Rock trio pulled from festival lineup for drummer’s support of Stanford rapist

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

http://www.avclub.com/article/rock-trio-pulled-festival-lineup-drummers-support--237879

If you’ve been paying any attention to the news and/or social media over the past few days, you probably already know the name Brock Turner. If not, here’s a refresher: Turner is a 20-year-old Stanford student recently convicted of raping a 23-year-old woman as she lay unconscious behind a dumpster after a party last January. Turner was convicted of three counts of felony sexual assault, but the judge, Aaron Persky, let Turner off with an absurdly light six-month sentence—of which he’ll reportedly only serve a few months in a county jail—out of concern for the “severe impact” a long jail sentence might have on the poor boy’s future. And people are pissed.

The victim released a powerful statement on the “severe impact” she experienced last week, which was followed by a jaw-dropping statement from Turner’s father about how his son just doesn’t have the happy-go-lucky attitude he used to now that he’s a fucking rapist. Then there was a statement from one of Turner’s lifelong friends, Leslie Rasmussen, which basically blames the whole thing on political correctness gone wild. In the letter, Rasmussen defends Turner’s character, asserting he’s “not a monster” and was “always the sweetest to everyone.” She adds:

I don’t think it’s fair to base the fate of the next ten + years of his life on the decision of a girl who doesn’t remember anything but the amount she drank to press charges against him. I am not blaming her directly for this, because that isn’t right. But where do we draw the line and stop worrying about being politically correct every second of the day and see that rape on campuses isn’t always because people are rapists.

This is completely different from a woman getting kidnapped and raped as she is walking to her car in a parking lot. That is a rapist. These are not rapists. These are idiot boys and girls having too much to drink and not being aware of their surroundings and having clouded judgement.

[lame54]

1. Get a new drummer and tell everybody...

the old one spontaneously combusted

[melman]

2. It's a group of three sisters

That probably complicates things.

[lame54]

4. Women can't spontaneous combust?...

that's pretty exist don't ya think?

[Orrex]

7. Exism is indeed alive and well on DU

We openly discriminate in favor of people who exist versus people who do not.

[lame54]

9. I see what you did there...

gotta check my threads better before posting

[Orrex]

11. Only total jerks call people out for their typos.

[Dr. Strange]

17. Well, so what?

What's wrong with being exy?

[Initech]

3. Or choked on his own vomit.

[Initech]

5. The comments are hilarious.

[scscholar]

6. Good, and more needs to be done to Standford...

for what they have done. Banning them from post-season play in football would be appropriate. Nailing other sports too would further drive home the point that supporting rape is no longer acceptable.

[FrodosPet]

14. Imagine if a co-worker in a different subsidiary committed rape

Should YOU be fired because of it?

Brock Turner needs his life destroyed the way his victim had hers destroyed.

But wide reaching collective punishment is ALWAYS bullshit.

[cyberswede]

8. "rape on campuses isn’t always because people are rapists"...WTF?

The amount of denial needed to claim something like that is shocking.

[Orrex]

10. "I am not blaming her directly for this..."

But where do we draw the line and stop worrying about being politically correct every second of the day and see that rape on campuses isn’t always because people are rapists.

Actually, it's exactly because people are rapists, insofar as rape is committed by rapists more or less by definition.

As for drawing the line, well, how about we draw the line at "don't rape people!" instead of the current "how can we blame this on the victim" approach?

[KamaAina]

12. "She adds:"

She?!

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

16. Yeah, how about them apples?

[KamaAina]

13. Did you hear the one about the band that locked themselves out of their van?

It took them 45 minutes to get the drummer out!

[ProfessorGAC]

19. How Appropriate That Joke Is, in This Case!

One more for you:
What's the difference between a trombone player and a dead raccoon on the road?

The raccoon may have been on the way to a gig!

[jmg257]

15. Maybe she should be a tap dancer instead of a drummer..

Her defense of herself:

"Brock Turner was tried and rightfully convicted of sexual assault. I realize that this crime caused enormous pain for the victim. I don’t condone, support, or sympathize with the offense or the offender. I was asked by a court in California to provide a character statement as a standard and necessary part of the sentencing process."


compared with her letter to the judge:

"I'm sure she and Brock had been flirting at this party and decided to leave together. Just as they did she passes out...At the same time Brock, having a few too many drinks himself, is not completely in control of his emotions. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that alcohol increases emotions and feelings. I think this is all a huge misunderstanding..I think the bikers how found him did the right thing in case he was attempting rape, but after the investigation, he should have been found innocent"

[Jeneral2885]

18. Leslie "apologises"

https://www.facebook.com/leslie.rasmussen.35/posts/10208252753470286?pnref=story

Do you accept it?

Here's my reply

[mahatmakanejeeves]

20. "... 20-year-old Stanford student recently convicted of raping...."

Wrong.

Here are the charges of which Brock Turner was convicted:

All-American swimmer found guilty of sexually assaulting unconscious woman on Stanford campus

By Michael E. Miller
@MikeMillerDC

March 31

....
It took the jury two days to find Turner guilty of three felonies: assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. Prosecutors had dropped rape charges several months earlier.