Wednesday, February 21, 2007

SI Disappointment

Sports Illustrated has an article on the return to lacrosse to Duke. It summarizes the case, and then obtains a quote from one—and only one—outside legal source: Irving Joyner. The article does not identify Joyner as the NAACP case monitor, and therefore a party to the case.

Joyner’s unsurprising analysis? “I think the odds are good that it will go to trial . . . But I think there is enough to go forward -- and I think they will go forward.” The article contains no mention of what evidence Joyner offered to substantiate his assertion.

Ironically, just a few weeks ago, the article’s writer, S.L. Price, was asked, “If it eventually comes out that the alleged victim’s allegations are untrue, how do you think the media will respond? Do journalists have a duty to apologize and/or try to rectify the situation?”

Here was his reply:

If mistakes were made, they should be corrected and responsibility should be taken. But the coverage—and the apology—will never be as spectacular as it was last spring. Some outlets leaped to conclusions, but let’s face it: They were following the DA’s lead in many cases. If the DA says something, especially publicly, it’s hard not to report it.

No one is following the DA’s lead any longer. How, therefore, could any responsible reporter not balance Joyner’s legal perspective with that of another observer, given Joyner’s demonstrated biases about the case?

To use Price’s terminology, I’d say that “mistakes were made” regarding the article’s fairness.

87 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been reading Sports Illustrated for nearly 40 years. There was a time when SI played these types of stories straight. I fact, SI often covered selected social issues better than most of the national (non-sports) press.

Clearly that's no longer the case.

Anonymous said...

Sports Illustrated again shows the dishonesty of the MSM. Another Time-Warner product I won't purchase.

Anonymous said...

Other than the Joyner thing, the article is not horrible. But what I find very interesting is that no one ascribes racial motives to people like Joyner (whose standards seem to shift based on racial particulars).

Anonymous said...

And Price is wrong about another thing. Yeah, reporters are going to follow the DA, but they don't check their skepticism at the door. There was a lot of speculation about race--why no pointing out that non-Hispanic whites very infrequently rape black women.

Anonymous said...

Because of the way SI has handled the Duke lacrosse case, I am tempted to cancel my preteen son's subscription although he is only one issue into it. In regards to Duke, they could pave the road in solid gold from Durham to our home in Maryland, and I would still not allow either of my academically gifted boys to enroll.

Anonymous said...

This is inexcusable on SI's part. Write, call and e-mail the CEO of the magazine group. Don't bother with the "editors" at SI itself. It would be a waste of time. Has ESPN magazine done any better?

Anonymous said...

Price is a veteran writer and should know better.

Anonymous said...

Was this article in the Swimsuit Issue? Well, I guess I'll go buy one now. You know, I wasn't planning on it beforehand, but now, I suppose that I should investigate this issue.

Anonymous said...

KC, good call on the Joyner substantiation issue

I'll let you in on a little secret:

THE STATE OF EDITING IS AT AN ALL-TIME LOW

Any decent editor would have flagged that quote to the writer.

Most overrated editors I can recall off the tip of my head:

1. Howell Raines (NY Times)
2. Terry McConnell--SI
3. Tina Brown--ubiquitous
4. David Granger--Esquire
5. Graydon Carter--Vanity Fair
6. Most book editors

Guess what, kiddies? The publicists and the sales managers run the publishing business nowadays.

Fact checking--who needs that--let's do a full bleed of Britney's crotch

Do not buy SI; if you must, read it online. I haven't paid for a NY Times in years. Newsweek and Time are also jokes.

My favorite editor: Irving Kristol (retired)--check out the evolution of "The Public Interest."

Brilliant

Polanski

Anonymous said...

Let face it, whether the coverage is sports or world events, news reporters and writers are (with very few exceptions) self serving and irresponsible. Sensationalism is key, and when they are wrong we never read about it. They are too busy working on the next big story, whether true or not. ESPN is really no better than SI, just higher profile. I guess that makes them even worse.

Anonymous said...

Incredible... only one source. And that source is the patently discredible Irving Joyner.

SI is a pathetic excuse for a sports magazine. If not for the swimsuit issue and other non-sports nonsense, they would have been out of business long ago.

I consider SI to be about as authoritative as US magazine.

Anonymous said...

Par for the course. Check out the latest from the News and Observer about how the reaction to the recent rape is different. http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/545454.html

It spends a fair bit of time about the differences and makes it out that the difference is that the CGM case was a gang rape and that is why it was different. There is absolutely no mention that in one case it is alleged black on white rape and the other is white on black.

