I don’t know if you are aware but Pocket Book/Threshold Editions is about to publish It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the Lives It Shattered by Don Yaeger, with Mike Pressler. I have attached the cover image and the press release of our upcoming publication. I would love to send you copies of the book when it becomes available; I just finished it and still cannot believe what I have read! There is so much more to this case then has been released, that is covered in this book.

At this time our pub date for It’s Not About the Truth is 6/12. All marketing, online, and publicity efforts will kick off that week. I just thought you would like a “heads up” about our publication. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me back.

Regards,

Barry

I wanted to add something to my last note. I’ve been a bit blinded by how hard this case has been hitting me, and forgetting that it’s hitting other people equally hard in other ways.

There are so many threads that I believe get tied together neatly by the hypothesis that the accuser reported what she felt happened as best as she could.

It hits a lot of buttons for me… mental health issues being treated as personal faults, people assuming the worst of rape victims, the impossibility of explaining some possibilities that seem both as clear as day, and really important, to me, etc..

It’s been frustrating, and I’ve also been having a hard time remembering that it’s just as frustrating for a lot of folks. And I’ve been over-reacting to stuff, and I’m sorry about that.

The practice of not giving the names of rape victims isn’t legislated. It’s just considered best professional practice among journalists.

Well, yes, genius, that was my point. That’s why I argue that people shouldn’t speculate.

You raised the possibility, and discussed different possible scenarios. I saw that as speculation, and that is what triggered what I had to say about this thread about the matter.

As for the other bit, I did misunderstand you with respect to names being splashed over the media, and I’m sorry for getting snarky there. I see no way to prevent reporting without legislation, and with legislation, an unjustly accused person has lost a valuable potential source of publicity. I can’t judge whether newspaper coverage helped or hindered the defendents in this case, but there was a great deal of anger regarding Nifong’s behavior that would have been avoided had it not been in the news, and the cases might have quietly gone to trial, instead of being dismissed. At the very least, it would have resulted in a much higher financial burden for the defendents.

[BTW, if you are interested, here is the chart I was talking about --

-- maha]

Relative to what, though? My reading of the chart says that the odds of anyone being attacked by someone of another race is considerably lower than being attacked by someone of the same race, and that’s true for blacks and whites both.

I am relatively tall when compared to Robert Reich, but at 5′4″ I’m not all that tall compared to the population as a whole. So it’s not a terribly useful comparison. Neither is yours.

“yet people still are fixated on black-on-white violence”

Argument from assertion. What data do you have to back this up?

I don’t need data. I have 55 years of living in the real world and observing human nature. And do keep reading.

Could it be, as I’ve shown, that it’s much more common than it’s opposite?

My reading of the chart says it’s somewhat more common than its opposite and way less common that violence between people of the same race.

“on the other hand, women are getting assaulted and slaughtered wholesale”

Non sequitur, much?

Not on this planet, since my post is as much if not more directly addressing violence against women than violence against whites or blacks. But, true to form, you brush aside the gender situation and fixate on the racial issue. People do have a tendency to ignore gender issues regarding violence and instead zoom in on racial issues, especially black-on-white violence. Thanks for proving my point.

I don’t recall mentioning this subject, or contesting the undeniable fact that men kill women more often than women kill men.

No, you didn’t, but you were commenting on the post I wrote, and I was gently bringing you back to the bleeping topic. And you will stay on topic in the future, buster, or you’ll be deleted.

“yet people still are fixated on black-on-white violence”

Argument from assertion. What data do you have to back this up? Could it be, as I’ve shown, that it’s much more common than it’s opposite?

“on the other hand, women are getting assaulted and slaughtered wholesale”

Non sequitur, much? I don’t recall mentioning this subject, or contesting the undeniable fact that men kill women more often than women kill men.