Many years ago I had a vindictive ex.
I believe I can sense the rolling eyes and hear the impatient groans among male readers.
“Oh you think you had it bad!”
Bear with me please, it gets better. I hadn’t seen anything of my ex for a while and I first found out exactly how vindictive she was when two police detectives showed up at my front door.
“Is there a problem officers?” I said, or something equally witty.
It’s unnerving at best when detectives show up at your door, no matter how clear your conscience is.
“We had a report that someone answering your description robbed (the local strip joint) and shot the bartender in the knee,” said one. “You know anything about this?”
My jaw literally dropped open.
“Well is that a yes or are you catching flies?” he asked.
I have to say, under most circumstances I admire the ability to banter like this, in classic tough-cop style. I briefly considered bantering back about how this was typical ethnic stereotyping on my Irish heritage. Why does everyone assume when someone gets knee-capped there must be an Irishman behind it? But it didn’t seem like a good idea at the time.
“I guess I’m catching flies,” I said (which was pretty good you must admit). “I’ve never been in the place.”
So they asked, did I know anyone who worked there?
As it happened I did, and as I was going down the (short) list it broke on me like a flash.
“Oh,” I said. “I have an ex who makes rounds there selling flowers, and she’s just crazy and vindictive enough to say something like this.”
I will never forget to my dying day the look of disgust on the face of that cop as he actually managed to slam his notebook shut.
I offered to come downtown for a lineup but they obviously felt they’d wasted enough time on this lead.
Reaction around town was universally sympathetic, and the proprietors of the strip joint I believe made it plain to my ex she wasn’t welcome to vend in their establishment anymore.
Thank God it wasn’t a rape accusation!
Last month Rolling Stone magazine published a truly horrifying description of one young lady’s gang rape at the hands of a group of fraternity boys at a frat party at the University of
Virginia. I defy anyone to read it without being overcome with a sick feeling of horror, and rage.
And immediately after that, if one has a brain in their head, the thought of, “Wait a minute, this is bogus!”
To summarize, Rolling Stone writer Sabrina Erdely wrote a story using precisely one source. Moreover she was deliberately misleading as to whether she was quoting the alleged victim or her friends.
She made no attempt to contact any of the five or seven alleged rapists “at Jackie’s request”, even though details the alleged victim “Jackie” supplied should have made it easy. When other journalists tried to, they could find no members of the fraternity that matched the details she supplied. Nor was there a party at the fraternity on that date.
Being gang-raped on shards of broken glass should have left trauma enough for a visit to the emergency room. Erdely evidently couldn’t be bothered to check, or even ask.
Jackie’s friends are now walking back from their previous support of her after reading unflattering details about themselves that in no way match their memory of conversations with Jackie.
Erdely admitted in an interview that she went shopping for a spectacular rape story on several university campuses, but most were too “prosaic” for her purposes.
Bottom line, not a single detail could be corroborated. Rolling Stone apologized – and has since revised their apology. They at first said their trust in Jackie was “misplaced,” then backtracked and said it was entirely their fault.
No, it’s their fault for believing a serial fabricator. But Jackie, whoever she is, has to take some of the responsibility too.
This was not a harmless thing. Campus fraternities were suspended and the fraternity in question’s building has been vandalized.
And yet there are those who are defending this as a good thing because it draws attention to the “rape culture on campus.”
So referring to my story above, how do you think they’d like it if any accusation against them, however improbably, was given the same kind of credence in a major publication as this?
Rape accusation shows danger of issue-driven journalism
Many years ago I had a vindictive ex.
I believe I can sense the rolling eyes and hear the impatient groans among male readers.
“Oh you think you had it bad!”
Bear with me please, it gets better. I hadn’t seen anything of my ex for a while and I first found out exactly how vindictive she was when two police detectives showed up at my front door.
“Is there a problem officers?” I said, or something equally witty.
It’s unnerving at best when detectives show up at your door, no matter how clear your conscience is.
“We had a report that someone answering your description robbed (the local strip joint) and shot the bartender in the knee,” said one. “You know anything about this?”
My jaw literally dropped open.
“Well is that a yes or are you catching flies?” he asked.
I have to say, under most circumstances I admire the ability to banter like this, in classic tough-cop style. I briefly considered bantering back about how this was typical ethnic stereotyping on my Irish heritage. Why does everyone assume when someone gets knee-capped there must be an Irishman behind it? But it didn’t seem like a good idea at the time.
“I guess I’m catching flies,” I said (which was pretty good you must admit). “I’ve never been in the place.”
So they asked, did I know anyone who worked there?
As it happened I did, and as I was going down the (short) list it broke on me like a flash.
“Oh,” I said. “I have an ex who makes rounds there selling flowers, and she’s just crazy and vindictive enough to say something like this.”
I will never forget to my dying day the look of disgust on the face of that cop as he actually managed to slam his notebook shut.
I offered to come downtown for a lineup but they obviously felt they’d wasted enough time on this lead.
Reaction around town was universally sympathetic, and the proprietors of the strip joint I believe made it plain to my ex she wasn’t welcome to vend in their establishment anymore.
Thank God it wasn’t a rape accusation!
Last month Rolling Stone magazine published a truly horrifying description of one young lady’s gang rape at the hands of a group of fraternity boys at a frat party at the University of
Virginia. I defy anyone to read it without being overcome with a sick feeling of horror, and rage.
And immediately after that, if one has a brain in their head, the thought of, “Wait a minute, this is bogus!”
To summarize, Rolling Stone writer Sabrina Erdely wrote a story using precisely one source. Moreover she was deliberately misleading as to whether she was quoting the alleged victim or her friends.
She made no attempt to contact any of the five or seven alleged rapists “at Jackie’s request”, even though details the alleged victim “Jackie” supplied should have made it easy. When other journalists tried to, they could find no members of the fraternity that matched the details she supplied. Nor was there a party at the fraternity on that date.
Being gang-raped on shards of broken glass should have left trauma enough for a visit to the emergency room. Erdely evidently couldn’t be bothered to check, or even ask.
Jackie’s friends are now walking back from their previous support of her after reading unflattering details about themselves that in no way match their memory of conversations with Jackie.
Erdely admitted in an interview that she went shopping for a spectacular rape story on several university campuses, but most were too “prosaic” for her purposes.
Bottom line, not a single detail could be corroborated. Rolling Stone apologized – and has since revised their apology. They at first said their trust in Jackie was “misplaced,” then backtracked and said it was entirely their fault.
No, it’s their fault for believing a serial fabricator. But Jackie, whoever she is, has to take some of the responsibility too.
This was not a harmless thing. Campus fraternities were suspended and the fraternity in question’s building has been vandalized.
And yet there are those who are defending this as a good thing because it draws attention to the “rape culture on campus.”
So referring to my story above, how do you think they’d like it if any accusation against them, however improbably, was given the same kind of credence in a major publication as this?