Reply #45: everyone is entitled to their own viewpoint but... [View All]

[amazona]

...not everyone is going to just say, "OK, it's cool that you write off Sharpton because of Tawana Brawley." People are going to respond -- I would hope politely - but they are going to respond.

Many people seem unaware of the huge amount of official corruption in the 1980s. It was not at all unusual for police officers to refuse to investigate rapes and even shootings. In that kind of environment, an attitude sprang up, summed up by the statement, "I believe the children." When a child or a woman came forward with a story of outrage and violation, the inclination of many good people was to believe them, even if the story was incredible. And there were MANY injustices committed during that era of hysteria, a great many. Anyone who was at all active in women's or children's rape issues made some mistakes and sided with some victims who, as it turned out, weren't really victims. That's what hysteria is.

If Tawana Brawley had come to me, I don't doubt for a minute that I would have believed her story and tried to get justice for her. I just get the impression that Sharpton was honestly taken in. Even a highly intelligent person can be conned. I will be the first to admit that *I* have been conned. The only people who haven't been conned are people who have never opened their heart in the first place. I also have the impression that Sharpton is still not 100 percent sure of exactly what happened to Brawley and why she exaggerated, created, and/or retracted her story.

Everyone has baggage. But if a man's baggage is that he opened his heart and was too credulous in believing a young woman who seemed to be injured...is that such a terrible strike against him?