O'Reilly: Alleged Duke rape victim "put herself in jeopardy"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200604200004

O'Reilly stated that alleged Duke rape victim "put herself in jeopardy"

Summary: Bill O'Reilly stated that the woman who alleged she was raped at a party attended by members of the Duke University lacrosse team "put herself in jeopardy."

During the April 19 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly stated that the woman who alleged she was raped at a party attended by members of the Duke University lacrosse team "put herself in jeopardy." O'Reilly added: "She has two young kids to support and no fathers in sight. So, in order to earn money, she chooses to go to strange places and disrobe in front of strange men. Do the math."

From the April 19 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Duke University officials knew the lacrosse team often crossed the line, drinking and acting out in immature ways. The coach was warned last year to rein the players in. Apparently, he did not or could not. The coach has now resigned. One of the players charged, Collin Finnerty, may be a violent guy. Last November, he was allegedly involved in an assault on a man in Washington, D.C., for absolutely no reason. And he entered a diversionary program. Fighting, drinking to excess, and generally ignoring social boundaries always leads to bad, unintended consequences. Always. Likewise, a 27-year-old woman put herself in jeopardy. She has two young kids to support and no fathers in sight. So, in order to earn money, she chooses to go to strange places and disrobe in front of strange men. Do the math. "Talking Points" is not accusing anyone of anything, or making any judgments at all. What I just told you is on the record -- fact. The lacrosse team operated in a loose fashion. The alleged victim had little control over her environment.

[timber84]

1. He should know he put a falafel in jeopardy!

[DrGonzoLives]

2. Right-wingers love blaming the victim in rape cases

n/t

[LynneSin]

3. I'll do the math - she's making more money than me

And I have a regular 9-5 job with a college degree.

Neither of us deserve to be raped though

[rodeodance]

10. RWers tend to blame the Other most of the time.-its the Intel, its the Pre

ss, etc.etc.

[mdmc]

4. Any girl that enters a frat is at risk

those guys have no moral decency at all. What she did was legal, the rape was illegal, and o'liely is an asshole.

[KittyWampus]

12. Any woman who goes back into a frat after they've already harassed you

is even more at risk.

[LostinVA]

16. Nice.

[mdmc]

18. she should have brought a gun

but then she would have been on trial. I hope karma makes this right for her.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Guess lots of posters in GD agree with him

:D

[LostinVA]

8. OMG! I said that without seeing your post!

[goclark]

11. Yep

and at Freeper Land too.

[TahitiNut]

31. I have a hard time just counting the ways I'm disgusted by his remark.

Beyond the obvious moral and ethical bankruptcy of blaming the victim, the casual assumption that people, even in groups, would so commonly assault and rape someone who, by agreement, provided such 'entertainment' in a purportedly 'educational setting' of alleged 'sportsmen' is noxious in the extreme. It is an obscenely debased view of 'typical' human behavior - a view that consequentially offers 'permission' to those who engage in it. It's a race to the bottom of the ethical sewer.

Furthermore, the habit of blaming the victim and casually accepting such behavior as widespread enough to warrant a criticism of her judgement makes other reasonable counselling even more difficult. I can't count the times I've confronted situations where folks have become embedded in fixated behavior patterns due to a rejection of any personal control over the circumstances of the traumas they've sustained. Balancing the risks inherent in personal choices of behavior against the 'right' to be 'safe' is an enormously emotional dialectic. This collision between the militancy of a 'right to exercise liberties' and the 'right to be safe' is taking an increasing number of casualties.

So many wrongs; so few rights. :puke:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

36. O' Reilly must really love it when a cop or soldier gets killed

after all....they put themselves in the line of...

[TahitiNut]

45. Well, as long as they don't have ...

... "two young kids and no father in sight" I guess it's OK. :puke: :puke:

O'Lielly has absolutely no comprehension of the economic oppression some folks endure and the limited options available to them. I guess he thinks all those military folks are like Tillman - patriots giving up more lucrative options. He's got his head up his butt so far it's coming out his esophagus.

[bryant69]

6. Put herself in jeopardy

That's an interesting choice of words.

