So, late this afternoon I'm killing time waiting for the person on the other end of the line to answer the phone, and I'm scrolling through Google News when I see the news that a Nevada woman has filed a civil suit against Ben Roethlisberger, accusing him of raping her, and several employees at the hotel where she worked of defaming her.
Ah, jeez. I seriously wanted to un-read that. Because Ben (sorry, I'm not going to type his last name over and over) is one of my favorite football players, I really, really don't want to think he's capable of this. I'm reserving judgment - as we all should do - about his guilt or innocence. It's so completely way too early to be arguing that. However, several other aspects of this news are incredibly disturbing.
- For starters, ESPN.com's refusal to report something that Sports Illustrated, the New York Times and the Associated Press have already broken is shameful. I don't want to hear about ESPN's alleged policy of not reporting on civil suits. This is the network that gave us wall-to-wall coverage of unsubstantiated suicide attempts by TO and Vince Young (which also proved to be unfounded). At this moment, a story about Steve McNair's blood-alcohol content at the time of his murder is posted as a top story. It was actually the Web site ProFootballTalk.com that first reported the story, and which is now claiming that ESPN went as far as issuing a "do not report" order. Bullshit, ESPN. Total bullshit.
- For that matter, I'm deeply disappointed in FootballOutsiders.com, one of my favorite Web sites. Earlier this afternoon, a comment on an unrelated post asked why the Ben lawsuit wasn't being posted. I can't link to it because the post itself - not just the OT comment - has been removed. Chickenshit, FO. Total chickenshit.
- Do not under any circumstances read the comments to any of the blogs currently reporting on the lawsuit, including PFT's various posts and TMZ, which both posted pictures of Ben's accuser. (In a civil rape lawsuit, the alleged victim's identity is not protected as it usually would be in a criminal case.) Sadly, and predictably, we get a lot of comments criticizing the woman's appearance. News flash, you ignorant fucks - sexual assault is about power, not sex. That's why 80-year-old women get raped. Just because you personally don't think she's attractive doesn't mean she's un-rapeable. Dumbasses.
- The woman's reported failure to file criminal charges is really less of a measure of truth than you might think. Only about 10 percent of sexual assaults are reported to law enforcement at any point. As I've written here before, the hoops that rape victims must jump through - including an ER exam with 72 hours of the assault - dissuade a lot of victims from acting. Further, it's not unusual at all for police to encourage an alleged sexual assault victim to file a suit in civil court, where the evidentiary burden is lower than in criminal court. Of course, that means that the woman bears all of the responsibility (and costs), but it frees law enforcement from taking on cases that are difficult to investigate and all but imposible to prosecute successfully. The fact that it's taken her a year to file suit has very little to do with the veracity of her claim.
- That said, it's ridiculously easy to file a lawsuit against someone. Not remotely a proof of guilt.
- I'm sorry, I'm still mad at ESPN. Not that I want one of my favorite players' life to turn into a media circus, but...... damn, folks. This is news. I may not like it, but it's news. And the leading sports news network has an obligation to report on it. I like Ben. But the fact that he's likeable shouldn't let him off the hook.
I say again....... Jeez. I don't have the words to tell how badly I want this to be proven, beyond any doubt, totally untrue.
No comments:
Post a Comment