I fear that there is some truth in this parody. He’s probably going to walk away from both trials without a conviction. Innocent until proven guilty and all that but there have been almost 20 women alleging the same kind of violent behaviour on his part. Oh well, at least he’s going to pay big time fees for his freedom and his broadcasting/celebrity career is surely permanently trashed. Remember O.J. Simpson?
Obviously the first two complainants weren’t that traumatized. They didn’t tell Ghomeshi to stop hurting them, they didn’t walk out on him immediately, or call the police. After he hurt them, they even sent him lurid e-mails saying they wanted to get together with him again! Ghomeshi’s no saint, but these women are either pretty dumb or else they feel they’ve been used and want to get even with him for subsequently ignoring them. Like they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned….
Oh it’s far from obvious. On the contrary, the continued contact, apparent confusion, failure to remove oneself immediately from the circumstances are all entirely consistent with what the complainants say took place, and are certainly consistent with being “that traumatized”. Violence in a domestic or sexual context often produces results that are a forensic nightmare for a trained and experienced investigator to compile and interpret, let alone for arm-chair quarterbacks reading Twitter feeds and media reports. Ghomeshi is getting the defense he deserves and can afford — the glory of the English Law and all that. But that’s what Ms. Henein is producing – a defense, not the unalloyed truth of the matter. If that is to come out at all, it is at great pains and it may or may not survive judicial scrutiny. That’s the system, but we have to try. Sorry for the buzzkill on a funny site, but every time these stereotypes about how sexual assault or domestic assault victims “should” behave get trotted out it makes it that much harder to get the next person to come forward.
Alrighty then. How do we know if the complainants were truly so traumatized they had to wait 12 years to do something about their trauma – or if they are just so angry about being scorned that going to court is their attempt at revenge? Why didn’t all the women he beat up go to court, too? Not scorned enough? Or maybe they wised up and grew up. How come all these women can still walk, talk & chew gum? You would think he had thrown them down the stairs and stomped on their heads with both feet.
The legal theory is that human memory accurately records all relevant detail at all times. Hence showing inconsistencies and omissions in recall is supposed to prove that the witness is unreliable. Fact one: Human memory is not a video recorder. Fact two: Under stress, your attention narrows, so that you miss and forget most of what’s going on. When you recall an event, you don’t play back a recording, you construct a plausible story from the fragments of memory. You fill in the missing bits, and every time you recall the event, you fill in the bits differently. So of course a smart lawyer can poke holes in witness testimony. So what? Most people that read these screeds could do the same. That doesn’t mean that nothing evil happened, only that the victim has poor recall of exactly what happened.
@barryt: So, based on what you are saying, these women who have accused Ghomeshi of hurting them (and note that they had consensual sex with him AFTER they say they were slapped, choked, or had their hair pulled) are entitled to think and say “poor me, pity me, woe is me, I was a helpless victim”? What garbage! Women like that do a lot to set back the cause of women’s liberation. I have no sympathy at all for those silly women.
Jian
My name is Jian
I work on the second floor
I work upstairs from you
Yes I think you’ve seen me before
If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble
Some kind of fight
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was
I think it’s cuz I’m from Iran
I try not to be too brown.
Maybe it’s because I’m crazy
Big Ears always wears that frown.
I’ll only hit until you cry
Later on Henein asks why
I just don’t argue anymore
I just don’t argue anymore
I just don’t argue anymore
Yes I think that it’s okay
Consent defence will win the day
Well, if you ask that’s what I’ll say
And it’s not your business anyway
I guess I’d like to be alone
With ball-gags broken, bitches thrown
Just don’t ask me how I am
Just don’t ask me how I am
Just don’t ask me how I am
Huzzah, sir! (or Madame, as the case may be)….Huzzah I say!
Almost forgot. My humble apologies to Suzanne Vega. No Jian intended.
I hear Johnny Cochran from beyond the grave: “If it’s a consensual hit, you must acquit!”
Henein may have a reputation for ruthlessness, but up to now she hasn’t been whacking the complainants so much as simply giving them enough rope to hang themselves with.
