Shades of Gray
Alana Horowitz Stalin, Senior Editor of “Breaking
News” at HuffPost, tell us Ted
Cruz Defends Nominee Who Blamed Women For Sexual Assault. Quite the norm
of typical partisan political journalism. No, Cruz did not promote blaming
women for sexual assault.[i] The
nominee[ii]
did not blame women for sexual assault. Someone dug up an op-ed piece that
Neomi Rao wrote about parties, drunkenness, and rape while a student at Yale. Rao did not
retract or contradict what she wrote, though she said she regretted “any
implication of blaming the victim” – because she was not “blaming the victim.” The
nominee told a Senate Judiciary Committee that she was trying to make a common
sense observation – “perhaps not in the most elegant way” – that excessive
drinking can lead to risky and dangerous behaviour.[iii]
That is a truism. Regardless of however “inelegantly” one might make that point, it should not be denied. “Any student that drinks to the point of
getting drunk and losing control risks being a victim.” Advising the avoidance
of risky behaviour that could help avoid problems is not “blaming the victim.”
It is good advice that can be applied in any number of circumstances that have
nothing to do with sexual assault. The perpetrator of any crime is always the
one who is to blame for the crime. Rao clearly stated, “A man who rapes a drunk
girl should be prosecuted.”
“Shades
of Gray” is the piece Neomi Rao wrote for The Yale Herald, October 14, 1994. Click on the link; read and
judge it for yourself rather than depending on select quotes by folks with an agenda
unrelated to what Neomi Rao meant.
[i] Cruz said, “I have two
daughters. I certainly intend to give them the advice not to drink to excess.
And it is unquestionably true that any student that drinks to the points of
getting drunk and losing control risks being a victim, risks being vulnerable.”
[iii] Unfortunately, common
sense isn’t all that common. Mix that with partisan politics trying to get one
over on the other side, and none are able to mean what they meant.
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