So I guess this is the new angle, it's no big deal if you get raped by just one black guy. Good grief.

Anonymous said...

Here's the whole paragraph about Irving Joyner from SI:

"I think the odds are good that it will go to trial," says N.C. Central law professor Irving Joyner, noting that the less precise legal definition of sexual offense makes it easier to prove than rape. But, he adds, the alleged victim's ever-shifting version of events could well override any evidence. "I would not be surprised if the attorney general, after looking at everything, says, 'We can't convince a jury of their guilt,'" Joyner says. "But I think there is enough to go forward -- and I think they will go forward."

The reference to "evidence," as if there actually were some probative evidence of guilt, could make you nuts. Yeah, sure, if the accuser could only get her story straight, the "evidence" could take this case somewhere. Mr. Joyner has to know--because Mr. Nifong publicly said as much--there is no evidence, except the accuser's testimony. Mr. Joyner's musings are not those of a reasonable mind. Mr. Joyner is role-playing in his position as a representative for the NAACP, and that organization, based upon its publicly expressed desire for what amounts to injustice in this case, probably should be classified as a "hate group" along with the NBPP.

Observer

Anonymous said...

The author of the SI piece is either stupid and incompetent, or, he is evil. sic semper tyrannis

Anonymous said...

There IS no evidence, not something that "overrides the evidence." Remember, SI is the publication that printed a totally false and defamatory piece about Mike Price when he was football coach at Alabama.

The sources for the SI piece were some hookers who told a story that was so obviously untrue on its face that any competent writer would have figured it out. I guess that proud tradition continues at SI.

Anonymous said...

One wonders what the Women's Studies Dept. think about the swimsuit issue and successful female athletes, white or otherwise.

Just like the 2nd rape case, they don't comment because they don't care. They don't care because their agenda is marxist, not feminism.

When's the last time you've heard commentary regard from them about women living under oppresive regimes (Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, etc.)? Good luck finding much of anything they write about.

If they are so dogmatic about their causes let's see how involved they would be if they worked for free. It's past time to stop funding the racist, bigots.

Anonymous said...

I subscribed to SI for over 30 years, but a few years years ago, I started to see a PC bias creep into many stories. It became one of the subscriptions that I cancelled, along with my local "news"paper, when I woke up one day and asked myself why am I supporting this crap with my hard-earned money? So I stopped doing so that day.

SI is part of the Time-Warner group and, it turns out, similarly biased to a progressive viewpoint. I now read it when I'm waiting at a dentist or doctor's office and laugh at the absurdity of some of the writing. I'm disappointed in myself for not seeing it sooner.

In this case, S. L. Price has quoted one of the most biased sources in the case (Joyner) and has not counterbalanced those quotes with someone else's who could provide an alternative view. And no acknowledgment that they were punked by Nifong. This is just typical left-wing journalism as it is practiced every day at places like the NY Times, Time, and Newsweek.

Anonymous said...

Of more interest that the H+Joyner quote is this one; "We feel that everyone knows now what we knew then," says senior defenseman Casey Carroll. "Anybody who was outwardly against us, whether it was on TV or in the newspapers or in our classrooms, we feel they've sufficiently eaten their words."

1. The pot bangers, Gang of 88, and other racist/bigots have NOT eaten their words and should be fired and/or lose funding.

2. I've mentioned before that we are all racist/sexist,as defined by others of course, at one time or another. Since Price chose to be unbalanced with the legal opinion for the article, the question is why and of course, the race/gender questions pop up. Is Price black? Is Price a female? Had another balanced legal opinion been included, the question of the author's race would not likely have happened.

3. Even another oppossing opinion indicates the serious problem the press has in relaying facts to the masses. A 50/50 ratio on quotes does not provide balance, it provides equivalence and suggest both statements carry equal weight. This is just a small example of the moral equivalence problem that pervades the media today and evidenced by their falling audiences appears not to be lost on the masses.


4. On the other hand maybe Price did include another quote and it became a cutting-room casualty. Who is his Editior, and what race is he/she?

5. Deadlines are not an excuse as reverse disrimination IS the story. From the stripper, the DA, the Gang of 88, the President of Duke, the administation, and even the Board of Trustees.

Anonymous said...

SI's coverage of this case has been terrible from the start, so this latest article should not surprise anyone.

Jamie said...

Joyner on the relationship between his case record and his comments in the lacrosse case: “. . . I hope that you see the difference between the different roles that I have assumed as an attorney/advocate in some cases and as a commentator in the Duke-Lacrosse case.”