I suppose every job has with it certain risks. Sometimes those risks are part of the job - like the danger of getting shot if you are a cop or the danger of being board if you are a management analyst (my current position). But I would think it would be hard to make the case that choosing to be a stripper should open you up to the possibility of rape.

On the other hand, what should be and what is are oftentimes not the same thing.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[KittyWampus]

14. True, you work processing chickens in a plant, you're putting yourself

in jeopardy and there should be unions powerful enough to prevent such conditions.

[LostinVA]

7. Gosh, he'd find lots of agreement here at DU

[timber84]

9. Just for arguements sake do you believe that prostitues put

themselves in harms way? In no way does this question attempt to imply that "they" deserve to be raped, no one does,however does their occupation put them more at risk?

[KittyWampus]

15. A stripper posted here that she and others usually hire bouncers when.

when doing private gigs.

[timber84]

17. I saw that post.

[underpants]

21. They do

I was wondering if anyone would bring that up. In any case nothing justifies rape IF that is what happened. Nothing justifies any criminal or WRONG behavior either stripper or otherwise.

[mdmc]

23. Sex workers are always at dire risk of harm

:shrug:
It is the nature of the work. I do not intend that sex workers deserve to be victimized. In the Duke case, the girl was raped. She is the victim of a crime. She was inherently in harms way.

[TahitiNut]

35. Why not just put all of DU on Ignore?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Virginia Dare]

47. Really?

I've seen lots of posts from people who are doubting the rape charge against the particular players who have been charged, but I haven't seen anyone saying the woman deserved to be raped.

I'll grant you, I haven't read all of the threads though, since they quckly degenerate into "Oh, I guess you were there" posts ad nauseum.

That's sick if there are regular DU posters who would think that.

[tandot]

13. I guess Andrea Mackris put herself in jeopardy by working for him

She was just asking to be sexually harassed by O'Reilly. "Do the math"

"...so in order to earn money, she chooses to go to strange places...:"

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1013043mackris1.html

"...he subjected her to repeated instances of sexual harassment and spoke often, and explicitly, to her about phone sex, vibrators, threesomes, masturbation, the loss of his virginity, and sexual fantasies."

[Lars39]

22. lol

[AtomicKitten]

19. Well then, so did Natalie Holloway.

She left a bar drunk with three men. Do the math.

Yet again O'Reilly is unfair and unbalanced.

[underpants]

20. I don't think this is fair to that poor Holloway girl

oh sorry I read that wrong.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. So Does Everybody Else. Each Time They Leave The House

So what's this moron's point?
The Professor

[timber84]

26. Knowing O'rielly he is in his slimy way implying that her rape is

not as important because her job was riskier, That's my take on him.

[Goblinmonger]

25. I'll have to add this to the 25 page

list of reasons that Bill O'Reilly is a fucking asshole. It will go right near the top.

[timber84]

27. lol

[marions ghost]

28. uh huh OK

Quote:

"she put herself in jeopardy" (ie. bad girl)

"she chooses to go to strange places (ie. parties at esteemed colleges) and disrobe in front of strange men (ie. possible sexual predators capable of brutal rape)."

--------
NOT very good PR for fine upstanding boys, future leaders of America IMO. O'Really is about as credible on THIS topic as a felafel in a windstorm.

:banghead:

[madrchsod]

29. well......i`ve been to a few "parties" and

her mistake is that she did`t have at least one very large body guard with her. the dancers who did the private parties that i attended always had bodyguards for this very reason-to prevent drunk assholes from attacking the dancer or dancers. the guys i saw well you would not want to do anything unless you like hospitals.. why she choose not to is and was up to her..maybe she never had any problems before.
but her lack of judgment in this situation does not in any way absolve the alleged attackers of their crime,it was up to them to show restraint not her.
i`m still trying to figure out ".......do the math". a fraternity on a well respected college campus is a strange place?
a strange place is having a dancers in someones backyard till 2 in the morning,now billy boy, that was strange.

[marions ghost]

33. maybe we need to look at why

drunken assholeness is so prevalent and does not seem to impinge on a man's credibility in the least? Only if the woman is drunk does it cast a shadow on her "reputation" and indicate that she was negligent. These are neanderthal attitudes.

If the men are so inclined to lose control of their senses and morph into monsters when they've been drinking, why do they not seek help? Why is there not more help for sexual predators on campuses? You never hear ANYONE talk about this.

