What is my stake here? I assume by using the word "stake" in this context thatyou are referring to the definition consistent with emotional or personal concern. Going along with that definition, I would say that I have several stakes.
1. I want to uncover the truth and help others uncover the truth in the Duke Lacrosse case. I have spent hundreds of hours reading, researching, and discussing this case with others. While I know a lot of facts, I am still finding new facts that I was not aware of. I am also finding a great deal of misconceptions about what happened that are based on unsubstantiated rumor and innuendo that has been passed as fact. This case does have some complex aspects and does appear to have been an actual conspiracy to convict three innocent young men. As a result of the conspiracy, a lot of lies were passed to the media as fact and were reported as fact. Many of these lies are only now coming to light as evidence from the case and various trials are made public through the Freedom of Information Act.
2. I want to see justice served to the 3 young men falsely accused, to the real victims of sexual assault, to the general public, and to those who commited unjust acts in this case. I believe that justice can only be served by attempting to view the facts of the case outside the context of any underlying social, political, or personal agendas other than seeking the truth wherever that may lead. One of the greatest injustices was how the reputations of the Duke Lacrosse players were viciously and falsely maligned through the media. I also feel that those who refuse to aknowlege that this was was a complete fraud from the get go in a belief that it will help future victims of sexual assault by doing so is a great injustice. In fact I think that it actually hurts those future victims, because it is like the little boy who cried wolf. It erodes the credibility of these people and the causes they attempt to represent. This is especially true with people as prominent as Ms. Ream.
3. I beleive that our justice system in the US is the best in the world, but has it's flaws. One of the most serious flaws in my opinion is that the justice system too often abuses innocent citizens. Our system is based upon the principle that it is better for many guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be unjustly punished. We have numerous checks and balances to help circumvent this happening. One of the most important is the principle of innocent until proven guilty. However in the Duke case many of these checks and balances were undermined, circumvented, or just failed to be not work sufficiently. In the end, it was a very close call for that the young men did not wind up falsely convicted. That is a lengthy story, and I will relate it you wish. I beleive that the fact that this case became a public "witch hunt" with the players presumed guilty until proven innocnet contributed highly to the abuses in the case. Many appear to have taken this case and used it to promote their own agendas by promoting the guilty until proven innocent mentality. In fact, it appears that some still are either conciously or subconsciously doing so. Many article such as Ms. Ream's have been written based upon "facts" which when fully researched prove not to be true at all. To what I can personally contribute to correcting those lies and pointing out how our justice system should work as well as some of the flaws in it that need correcting.
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Re: at the risk of seeming self important
Date: 2007-07-08 07:46 pm (UTC)1. I want to uncover the truth and help others uncover the truth in the Duke Lacrosse case. I have spent hundreds of hours reading, researching, and discussing this case with others. While I know a lot of facts, I am still finding new facts that I was not aware of. I am also finding a great deal of misconceptions about what happened that are based on unsubstantiated rumor and innuendo that has been passed as fact. This case does have some complex aspects and does appear to have been an actual conspiracy to convict three innocent young men. As a result of the conspiracy, a lot of lies were passed to the media as fact and were reported as fact. Many of these lies are only now coming to light as evidence from the case and various trials are made public through the Freedom of Information Act.
2. I want to see justice served to the 3 young men falsely accused, to the real victims of sexual assault, to the general public, and to those who commited unjust acts in this case. I believe that justice can only be served by attempting to view the facts of the case outside the context of any underlying social, political, or personal agendas other than seeking the truth wherever that may lead. One of the greatest injustices was how the reputations of the Duke Lacrosse players were viciously and falsely maligned through the media. I also feel that those who refuse to aknowlege that this was was a complete fraud from the get go in a belief that it will help future victims of sexual assault by doing so is a great injustice. In fact I think that it actually hurts those future victims, because it is like the little boy who cried wolf. It erodes the credibility of these people and the causes they attempt to represent. This is especially true with people as prominent as Ms. Ream.
3. I beleive that our justice system in the US is the best in the world, but has it's flaws. One of the most serious flaws in my opinion is that the justice system too often abuses innocent citizens. Our system is based upon the principle that it is better for many guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be unjustly punished. We have numerous checks and balances to help circumvent this happening. One of the most important is the principle of innocent until proven guilty. However in the Duke case many of these checks and balances were undermined, circumvented, or just failed to be not work sufficiently. In the end, it was a very close call for that the young men did not wind up falsely convicted. That is a lengthy story, and I will relate it you wish. I beleive that the fact that this case became a public "witch hunt" with the players presumed guilty until proven innocnet contributed highly to the abuses in the case. Many appear to have taken this case and used it to promote their own agendas by promoting the guilty until proven innocent mentality. In fact, it appears that some still are either conciously or subconsciously doing so. Many article such as Ms. Ream's have been written based upon "facts" which when fully researched prove not to be true at all. To what I can personally contribute to correcting those lies and pointing out how our justice system should work as well as some of the flaws in it that need correcting.