In THIS ARTICLE, BHL continues his pattern of marshaling sexism, elitism, and willful misunderstanding of justice's impartiality to defend accused rapists who are friends of BHL.
See the analysis of BHL's writings on Roman Polanski and Dominique Strauss-Kahn at Huffington Post HERE. Slate takes apart the article to which I linked above HERE.
In his new piece BHL both attacks the victim and explicitly argues that friends of BHL should not be subject to the same standards of justice as lesser mortals. On the former, consider this absurdity:
I do not know—but, on the other hand, it would be nice to know, and without delay—how a chambermaid could have walked in alone, contrary to the habitual practice of most of New York’s grand hotels of sending a “cleaning brigade” of two people, into the room of one of the most closely watched figures on the planet.
And consider the continuing insinuation, with no evidence, that the accusers are engaged in some sort of conspiracy:
I hold it against all those who complacently accept the account of this other young woman, this one French, who pretends to have been the victim of the same kind of attempted rape, who has shut up for eight years but, sensing the golden opportunity, whips out her old dossier and comes to flog it on television. . .
How could he possibly know that the person was "pretending" to be a victim? As Tom Scocca at Slate writes, "Yes [BHL], it is exceedingly rare for victims of sexual assault to be quiet about it."
And then consider this!
This morning, I hold it against the American judge who, by delivering him to the crowd of photo hounds, pretended to take him for a subject of justice like any other.
I am troubled by a system of justice modestly termed “accusatory,” meaning that anyone can come along and accuse another fellow of any crime—and it will be up to the accused to prove that the accusation is false and without basis in fact.
This continues the unbelievable foulness of the essay in a number of ways. First, BHL is sincerely claiming that his friends should not be a "subject of justice like any other." I can't even see how it's possible to believe something like that, because the very expression of the belief betrays incompetence at even using the word "justice." Second, BHL is just telling a falsehood about the American justice system. In the United States a very strong burden of proof lies on the accuser. The alleged victim in this case was treated by the Special Victims Unit in New York City, and the prosecutor came to the conclusion that there was enough evidence to make the case, again the burden of which falls entirely on the prosecution in the United States.
For the earlier article by BHL on Roman Polanski's rape of a thirteen year old, where BHL helpfully informs us that "there are degrees in the scale of crimes" see HERE. One of the ironies in this situation is that if BHL and others had not succeeded in protecting Polanski from justice, Dominique Strauss-Kahn might have been given bail. The American judge rightfully had no confidence that European governments would extradite accused rapists who are rich, famous, and have friends like BHL.
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