dagblog - Comments for "Rape Apologists, Elite Apologists Or Something Else?"

I believe BHL and DSK see

Doctor Cleveland — Fri, 20 May 2011 02:48:10 +0000

In reply to Rape Apologists, Elite Apologists Or Something Else?

I believe BHL and DSK see themselves as libertines. Every sexual harasser and all of his buddies see themselves as libertines.

It's from the outside, especially from the perspective of the women they're thrusting themselves upon, that they look like aggressors and boors.

The great fantasy about Strauss-Kahn (that his fans in the French elite cannot relinquish) is that he is, and I quote, a "great seducer." But when it doesn't matter what the woman wants, that is not seduction. Strauss-Kahn is a coercer who believes himself irresistable. But the women he sleeps with lack the power to resist him, not the wish.

At which point I think we

Michael Maiello — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:51:27 +0000

In reply to But he is accused of a crime,

At which point I think we have to have a much more important and larger discussion about how we as a society treat people who have been accused of crimes. His current situation and the situation of other accused criminals, hardly puts him on even footing with the prosecution.

But he is accused of a crime,

artappraiser — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:46:34 +0000

In reply to Rape Apologists, Elite Apologists Or Something Else?

But he is accused of a crime, not of being a libertine. It's really that simple, destor.

If you confuse his libertine behavior with the crime accusation, you are doing the same thing that you are complaining that uptight squares do, bringing his whole life into "trial" by public opinion about standards of behavior. He may indeed be innocent and is just a libertine. But right now he's accused of a crime.

Yeah, me too, Destor, or his

we are stardust — Thu, 19 May 2011 01:06:55 +0000

In reply to As much as I keep wanting to

Yeah, me too, Destor, or his lawyer allegedly saying in defense, "If there was sex, it was consensual'. A big 'Uh-oh' moment, if true. Still....the direction he was taking the IMF was a sea-change, according to Stiglitz.

I'm really not sure we need

quinn esq — Thu, 19 May 2011 00:27:58 +0000

In reply to As much as I keep wanting to

I'm really not sure we need to drag the libertines into this.

After all, we already got the Socialists AND the French.

Let's not get carried away.

As much as I keep wanting to

Michael Maiello — Thu, 19 May 2011 00:12:00 +0000

In reply to I keep wanting to presume the

As much as I keep wanting to assume his innocence (that's my bias with most accused criminals) I'm having a problem with a defense that evolved from "I wasn't there when that went down," to "she gave consent."

I keep wanting to presume the

acanuck — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:11:23 +0000

In reply to You get a better picture when

I keep wanting to presume the guy's innocence, but then I realize that what's going through Banon's mind is almost certainly that if she'd spoken up years ago, he might not have been in a position to commit any further aggressions. So on top of her own suffering, she has the added burden of guilt over what happened to the chambermaid. Pretty damn awful.

You get a better picture when

Obey — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:39:33 +0000

In reply to An interesting angle, but I

You get a better picture when you know who Tristine Banon is:

She is the daughter of Anne Mansouret, a regional politician in France. Mansouret said on French radio - Aujourd’hui, je regrette d’avoir dissuadé ma fille de porter plainte contre DSK, je porte une lourde responsabilité. Après les faits, on a discuté, beaucoup parlé. Et finalement, elle a décidé, on a décidé, de ne pas lancer de procédure. Vous savez ma fille était très mal, mais Tristane est la filleule de la seconde femme de Dominique. C’était délicat pour des raisons familiales et amicales. Ce que je peux vous dire, c’est que ma fille, malgré les années qui passent, est toujours bouleversée par ces faits. Cette nuit, je suis allée la voir à Paris pour la réconforter. C’est très dur pour elle

Roughly - today I regret disuading my daughter from pressing charges against Strauss Kahn, I bear a great deal of blame. After the events, we discussed alot. And finally she decided, or we decided, not to press charges. You see, my daughter felt terrible, but she is the goddaughter of Strauss Kahn's second wife Dominique. It was delicate because of family and friendship relationships. What i can tell you is that my daughter, despite the years that have passed, is still affected by what happened. This night I went to see her in Paris to comfort her. It is very difficult for her.

So what you have is quasi-incest, aided by family members worried about making waves, and also about inevitable poltical repercussions on the mother's career.

if you hear Banon's version of events, it was apparently very physically violent.

I once hung out with one of the DSK-BHL gang from Paris. We had to physically drag him out of a club to keep him from getting violent with a girl who refused his advances. Fucking nutter. Now I see where he got it from...

An interesting angle, but I

Michael Wolraich — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:15:39 +0000

In reply to Rape Apologists, Elite Apologists Or Something Else?

An interesting angle, but I don't think that this is a story of an innocent hedonist who went off the rails.

Henry-Levi paints Strauss-Kahn as a victim of his celebrity--a good man vilified by haters who want to tear him down because of envy, profit, politics, and piety.

But I'm struck by the opposite. Strauss-Kahn seems like a man who has long escaped censure because of his stature. As Tristine Banon, his victim back in 2002, explained, "I didn't wish to be the girl who had a problem with a politician for the rest of my life."

The New York Times, hardly one of the tabloids Henry-Levi disdained, quoted IMF staff claiming that Strauss-Kahn, far from receiving special scrutiny, survived the investigation of his affair with an underling because he was essentially too big to fail.

Of course the facts aren't all in, but if Strauss-Kahn's accusers can be believed, he has been "off the rails" for a while now, and he has been able to get away with it for so long because of his power and celebrity. If he is now being cut by the other edge of that sword, I'm tempted to write it up a just desserts.

PS I'll stand by the hedonists when they're not being accused of sexual assault.