Anonymous said...

And let's not forget that the writer of the SI piece went to journalism school at a certain University 11 miles down the road from Duke. Some things run deep and for a long, long time.

Jamie said...

Joyner cares absolutely nothing for consistency or "justice" or any other silly abstraction: he cares how his side can benefit. Period.

Any spin he thinks will work, Joyner will use. That is, he believes, his job.

Anonymous said...

Board of Trustees: Where have they been? I understand that pending litigation will muzzle wise people. On the other hand inaction tends to exacerbate the problem.

Ken Lay (Enron), Richard Nixon, Bernie Ebbers (WorldCom), Bill Clinton, et al., their common thread? They all did not get out front of the problems that ultimately were their downfall(s). Why not? One concludes that they were very guilty and that the fraud/crimes were much deeper than presented.

That is one reason why Duke has a much bigger problem than is apparent. How widespread is the reverse racism and bigotry against their own students?

The Duke leadership may be getting good legal advice, but they aren’t getting much on the damage control front. Or if they are, they aren’t following the advice.

One may also conclude that based upon their actions, that the Gang of 88 and their abettor’s wouldn’t take advice from a white male, regardless of how sound the counsel.

Tip of the Day: A spell check for Ken "Lay", provides an alternative: "Laid". One wonders what the next version of spell check will render for Nifong; "evil liar"? Gang of 88: "evil racist"?

Howard said...

Sports Illustrated long ago became the poster child for political correctness, a liberal slant to dam near everything, and a magazine read mostly by polo playing elites.

Further denigrating the WHITE Duke players defines what they do and who they are.

Anonymous said...

More nonsense from Shadee in today's Duke Chronicle. Shadee's Nonsense

Observer

Anonymous said...

TO 4:41AM---

You beat me to it.

That was the first thing I thought when reading Anne Blythe's coverage this morning.

Ridiculous. It's a Stepford world in which we live.

This is why I could never even think about writing for a newspaper other than opinion pieces. How can anyone settle for such a way of reporting a story?

Imagine for a moment if non-black people went out into the streets and marched, protested, screamed, ranted, raved, and demanded that the accused be raked over the coals every time a black perpetrator violated someone. (?)

The streets would be as busy as an Islamic beheading chamber.

The News & Observer will have to do better than this.

It must be like living through an SNL skit at their staff meetings when they are deciding "how to go" with a story.

Life is already too short and often too complex to intentionally manufacture such unadulterated excrement and peddle it out to the public.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

Oops, that went straight to the comment section. Try this.

Shadee's Nonsense

Ob

M. Simon said...

Anon 7:02AM,

I just wrote a bit on that:


Duke And The Cultural Marxist Program

Anonymous said...

Judging from some of the previous comments, Price of SI who chose Irving Joyner, only, for legal analysis is not only black, but he's a Carolina graduate.

Well......he apparently killed two birds with one stone.

Keeping the hoax alive while slamming white Duke athletes.

Price turns the unethical into a perk.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

This question is certainly not related only to SI but here it is anyway: Has the quality of MSM "reporting" and "journalism" always been so lousy and biased or is it just that because of blogs, cable news and talk radio that they get caught more often nowadays?

Anonymous said...

N&O's hapless stooge Anne Blythe writes.....

"The two cases have similarities: In each, the accuser says she was sexually assaulted in a bathroom at an off-campus Duke party.

But they are significantly different, too. The accuser in the lacrosse case alleged gang rape."

After what the country has witnessed and after a tortured almost year-long saga, how any newspaper can allow such bovine excrement to be printed, is beyond belief.

Ted Vaden needs to be bombarded with complaints.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

Dan, no one knows the answer to that question better than you.

:>)

Debrah

Anonymous said...

TIme Warner has just included themselves in the Group of 88, Nifong, Wendy Murhphy and Paula Zahn. They have proven yet again in this piece not to be interested in facts and evidence but their agenda driven views. This is not journalism but trash. The Inquiry has better reporting.

Anonymous said...

8:59 Inre: news bias. It is both. The press is clearly much worse, largely due to how they are taught, who they work for/answer to, and how they hire. Having said that the most "trusted name" in journalism was/is horribly biased.

The Internet shines light and exposes the faulty approach. That is why an effort to stiffle the Internet via legislation or otherwise must be soundly defeated.

It is also why we should all strive to ensure the Internet is available to those that have the least.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Happily, Shadee's article has drawn some well aimed fire from the Duke community. It is almost too silly to respond to, but I am glad some are taking on the task.

