The Last Cosby Defenders Throw In The Towel

[Surya Gayatri]

It’s hard to believe that there could be new developments in the Bill Cosby story, considering that the alleged rapes happened years, often decades ago, but here we are: The Associated Press managed to get a court to release documents, despite Cosby’s lawyers fighting them tooth and nail, that reveal that Cosby admitted to premeditated drugging of women for sex. The documents, from a 2005 lawsuit from one of his alleged victims, show that Cosby admitted to buying Quaaludes for this purpose in the past and to drugging at least one woman with three half-pills of Benadryl.

So what does this mean? Since the alleged rapes largely happened so long ago that the statute of limitations has passed, the only real relevance of these new details is in the court of public opinion. Even though more than 30 women have accused Cosby, a huge number of Americans have either defended Cosby or remained skeptical about his guilt. Will this new revelation, which basically amounts to a confession, change their minds?

This deep unwillingness to listen to women and tendency to take a man’s word over a woman’s even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary is a chronic problem when it comes to sexual violence, even when we’re not talking about famous men like Bill Cosby. As RAINN analysis shows, there’s a felony conviction in only 5 percent of rape cases. That is well beyond “innocent until proven guilty” and shows that eyewitness testimony is simply disregarded in rape cases to an extent that isn’t true in all other crimes. Fixing this situation requires everyone—not just cops and judges, but ordinary Americans who might sit a jury one day—to rethink our attitudes towards rape accusations.

As cynical as I can be about these things, it’s also undeniable that decades of feminist work on these issues has raised awareness and has made it easier for victims to come forward with some assurance of being believed. This case has already seen one sign of progress. Even people who are skeptical about the allegations admit that if he did do it, that was indeed rape. A couple of decades ago that might not have been the case. Certainly there’s enough cultural evidence to suggest that even as late as the ‘80s, a lot of people didn’t really consider it rape to attack women in this way. Fast forward to recent years, when the national attitudes after the Steubenville rape case showed that people had really come around to the idea that attacking a drunk or passed out woman is criminal, not just boys being boys.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/new-cosby-revelations-quaaludes

______________________

Excellent read - much more at link.

[Novara]

1. Goddammit, report it correctly

Drugging people so they can't consent is RAPE, not sex.

[restorefreedom]

17. they have been doing it all day on msm

calling it sex

pissing me right off. why are they afraid to use the word rape?

[Stuart G]

2. This one short disclosure is all there is

Every word Cosby or his lawyers have ever said about this issue is lie.

[Surya Gayatri]

3. Damn the statute of limitations. There shouldn't be one on rape.

I'd like to see his lying ass in front of an all female jury...

[Stuart G]

4. Yes, what a story...And hundreds of thousands of people..believed him and his lawyers.

He is finally proven to be, what he really is...a serial rapist.

[exboyfil]

5. Same thing Roman Polanski did

with an underage child. Still he has defenders and he travels freely in Europe.

Both of them should be behind bars.

[Stardust]

6. Why Cosby would ever admit these things completely baffles me. eom

[realFedUp]

10. To perhaps halfway save his soul?

Coz on earth, he's toast, no matter his facade.

[Stardust]

13. It won't surprise me if he "checks out."

[markpkessinger]

7. Cosby was white America's black mascot . . .

. . . a 'pet' whom they could hold up for themselves as an exemplar of what a 'respectable' African American male should be, and by which, paradoxically, many justified their own biases against African American males who didn't conform to his black-man-made-safe-for-white-consumption image.

[Surya Gayatri]

8. ^^^This!^^^

The "token" black success story.

[Skittles]

16. I always thought he was a creep

[uponit7771]

18. +1

[KamaAina]

9. Not quite.

Whoopi Goldberg soldiers on.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026948301

[Surya Gayatri]

11. Delusion dies hard...he was surely one of her major heros.

[realFedUp]

12. I really don't understand her stand

Although through viewing the show, she's not that intelligent.

[Omaha Steve]

14. If I had been on a jury for this

I believed this a long time ago. K&R!

OS

[Avalux]

15. Cosby's legacy will be as a serial rapist, probably the most well-known and prolific.

After all his work with kids and playing a funny, great guy - none of that will matter when he's dead and buried.