Saturday, March 27, 2004

CRITICISM OF WOMEN INCORRECT

Katie Hnida, a former place-kicker for the University of Colorado, recently announced that she had been sexually harassed by the team and even raped by one of her teammates. These charges came about after she had been cut by the coach, Gary Barnett. Barnett declared, no doubt truthfully, "It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful. You know what guys do? They respect your ability. You can be 90 years old, but if you can go out and play, they'll respect you. Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible." Harsh words, but unfortunately the truth is often quite harsh. For saying this, however, the university president immediately put Barnett on paid leave pending an investigation. The New York Times was not satisfied. They wanted more than just Barnett's firing. Somebody had to "clean up the university's mess of a football program," shrieked an editorial. The "separate jock world" had to be eliminated once and for all. A Times sports reporter called for "something drastic ... like shutting down the program to investigate the root causes of the dreadful events that have been alleged." These priests of intolerance didn't even bother to pretend that a woman's accusation against a man is not the last word on the matter. What I'd like to know yet again is, what was a woman doing on a male football team? And since when is a coach fired for saying someone is a dreadful player? If the charges are proved, throw the book at the perpetrators, but not until.

From Taki

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