Observer

Anonymous said...

re Shadee's article

It was so badly written I could only tolerate it into the 1st sentence of 2d graph.

Behold:

1. Shadee cites "faulty allegations." I guess Precious's allegations require a tune-up--you know, they are "faulty." This bozo of course means false

2. "to nuance"--nuance is a noun and nuanced is an adjective--nuance is neither a verb nor an infinitive

All this crap should be in the manifesto.

BTW, if I decide to proceed with docu, I'm gonna invite Adam Bellow down to Duke and we'll coedit the listening statement on camera. Trust me, that will be hilarious.

Gotta go, my car has a false transmission, and my penis lacks nuance.

Polanski

Anonymous said...

This whole notion that the case must go to trial notwithstanding the obvious flaws in the prosecution's evidence is mystifying to me. Dozens of convicted rapists have been exonerated in the last few years based solely on the fact that someone else's DNA, not theirs, was finally identified in the rape-kit evidence. So what possible rationalization for a trial exists other than that the NAACP is counting on a black-dominated Durham jury to read non-existent evidence into the case (and resolve all glaring inconsistencies in favor of the accused) and return a conviction? Kafka (not to mention Lewis Carroll) couldn't have written it better!

Anonymous said...

I'm going to cut him a little slack here.

"If mistakes were made, they should be corrected and responsibility should be taken. But the coverage—and the apology—will never be as spectacular as it was last spring. Some outlets leaped to conclusions, but let’s face it: They were following the DA’s lead in many cases. If the DA says something, especially publicly, it’s hard not to report it.
"


Any apology, no matter how appropriate or sincere (I'm talking here about the people who WILL mean it if they say "sorry"), will be too little, too late and not enough. Especially if it goes to trial. This was an orgasmic rush to judge with everyone running around with their torches lit. And it's going to hurt the apologist in face and spirit more than the three kids and their family because of that. Apologies are SUPPOSED to hurt, especially when they are honest and delivered well behind the closing whistle. It's part of genuine remorse and guilt. It's going to be nasty.

And yes, SOME people were indeed following the lead of the dishonest DA.

But...

Others, definitely picked up the ball and exploited it (e.g., the 88). And for that there SHOULD be an apology or reckoning of sorts -- but even then... too little too late, and I have no doubt there will be no sincerity to their "sorry." They didn't give a damn about the accused, the accuser or even the case -- only what they could leverage form it. Remorse is not a concept for them to experience i doubt they can even comprehend it.

Anonymous said...

Polanski, who has the higher IQ?

Sponge Bob Squarepants
Patrick Star
Mr. Krabs
Squidward Tentacles
Plankton
Gary
Sandy

Anonymous said...

regarding Gang88: It would be a great reporting (yeah, I know, it is like Santa Claus..nice but it does not exist) to investigate what Gang88/Citizen Committee were up to during last elections. Their ilk (eg. ACORN) are legendary for election fraud, buying votes for crack cocaine or cash, double voting, registering felons/illegals etc. Given the ethics of Gang 88 and NAACP it would hardly be a surprise if Kerry got 200% of the votes in their district. (yes, I know they say nobody is illegal so maybe dead people and illegal immigrants are allowed to vote after all..early and often)

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Polanski,

Thank you for your kind comments on my writing, and I really appreciate your brave crusade to honor the unhung at Duke. We salute you.

Yes, you are my hero; you are a paladin for the ages.

Your insights make me wet, like the Sahara.

Please call me when you're in Durham. I have a fantasy that I'm sure you'll love. It involves punctuation and candle wax.

Bye bye, brave knight.

Your humble servant,

Shadee Makalou
Minor writer, major babe

PS I've got a firm ass, and perfect B's. Let's definitely hook up.

Anonymous said...

--Come on, exactly zero people are going to cancel their SI subscription because of this.
--If SI were really ultra pc it would be covering the WNBA and women's gymnastics with as much space as the NBA and NFL.

Anonymous said...

Shadee has been indoctrinated by the G88.

It is instructive to see the parallels between the G88 in this hoax and the postmodernists (nee socialists) in the academy.

When one's ideology has been thoroughly debunked, one goes into denial. The ramifications of this denial? Here are two entries from Dr. Pat Santy's blog with references to Stephen Hicks "Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault".

Why Kant Couldn't and Still Can't

The Consequences of Denial

Why does one embrace postmodernism in the first place? Lack of intellect? If so, why aren't they just following those with more game?