I fear that there is some truth in this parody. He’s probably going to walk away from both trials without a conviction. Innocent until proven guilty and all that but there have been almost 20 women alleging the same kind of violent behaviour on his part. Oh well, at least he’s going to pay big time fees for his freedom and his broadcasting/celebrity career is surely permanently trashed. Remember O.J. Simpson?
Obviously the first two complainants weren’t that traumatized. They didn’t tell Ghomeshi to stop hurting them, they didn’t walk out on him immediately, or call the police. After he hurt them, they even sent him lurid e-mails saying they wanted to get together with him again! Ghomeshi’s no saint, but these women are either pretty dumb or else they feel they’ve been used and want to get even with him for subsequently ignoring them. Like they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned….
Oh it’s far from obvious. On the contrary, the continued contact, apparent confusion, failure to remove oneself immediately from the circumstances are all entirely consistent with what the complainants say took place, and are certainly consistent with being “that traumatized”. Violence in a domestic or sexual context often produces results that are a forensic nightmare for a trained and experienced investigator to compile and interpret, let alone for arm-chair quarterbacks reading Twitter feeds and media reports. Ghomeshi is getting the defense he deserves and can afford — the glory of the English Law and all that. But that’s what Ms. Henein is producing – a defense, not the unalloyed truth of the matter. If that is to come out at all, it is at great pains and it may or may not survive judicial scrutiny. That’s the system, but we have to try. Sorry for the buzzkill on a funny site, but every time these stereotypes about how sexual assault or domestic assault victims “should” behave get trotted out it makes it that much harder to get the next person to come forward.
Alrighty then. How do we know if the complainants were truly so traumatized they had to wait 12 years to do something about their trauma – or if they are just so angry about being scorned that going to court is their attempt at revenge? Why didn’t all the women he beat up go to court, too? Not scorned enough? Or maybe they wised up and grew up. How come all these women can still walk, talk & chew gum? You would think he had thrown them down the stairs and stomped on their heads with both feet.
The legal theory is that human memory accurately records all relevant detail at all times. Hence showing inconsistencies and omissions in recall is supposed to prove that the witness is unreliable. Fact one: Human memory is not a video recorder. Fact two: Under stress, your attention narrows, so that you miss and forget most of what’s going on. When you recall an event, you don’t play back a recording, you construct a plausible story from the fragments of memory. You fill in the missing bits, and every time you recall the event, you fill in the bits differently. So of course a smart lawyer can poke holes in witness testimony. So what? Most people that read these screeds could do the same. That doesn’t mean that nothing evil happened, only that the victim has poor recall of exactly what happened.
@barryt: So, based on what you are saying, these women who have accused Ghomeshi of hurting them (and note that they had consensual sex with him AFTER they say they were slapped, choked, or had their hair pulled) are entitled to think and say “poor me, pity me, woe is me, I was a helpless victim”? What garbage! Women like that do a lot to set back the cause of women’s liberation. I have no sympathy at all for those silly women.
Jian
My name is Jian
I work on the second floor
I work upstairs from you
Yes I think you’ve seen me before
If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble
Some kind of fight
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was
I think it’s cuz I’m from Iran
I try not to be too brown.
Maybe it’s because I’m crazy
Big Ears always wears that frown.
I’ll only hit until you cry
Later on Henein asks why
I just don’t argue anymore
I just don’t argue anymore
I just don’t argue anymore
Yes I think that it’s okay
Consent defence will win the day
Well, if you ask that’s what I’ll say
And it’s not your business anyway
I guess I’d like to be alone
With ball-gags broken, bitches thrown
Just don’t ask me how I am
Just don’t ask me how I am
Just don’t ask me how I am
Huzzah, sir! (or Madame, as the case may be)….Huzzah I say!
Almost forgot. My humble apologies to Suzanne Vega. No Jian intended.
I hear Johnny Cochran from beyond the grave: “If it’s a consensual hit, you must acquit!”
Henein may have a reputation for ruthlessness, but up to now she hasn’t been whacking the complainants so much as simply giving them enough rope to hang themselves with.