Not libel, just 'bad social etiquette'
George Galloway's legal pursuit of NUS is a foolish extension of a distasteful argument
Thursday 11 October 2012 | 12:37:09 UTC
The Journal Edinburgh Issue 62
... The remarks central to this row, regarding accusations of rape levelled against the Wikileaks founder, were grotesque: Mr Galloway argued in a video posted online that Mr Assange’s alleged crime — that he had sex with a sleeping woman — was not rape at all, but merely “bad sexual etiquette”.
That position is utterly indefensible. There should be no reasonable doubt that consent cannot be given while asleep, and that having sex with someone who is asleep is rape. Mr Galloway’s bumbling attempt to argue that if you are “already in the sex game” with someone you are released from the moral and legal obligation to seek consent is morally repugnant and an intellectual dead end ...
If Mr Galloway feels personally slighted by being branded a “rape denier” — and it is easy to see why he might take offence — it is unclear what he expects to gain from a defamation suit. Even a swift and decisive legal victory is unlikely to change anyone’s perspective on either this case or Mr Galloway generally. In essence this latest outburst feels like nothing more than another public tantrum from a notoriously tempestuous man ...
... Mr Galloway’s remarks, whether malice or mis-speech, were deeply offensive and he should apologise. His legal challenge is a petulant waste of everyone’s time: he should abandon it immediately, accept (as he should have by now, given his storied and controversial career) that people will often disagree with him, and get back to focusing on his role as a public servant.
http://www.journal-online.co.uk/article/9349-editorial-not-libel-just-bad-social-etiquette