--Lumpy Gravy

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Shadee-speak:

"A disclaimer: I write this column in an attempt to nuance what kinds of women can and cannot report a rape and to question what kinds of truths are privileged. I do not write this column in an attempt to uphold the now-nefarious pots-and-pans activism against the lacrosse team."

Huh? This is a Trinity senior? Does this mean This column examines how a rape accuser's race and status affect whether or not we believe her. I do not defend the pots-and-pans activists. ?

I certainly hope Duke didn't teach her to write.

Anonymous said...

--Come on, exactly zero people are going to cancel their SI subscription because of this.

Perhaps, but there is a tipping point. Few years ago, I bought a copy of New York Times at least twice a week. I also bought Newsweek quite often. Nowadays I would never do that. Since NYT profits and circulation have plummeted it seems I'm not alone. I would guess same will happen to SI.

Running NYT or Air America is basically a campaign contribution to the democratic party, but I have no problem with that. "The marketplace of ideas" is fine with me. Unfortunately, dems are trying to silence alternative views, constantly threatening to shut down blogs, talk radio ("fairness doctrine"), Fox News, ABS News (because they were about to air inconvenient facts about Sandy Berger and Bill Clinton).

Free speech is not safe. Hillary will probably reinstate the PC speech code tsar who defines the universal speech codes for academia (=gang88 like PC crap). I forgot the name of the woman, she was some sort of head in White House during Clinton years.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

FYI- WRAL is reporting that "Nifong has met with the special prosecutors at the Attorney General's Office." At least they didn't wait 9 months.

Anonymous said...

clarification: Under the universal speech codes, it would be illegal to critisize Angry Studies (=racist, sexist), illegal immigration (racist), race privileges (racist) or almost anything that far left believes in.

In the UK, this sort of policy is already being introduced. Even sending a sexist email to coworker puts you in sex offenders register for the rest of your life.

Needless to say, these things will be interpreted by committees like Gang88.

Duke episode is just a foretaste of things to come.

Anonymous said...

Over the years, writers at SI have been jock-sniffing wanna-be's who were always chosen last in pickup games.
They use their keyboards in some kind of quixotic campaign to rationalize their athletic shortcomings.Their envy of the athletes they cover oozes throughout their writing.
They are not reporters. They are toadies.

Unknown said...

I think that Postmodernism - the rejection by the humanities of logic and reason - was largely a result of the failure of the social sciences and humanities in their attempt to employ scientific methods (and gain the respect of science) during the first half of the 20th century, a time when science was elevated as the engine of progress.

The inability to achieve any real rigor in social science was largely because people and culture are fundamentally very hard to study. But in the wake of this failure, many in the academy decided that if they could not be embraced by science, they would instead attack it and deny its whole intellectual and social legitimacy, presenting themselves as liberators of the masses.

It all boils down to departmental power games.

Anonymous said...

"Huh? This is a Trinity senior? Does this mean This column examines how a rape accuser's race and status affect whether or not we believe her. I do not defend the pots-and-pans activists.?"

Yes. She's having her cake and eating it too here. You can do that in the Liberal Arts -- conservation of mass is a tool of hegemonic and class oppression. That's what happens when you bet on the wrong horse. They have accrued too many concessions from Duke and now that the case is falling apart they are retreating into a string of hypotheticals to validate themselves inside a safe little bubble.

The narrative has become its own Truth. That there are three lives and careers bound to the narrative is irrelevant.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2007/02/21/CampusNews/U.Recruiting.Former.Duke.Lacrosse.Player-2733183.shtml

good story

Anonymous said...

JLS says....

An interesting thing about the SI article is that this case could be dropped any day. SI is a relatively long shelf-life magazine and one might think its reporters would not want to be out a limb about the case going to trial given this circumstance right now. But a reporter knows his editor so I suspect the PC writing might have been in part because the writer was writing for an audience of one.

Anonymous said...

Good choice for him. Anything but Duke is a good choice. Hope the message is not lost on trustees or Broadhead. But I doubt BroadHead cares as long as he has the support of Angry Studies.

Unknown said...

If the 10:22 post is indeed Shadee, it looks like she's getting her debating techniques from Amanda "nubile thighs" Marcotte.

Anonymous said...

"Mistakes were made."

A handy verb tense referred to as "Past perfect exonerative".

Anonymous said...

To 10:22

Great stuff but I have one small complaint. More hyphon. I gotta have more hyphon.

M. Simon said...

Lumpy Gravy,

See my 8:49AM for an answer.

