Thursday, January 18, 2007

Skewering Duke's "new" 88

John Podhoretz gives Duke's "new" faculty group of 88 a well-deserved skewering. Here's part of it:

And lest you think [this new] Gang of 88 wants to express any sense of relief that the university which employs them had not admitted or housed a gang of rapists, you'd be wrong.

Instead, they wish to reiterate their gratitude to those terrified, cowed, oppressed students "who used the attention the incident generated to raise issues of discrimination and violence."

Hmm. This sounds strangely familiar? Where have I heard it before? Oh, yes! When the Tawana Brawley case fell apart in 1988 - when it became clear to everybody that she had lied about being raped by a gang of white men - then too did we hear that some good had come out of the whole business because it had cast light on a pressing social problem.

The Gang of 88 ends their latest letter on an eerily similar note: "We hope that the Duke community will emerge from this tragedy as a better place for all of us to live, study and work," they write.

No, what they should hope for - what we should all hope for - is that the three innocent men emerge from this ordeal able and ready to rise above their torment and make a glorious mark upon the world.
Amen to that.

Podheretz's column is a don't miss.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

John - Please write your thinking on the Wilmington JOurnal artice. Looks like Cash.
The 88 are stalinist. They will never apologize for their actions and will just keep screaming over everyone. They are hopeless. I would not accept an apology if they gave one.

Anonymous said...

The less attention paid to the "Wilmington Journal," the better.

Anonymous said...

Morning, John! Good post on Podhoretz!

Hey, can you ask Bob to comment on Ashley's recent interview in Editor & Publisher?

KC's got it here.

"Much like the Group of 88, Ashley has expressed bafflement as to why his paper’s transparently pro-Nifong coverage was cited by the defense as one of four factors in the change of venue motion."

Anonymous said...

No, no, no, you have it wrong.

Better a thousand oppressed people should go free than one innocent man be punished.

Dukies (at least the non-oppressed ones) get a different ratio.

-AC