[madrchsod]

41. you mean "boys will be boys"?

i have no idea other than it`s a guy thing. i know that if a guy was raised by a father or mother who taught them respect for themselves and others that this kind of behaivor isn`t a problem that could result in degrading another human being.

[kestrel91316]

30. Yeah, Bill! That's right. If she had just kept that BURQA on..............

[TimeChaser]

32. Policemen and firemen put themselves in jeopardy every day

but no one ever blames them when they get injured or killed

:shrug:

[annofark]

34. Girls need to be more cautious

and they we all know that. They 100% should have had a body guard with them. That said, IF (and that is a big IF) she was raped bodyguard or not, she should NEVER be blamed.

[lapislzi]

37. There's a big difference between "poor judgement" and "she asked for it"

I will be the first to agree that the dancer probably exercised poor judgement (and none of us knows all the facts of this case, so I am guessing even when I say that)...but since when does someone using poor judgement deserve to be the victim of a crime? And the poor judgement in no way--repeat, IN NO WAY--excuses or even mitigates the crime. A crime's a crime's a crime.

It's a sad fact of life that poor judgement often leads to harsh consequences. That's not a value judgement; it's a fact. But we aren't here to decide whether those consequences are "deserved" or not. Some consequences are predictable (if you go outside in subzero weather with insufficient clothing, you will freeze), and some consequences are random (you could get run over if you aren't careful when you cross the street). This one was neither. This one was entirely dependent upon the volition of others. This did not have to happen; it's not an "if-then" scenario.

O'Reilly crosses the line from "poor judgement" to "she deserved it" in my opinion.

On the other hand, why is anyone surprised by anything this clown says? I expected as much.

[qanda]

38. Sounds like it was written by someone at DU

Go figure.

[deadparrot]

39. That doesn't fucking matter.

It doesn't fucking matter what situation you're in.

If one partner says "no," it's over. Period.

[MS68]

40. She did put herself in jeopardy...

That's not the same thing as saying she deserved it.

A woman goes into a party without a male escort to take her clothes off, where it's obvious the majority of the crowd will be drunk men. Chances are there will be at least "one drunk asshole" and basic psychology says that people will often do things in a group that they wouldn't ordinarily do alone. It only takes one "leader" to incite the rest of the group.

I'm a female, and when I walk out my front door, I try not to put myself in dangerous situations. That's not always a guarantee that you won't meet with foul play, but you do your best to avoid bad parts of town, walking alone in dark areas, etc. My husband thinks I'm paranoid because I drive with my car doors locked.

Police and fire fighters have dangerous jobs but they take precautions to protect themselves the best they can - by arming themselves, calling for backup and wearing protective gear.

Again, that does not excuse the behavior of a "rapist", but if I put myself in the position that she put herself in, I wouldn't be surprised at the outcome...I would expect it to happen to me eventually.

It sucks that there are bad people out there, but we all know they exist and if you care about your safety, you take the necessary precautions to protect yourself from them.

Strippers going into that situation NEED to have a male escort....hopefully, a big one.

[Virginia Dare]

42. Duke Lacrosse players allegedly raped a vulnerable woman...

now they might be going to jail and fucked up their lives forever---do the math.

[mondo joe]

43. It's irrelevant to the legal matter.

The fact is we all put ourselves in jeopardy at times.

Without arguing whether this woman did or not, it doesn't mitigate someone else breaking the law.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

44. I guess he'd know.

Given that he calls up female employees and leaves messages on their machine about how he wants to shove abrasive sponges up their vaginas.

[Crankie Avalon]

46. Soooooo, an inidivual with his OWN history of...

...making repeated, unwanted sexual advances to a woman under his professional employment dares to speak on the subject of how others made unwanted sexual assaults on a woman they hired to dance at their party, by usings this kind of language to describe the woman, "...a 27-year-old woman put herself in jeopardy. She has two young kids to support and no fathers in sight. So, in order to earn money, she chooses to go to strange places and disrobe in front of strange men," and then has the gall to say, "'Talking Points' is not accusing anyone of anything, or making any judgments at all."

That "math" is all too easy and just about the last thing O'Reilly should want anyone to do.