M. Simon said...

giles 11:06AM,

Actually pomo is about getting communism accepted without calling it communism.

See my 8:49AM

Anonymous said...

Polanski (9:31)

There is a more (ahem) fundamental reason why Islam has no science and philosophy. Islam prohibits rationality. The IQ difference (I'm assuming, for the sake of argument, that you have evidence for this) could entirely be explained by environmental factors, of which Islam must be counted.

Anonymous said...

Re: Polanski calling out Muslims as having a low IQ.
Islam is a religion, not a race. The Muslims who developed Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, or those working in Iran, are rather competent.
Throughout history, much of beauty and science has come from Islamic countries.
The examples are Duke should not be used to besmirch Middle-Eastern intellectual attainment.

On the other hand, Polanski's comments on the IQs of African-Americans bring to mind an observation I made teaching in an inner-city public school. American Blacks exhibited much lower learning ability and knowledge than Black immigrants.
Is this cultural; or did/does the American experience with slavery and welfare play a role in this?

Anonymous said...


Throughout history, much of beauty and science has come from Islamic countries.


This is disputable. In many cases they were simply passing on what they acquired through the conquest of more civilized peoples.

The famous arabic numbers are no such thing. They are hindu numbers.

In addition, much of greek learning came back to the west from the byzantine empire in the hundred years or so before the fall of Constantinople.

Unknown said...

m. simon: "Actually pomo is about getting communism accepted without calling it communism."

While clearly Marxist thought is heavily folded into pomo doctrine, I claim it is as a mere means to an end, rather than as an ultimate purpose. While I doubt that trendy faculty have any genuine concern for the proletariat, espousing Marxism is a spectacularly effective way of advancing their careers. Except as it relates to their own power and prestige, I don't think that "getting communism accepted" is something they give a rat's ass about.

Anonymous said...

10:23 AM

I regret that I have only 1 SI subscription to cancel for my country and I did so years ago.

I don't recall the exact BS that put me over the top, but my guess is that at least one person who still subscribes and has been closely following the Nifong Scandal case will see this story as "the straw" and cancel because they are finally disgusted enough not to piss away their money anymore.

Your suggestion that to be ultra PC would mean they would cover the WNBA and gymnastics equally with the NBA and NFL doesn't wash. No one here is saying SI wants to be PC and go out of business (which is what would happen were they to do the equality thing). SI wants to be PC (in a good-lefty, nuanced fashion) and stay in business. They revel in their role of spreading the gospel of progressivism.

Anonymous said...

SI has lost its way little by little, degrading into another version of ESPN, the Magazine because it perceives that's what its short attention span readers like. And I think the problem is deeper than mere MSM bias - whether it is an article on the number of out-of-wedlock births and paternity suits by NBA players, or an article about Duke lacrosse players, SI has very little interest in promoting themes that reach beyond the stereotype of the moment. Yes, I realize the that the foregoing opinion is just that - an opinion - and perhaps even an anecdotal one - but no casual reader of SI have I been over the years. The publication ran a feature article on my now long banished to the dust bin of history teenage athletic endeavors, and followed it up with a few articles thereafter as I moved on in my athletic career, including during my time spent as an athlete at Duke (heck, one of the Group of 88 gave me an A in her first year of teaching!). So at some level, this publication having indulged me at a young age (they must have needed copy), I take more than a passing interest in what SI puts out. And how SI could obtain just one quote that - in February of 2007 at that - that posits that a trial will take place when the odds of that are astronomical? It reflects a profond lack of journalistic curiosity and diligence.

Anonymous said...

Carolyn says:

Nothing has exposed the 'three Bigotries' like this Duke fake rape scandal - i.e., the bigotry of the Black community, the bigotry of the University community and the bigotry of the media. All 3 of them colluded to imprison innocent Duke Lacrosses players to jail for decades for a rape that never happened. What frightens me the most is that it was not the innocence of the three players that stopped this bigotry, nor even their parents' money. It was instead the power of the blogs. Specifically, bloggers like KC Johnson, Bill Anderson, La Shawn Barber, John in Carolina, etc. who rose up in outrage against this injustice and spoke the truth in a venue which the 3 B's could not control - the internet. As a result, the blogs forced one of the three B's - the media - to finally publish the truth to the world. As a result, the politicians were finally forced to not only admit Nifong's criminality but finally stop it. Sadly, the remaining 2 B's - the majority of the Black community and the University leftists - are stubbornly refusing to admit they were wrong. Sadder still, many in the media are also refusing to do the same - of which now sadly Sports Illustrated is a sorry example.

