breaking-fords-ex-boyfriend-pens-damning-letter-detailing-her-helping-a-friend-n2524939
The persona she projected during her testimony – fragile, childlike, fearful, lacking in confidence – seems to have been a con. And President Trump now knows it, as does anyone else willing to follow the twists and turns of this ignominious case.
I sure can’t tell whether Trump’s tweets help or hinder.
In the short run, maybe not. In the long run, maybe his tweets give folks like Kavanaugh and Graham cover to push back harder than they would have otherwise.
As well as encourage the rest of us on the right that our indignation isn’t crazy, even if we might word our concerns more judiciously.
Answer: alibis, revenge, and attention seeking.
Question: What are primary motivations for false accusation of rape, in order of prevalence?
Wikipedia sometimes surprises with honesty even in a political realm. Here is their page on false accusation of rape.
Check out the summary chart, Kanin (1994), and the Finland police.
Kanin looked only at one city, but used the acid test of an accuser fully recanting their accusation. They even analyzed the possibility that the recanting was false. Result: 41% false accusation rate. (OTOH, one FBI number is 8%. I think there might be other FBI numbers on this.)
The Finnish police provide one added motive, being black-out drunk.
I would have preferred Trump stay silent as well, but I understand his rationale. As always, he is fighting back. The main target is, and should be, the Democrats and their media fellow travelers. But Trump is giving voice to the overall frustration of the base: that frustration includes disbelief and annoyance with Ford.
Ultimately, Democrats will shriek and preen, GOPe will scold and “distance” and that’s that. Wash, rinse, repeat.
As to the gutless wonders, Flake (and to a much lesser extent, Collins and Murkowski), we have seen what appeasing them brings about. Whether Trump should have attacked Ford is certainly debatable, but I don’t think those three Quisling-lites should be factored in at all. Better to rally the base to keep pressure on Heitkamp, Manchin and Donnelly.
Now then, Professor Moore. Is the email available in its entirety? This would be helpful for an informed opinion. He absolutely has the right to free speech. And, I have no doubt the response is an all to predictable red-faced SJW snowflake/”survivor” stunt with the predictable appeasement from the useful idiots in university administration. Nonetheless, I would like to read the full email.
I wish we still had Tom Wolfe to go after these “victims.”
Academic administrators are some of the worst people in America.
I strongly disapprove President Trump’s inappropriate treatment of Doctor Ford and his unacceptable remarks about her televised testimony before the nomination committee regarding her accusations against supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the ongoing FBI probe looking into this matter.
Anything short of flat out calling her a lying *Beep”-ing Piece of *Beep* sociopath is unacceptable and inappropriate.
This is not right, making up false rape accusations with the intention to destroy an man’s life and career is inconceivably evil.
“it’s a very scary time for young men in America”
“This is a very important time in our country. Due Process, Fairness and Common Sense are now on trial!”
– President Donald J Trump
In contrary to the opinions of Neo and many others respectfully, I believe Trump has been on fire.
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