POLITICALLY CORRECT RAPE

"Back in July, we noted an article in which Bruce Bawer quoted a Norwegian professor, commenting on the statistic that 65% of rapes in Norway were committed by "non-Western" immigrants, mostly Muslims, as remarking that the victims had it coming. "Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes," the professors said, because Muslims found their manner of dress provocative and "believe that it is women who are responsible for rape."

This is a new height in multicultural insanity, and now this type of thinking seems to be influencing Norwegian law. An appeals court "acquitted a man for sexually assaulting a mentally handicapped woman on the grounds that he had only lived 12 years in Norway and so had difficulty understanding the victim's condition," Aftenposten reports. The victim suffers from Williams syndrome, a Downs syndrome-like disorder, one symptom of which is "overly friendly and polite behavior and a desire to contact strangers." (PBS has more on the syndrome.)

The accused, a 22-year-old cab driver "originally from the Middle East," testified "that he found nothing odd about the woman's appearance or behavior" and "cab drivers often talked about easy sex offers from female passengers." The appeals court overturned his prison term of 60 days (!), but it did order him "to pay the woman NOK 25,000 [$3,600] in damages and to replace her ruined coat."

From "Opinion Journal"