I have long sensed the bigotries of these three entities - but even I have been stunned by the stupefying depths they have sunk to and still stay at. I had stupidly thought that truth would elicit admission of such - never have I been proven so wrong. And never have I been afterwards so angry at myself for my stupidity in thinking otherwise.

Like many on this blog, I have stopped subscribing to the media because of its blatant bias. It's been years since I read Newsweek, Time or the NY Times. Now - as KC's title sadly reveals - I must add Sports Illustrated to that list. I refuse, however, to sink into despair.

I choose, instead, to see this Duke lacrosse scandal as instead a glorious rebirth of something from the past - a past which, in my mind, eerily parallels the very thing which has happened in Durham. In 16th century Europe, the corruption of bigotry had infested the Catholic Church to an extent that everyone was sickened by it. However, no one could do anything because the church was too powerful - it could and did do what it wanted, and get away with it. Thus, a 'minor' incident of selling indulgences (release from sins) for a sum of money to the Church seemed certain to pass unopposed like all the others before it. (Just like a 'minor' accusation of a black prostitute in Durham.) However, the Catholic church hadn't counted on a strange invention which sprang to life in 1445. The Gutenberg press. Before that time, the Catholic Church totally controlled the news - only that which was printed by its monks could be read. The Gutenberg press shattered all that - not only did it print what the Church refused to print itself, the press printed it rapidly, in the blink of eye and sped it throughout Europe like a flash of lightning. Thus, when the Gutenberg press printed the 95 theses of an obscure monk named Martin Luther objecting to the 'evil' of selling indulgences, the Protestant Reformation exploded. From that moment on, the old powers would never be the same.

People, I see the internet as the Gutenberg press. And it has just printed the '95 theses' of KC, La Shawn Barber, Liestoppers, John in Carolina, Thomas Sowell, Professor Coleman, etc. to the world. Not only printed them, but nailed them to the closed door of Nifong's office behind which were hatched the false charges against the Lacrosse players.

It's too bad that SI has chosen to close its own door to the full facts. They therefore deserve the nails now being hammered into their financial coffin; i.e., the 'nails' of deserting subscribers.

I guess someone should warn the other 2 "B's" about those nails. Except - from the hysterical denials they're been making lately, I think they already hear the hammering on their own doors.

Unknown said...

Cedarford said... "this disruptive poster prefers to continue to make a series of smarmy, false posts... under his own and other alias inc. fake posts from his targets.(Shadee 10:22AM)"

Rats. Next thing, we'll find out that Amanda Marcotte is entirely an invention of Polanski.

Anonymous said...

1:31 "I made teaching in an inner-city public school. American Blacks exhibited much lower learning ability and knowledge than Black immigrants.
Is this cultural; or did/does the American experience with slavery and welfare play a role in this?"

The slave trade was well developed in Africa and among N. American Indians long before anyone from the West got involved...

Anonymous said...

Inre: Progressive(s)

The use of this term to describe marxist deconstructionists is wrong. They do not support advancement of anything worthy, rather only to deconstruct with no idea of what to replace the existing system with. That's a long was from progress.

M. Simon said...

1:31PM,

As far as we can tell by over 40 years of study (actually more like 100) the differences in IQ are inherent.

Black african IQ is around 70 to 80. Black American (who are on the average 20% white) IQ is about 85 although it may be rising slowly.

Average IQ in the Islamic countries is about 85. Which means they will have 1/10th the number of people available to do nuclear design work vs a similar American population. With brains scarce over there why waste them on something that does not help the people? It is possible that better living conditions (better nutrition, women in schools) might raise the Islamic IQ.

We do get a great boost in the really high IQ range from Ashkenazi Jews. Something that will not be available to the Islamics.

It is a problem for them just as it was a problem for a certain Austrian Corporal.

M. Simon said...

1:31PM,

It is also possible that immigration is a selection mechanism for higher IQ.

Anonymous said...


Nothing has exposed the 'three Bigotries' like this Duke fake rape scandal - i.e., the bigotry of the Black community, the bigotry of the University community and the bigotry of the media. All 3 of them colluded to imprison innocent Duke Lacrosses players to jail for decades for a rape that never happened.


Perhaps we should call them the bigotry of the privileged classes.

Anonymous said...


Average IQ in the Islamic countries is about 85. Which means they will have 1/10th the number of people available to do nuclear design work vs a similar American population. With brains scarce over there why waste them on something that does not help the people? It is possible that better living conditions (better nutrition, women in schools) might raise the Islamic IQ.


