Saturday, December 6, 2014

How did I miss that?

Another sign that the UVA rape case was a hoax from the start. I should have noticed this right away, considering that I attended a heavily Greek university where neither I nor my girlfriend were allowed to rush because our first-semester GPAs were too low.

Now, the "rape" supposedly took place during a fraternity party and was allegedly committed as a ritual fraternity rite by pledges on September 28th of that year. But what university Greek system has pledges at the beginning of the academic year? Not Bucknell. And not UVA either; Rush week there is in February. To be even remotely credible, the fictional story would have needed to be set in February or March.

The reporter, Sabrina Rudin Erdely, went to Penn, so she should have known that. I'm guessing that she wasn't among the 25 percent of the student body who was involved with the Greek system there; it rather looks as if the story may have been the belated revenge of a GDI rejected by the Greeks on campus.

Some of these quotes about Erdely are amusing in light of the obvious calendar discrepancy:

For former editors and colleagues of Erdely, a University of Pennsylvania alumna who cut her teeth at Philadelphia Magazine in the 1990s, the backlash provoked immediate skepticism.

"She's one of the most thorough reporters I've ever worked with," said Eliot Kaplan, who hired Erdely at Philadelphia Magazine in 1994. "She's not a shortcut-taker - very precise, diligent."

Lisa DePaulo, a former colleague of Erdely's at Philadelphia Magazine and a writer at Bloomberg Politics, was incredulous about the attacks on Erdely's reporting. "As far as I know, there's never been a piece of hers that was sloppy," she said. "She's an absolute pro."

How inept are journalists when someone who is supposed to be particularly good can't even get THE TIME OF YEAR correct when attempting to pass off fiction as fact? She might have as reasonably claimed that "Jackie" was raped at a college Christmas party in July.

12 comments:

grendel said...

Boom! Headshot. How did so many people miss this? SJW is a mental disorder that makes basic fact checking impossible for those affected. What if we had a law that gives NO prosecutorial discretion; false allegations of rape WILL be prosecuted?

Zorro said...

"... our first-semester GPAs were too low."

I guess being a MENSA isn't a cure-all for grades, huh?

/snark

Okay. That was a cheap shot. I apologize for that irresistible cheap shot at credentialism.

Low blow. Sorry.

VD said...

I guess being a MENSA isn't a cure-all for grades, huh?

I had the lowest GPA of all the male freshman on campus. She had the lowest GPA of all the female freshmen on campus. The Dean actually asked to us to considering breaking up. Which we eventually did, but not until the end of the year.

We both graduated on time with respectable GPAs.

MichaelJMaier said...

"I had the lowest GPA of all the male freshman on campus." ALL?

OK, how can you possibly do that unintentionally?

buzzardist said...

Well, that, and the fact that there was no party held by that fraternity that night, and the fact that there was no one in the fraternity who worked at the aquatic center where the woman claimed to have met her date for the night, and the fact that the guy who did work at the aquatic center who is the most likely person she's pointing a finger at says he vaguely knew who she was, but never went on a date with her, and the detail that she was led into a dark room and raped, and yet was able to visually identify her attackers, and...yeah, the whole story is just a fantastic mess.

But, hey, when these women have concocted a rape culture in their minds, they have to concoct rapes as big and as scary as that menace in their minds.

The big question now is whether or not the UVA president will be forced to resign. A blanket suspension of all Greek organizations following an allegation that turned out to be risibly false can't sit well with the many, many deep-pocketed alumni donors who were Greek members themselves. University presidents don't survive revolts by alumni donors.

VD said...

ALL?

Apparently.

OK, how can you possibly do that unintentionally?

You party very hard, 7 days a week. I had ZERO desire to succeed in engineering after the first week of classes.

MichaelJMaier said...

Well, at least you were dedicated.

ON topic:so she got drunk, blew three guys, decided after the fact it was rape and has been playing for sympathy for two years.

Then Rolling Stone contacts her: "Cool! National fame!"

Now she's going to be "Lewinsky"'d by any man with a brain.

Anonymous said...

Being "violated" by a beer bottle and not seeking medical attention still strikes me as a rather dubious piece of the story.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I had ZERO desire to succeed in engineering after the first week of classes.

Heh, that sounds familiar. Wish I'd had the sense to bail out right then and try to get some of my money back.

Ghost said...

There was a story at heartiste a while ago about this girl cheating on her boyfriend with like 12 vibrant fellows. She cried rape at first, too. So the vibrants posted the video.

Robert What? said...

I think that what it boils down to is that "Jackie", assuming she actually exists, is a very disturbed young woman.

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