Mike Nifong: A uniter, not a divider (Signifying Nothing: how does saying nothing at all become so loud?)

Thursday, 6 April 2006

Mike Nifong: A uniter, not a divider

Duke student Allison Clarke thinks there’s one thing everyone, no matter their views on the Duke lacrosse situation, can get behind:

Within the maelstrom of guilt and blame and recrimination, there is a rock. I think it’s safe to say that everyone at Duke and in Durham believes in this one fundamental principle:

Mike Nifong is an asshat.

I sincerely believe that there is not a single living soul left in Durham County who has confidence in the DA. The reasons for this lack of confidence differ, but include the following:

The taking of DNA evidence en masse from team members before charges were filed violates their civil rights (bullshit);
By talking smack about the case all up and down the media Nifong is seriously reducing the probability of anyone getting a fair trial here, plus I think there’s something in his job description about not really talking to the press all that much, right?;
Nifong’s imminent re-election is of far more importance to him than the ultimate well-being of this woman;
Announcing the results of the DNA evidence would be released this week, no, last week, no, next week, no, this week, isn’t helping anyone to cope with any of this in a helpful way;
If he doesn’t keep his flipping mouth shut starting yesterday, the Very Expensive Defense Attorneys are going to find something they can latch onto to use against him and the woman will be denied justice for what will happen to her;
and last, YOU‘RE GOING TO GET SOMEONE HURT, DIPFUCK.

Meanwhile, President Brodhead has spoken, and there shall be a plethora of committees, and they shall go forth and multiply across the land. The bureaucratic impulse to apply the default mode of operation—for academics, the convening of committees—to any new problem strikes again. We shall have sanctimonious statements, lamentations about institutional culture, and all that fun jazz. All I can say is, thank God I’m leaving.

12 comments:

Any views expressed in these comments are solely those of their authors; they do not reflect the views of the authors of Signifying Nothing, unless attributed to one of us.

1. Len Cleavelin wrote @ Thu, 6 Apr 2006, 11:19 am CDT:

Well, as far as I know SLU doesn’t have a lacrosse team….

:-)

2. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Thu, 6 Apr 2006, 2:05 pm CDT:

Yep, just the fine upstanding citizens who normally populate college basketball teams (largely unavoidable, I’m afraid). And a good men’s soccer program, from what I hear.

3. Joe wrote @ Mon, 10 Apr 2006, 6:26 pm CDT:

Looks like you were wrong all along, another false accusation by a black woman against whitey!

But watch the same press that jumped on the DNA evidence that acquited blacks of rape, somehow find this evidence irrelevant in this case…LOL

4. xrx wrote @ Mon, 10 Apr 2006, 8:38 pm CDT:

tawanay brawley (sp?) redux?

5. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Mon, 10 Apr 2006, 11:44 pm CDT:

Joe, who’s “you” kemosabe?

6. Bob wrote @ Tue, 11 Apr 2006, 12:18 am CDT:

Hey how bout them results?
Wow you should all be ashamed of youselves.
Thanks for playing.

7. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Tue, 11 Apr 2006, 12:28 am CDT:

Yep, I’m deeply ashamed that I said the players were guilty as charged.

Oh, wait, I never said that. Silly me. But I’ll be ashamed nonetheless, just to make you feel better.

8. Violation of civil rights? wrote @ Tue, 11 Apr 2006, 6:45 pm CDT:

Tell me – was the DNA collected through a court order or was it volunteered by the lawyer on behalf of his clients in order to prove innocence. I do not believe it was made public the means by which the court obtained the DNA samples and one would strongly believe that they wer not collected mandatorily because of the civil rights issue and the fact that a lawyer has been working closely with the team and the players. I agree, Nifong is an asshat and needs to be more careful with his words and needs to stop being a zealot. However, your first point is invalid. At no point has a question of civil rights been risen and I do believe its largely because the DNA was most likely volunteered in an attempt to clear the students. Race? An issue. Status? An issue. Civil rights? Not so much.

9. Scott wrote @ Tue, 11 Apr 2006, 7:35 pm CDT:

The question that should be asked is why the prosecutor is not charging those who assaulted WHITES in town with HATE CRIMES since race WAS the motivating factor.

10. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Tue, 11 Apr 2006, 7:56 pm CDT:

#8: Nifong got a court order forcing all 46 white players to submit DNA samples; however, the three captains who lived in the house voluntarily submitted samples and spoke to police early in the investigation.

11. rock wrote @ Thu, 13 Apr 2006, 7:41 pm CDT:

AS A FORMER LONGTIME RESIDENT OF THE RALEIGH DURHAM AREA, WE ALL KNEW MIKE LIFONG WAS A MORON AND AN IDIOT, IF HE HAS NO DNA EVIDENCE FROM THE GIRLS BODY, AND A POLICE REPORT TO WHERE SHE WAS PASSED OUT IN A CAR, DRUNK AS A LORD, WHAT IS THE SO CALLED CRIME HERE EXCEPT FOR THE GIRL SWEARING OUT A FALSE POLICE REPORT?
GOOD GAWD MIKE, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE CHEERIOS DUDE, DO NOT KEEP PROVING YOUR IDIOCY AND ILEGETIMACY…....

12. rock wrote @ Thu, 13 Apr 2006, 8:16 pm CDT:

oops, sorry for the misspelling

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