You make the mistake of ignoring substructure in countries like Pakistan ...

M. Simon said...

giles 2:08PM,

Then why were the Marxists all over this case?

Here is who the Marxists use to advance their revolution:

Gramasci suggested that the new proletariat be comprised of many criminals, women, and racial minorities.

See the connection to this case?

M. Simon said...

giles 2:08PM,

Marxism has always been a means to power for the vanguard.

I can't think of any place it has been adopted willingly. Unless you include the kibbutz movement in Israel. They are all going capitalist BTW.

M. Simon said...

3:33PM,

I don't think I have seen a study of Pakistani IQ.

I just looked it up. Average is around 81.

Let me see about Iran. 85.

Unknown said...

Po-Mo was the attempt by academics in the humanities to regain the prestige that they lost during the Modern era. Modernism celebrated science and reason. The humanities found that the best way to wrest power back from the science and engineering departments was to denounce the very concept of rationality. Throwing in some half-baked Marxism gave their project a veneer of social conscience.

I don't deny there are real committed Marxists out there, who genuinely want to overthrow western society. The Po-Mo profs, however, are more interested in securing tenure, funding, and the adulation of attractive and earnest students.

Anonymous said...


The Po-Mo profs, however, are more interested in securing tenure, funding, and the adulation of attractive and earnest students.


Standard male pursuits (for some subsection of the male population). Kinda like being a football star, or a Lacrosse star, without the risk of injury, but also with a lesser payoff.

Anonymous said...

S.I. has another politically incorrect scalp in its belt. Remember John Rocker? Does anyone recall how he was set up for ridicule by this mag? Any one over 12 years old who takes this mag seriously deserves whatever misinformation that they are fed.

Anonymous said...

M. Simon,

I find your posts about ethnic and racial i.q. to be composed of the same level of intellectual rigor as a typical G88 manifesto.
I do not know why you do not start your own eugenics blog. It is tiresome to have to scroll through your rascist screeds when I am trying to read about the Duke Lacrosse Hoax.
Why do you feel that it is necessary to make your ethnic arguments in the context of a court case, rather than allowing it to stand on it's own? Is it your intention to behave like a parasite?

Anonymous said...

SI reporter's comments on and quotes from the members of the Team are poignant, and much appreciated by this Duke parent. I don't care about the rest of it.

Anonymous said...

Sports Illustrated; the Politically Correct magazine.

From my email: The following is the winning entry from an annual contest calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term. This year's term: Political Correctness. And the winning definition:

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end!

That's S.I. for you

Anonymous said...

5:19

Well done, again. You rail against M. Simon, and truly, who cares what he thinks, then proceed as follows:

>I find your posts about ethnic and racial i.q.

Lower case i.q.? What the heck is that?

Then you hit him with the eugenics blast - that's always good.

Later:

It is tiresome to have to scroll through your rascist screeds when I am trying to read about the Duke Lacrosse Hoax...

Oh you poor dear - you find it tiresome, yet you read his posts, but somehow you find the strength to reply. That should be doubly tiresome, no?

Run along and get a little nap.

Anonymous said...

1:23pm--Cedarford--I recently sent an email regarding your "multiple aliases" allegation. Email them if you want the truth; otherwise, believe what you want. The point I was [perhaps inappropriately] making was that Muslims have been added to America's protected class, and therefore to the affirmative action class. I find it pretty humorous indeed, C, that you of all people would criticize the scientific data I cited with respect to Shadee. You've been an avid Jew and Muslim criticizer, but I never asked you to get lost.

C, I do not have to apologize for my "aliases" [your term]--everyone knows that The Hershey Warrior is I, as are Barack Obama and Richard Brodhead. My most important satirical piece--satirzing women's studies--was deleted by Johnson. The obvious point I was making was that the "essence" of 21st-century "women's studies" is the celebration of the genitalia. Satire is a deadly weapon, and it should not be censored in the name of "fair play." The difference between me and you, C, is that I'm serious about changing academic and social policy--and fuck you for that bullshit Liestoppers canard. I can only recall posting there once, perhaps as The Hershey Warrior, a persona I love but have not used much.

Polanski

PS I just remembered the post. They were posting about which actors would star in the film. Posting as The Hershey Warrior, I protested their innocence because the boys were having a sword fight among themselves in the bathroom.

I think that's funny--you don't. Cedarford, would you please try to remember the diference between its and it's. Its [sic] annoying.

Polanski