Broadsheet?

The Duke students were cleared today of all charges. The Attorney General says they were innocent.

Here is how Broadsheet characterizes that:

Duke players cleared

All remaining charges in the notoriously botched case have been dropped.

Ms. Walsh, is their headline a fair statement of today's events? Does botch tell you that the students were declared to be innocent? Or does botch tell you that the students are guilty and would be in prison except for the incompetence of the DA?

botch (bŏch) pronunciation

tr.v., botched, botch·ing, botch·es.

1. To ruin through clumsiness.

2. To make or perform clumsily; bungle.

3. To repair or mend clumsily.

Be honest Ms. Walsh, is the headline at Broadsheet accurate? Or is it a sexist and bigoted smear?

If it's the latter, just what is the difference between Broadsheet and some tabloid smear merchant yellow journalist rag, or a disgusting bigoted shock jock like Imus?

"TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime" at talkleft.com (and linked in the signature) is a blog written by defense attorney Jeralyn Merritt (with the help of several other lawyers.) She appears on TV from time to time, and today she has an op-ed in the Washington Examiner.

http://www.examiner.com/a-669671~Jeralyn_Merritt__Duke_lacrosse_players_case_is_a_travesty.html

I would say that Merritt is a feminist, and I don't know for how long she bought into the Prosecution's case, if she ever did.

She writes well, and she always has interesting perspectives from the civil liberties and defense side of the case.

Curiously, a google search of jeralyn merritt OR talkleft at site:salon.com shows no mention of merritt outside of blogs.salon.com.

Why is it that Broadsheet has never linked to her? Woman, liberal, prominent defense attorney, media figure, ... Is she not up to Broadsheet's high standards?

Imus can't use words that are aired thousands of times daily over the radio and on tv.

Is it because:

a) Imus attacked young women in college that were obvious not how he described them and had no platform to defend themselves?

b) Imus used these words on public airwaves and not on cable?

c) Imus is white?

I understand that there is a double standard on the use of certain words, the n word. And I believe that double standard is reasonable, especially in personal conversations and writings. I am not sure that double standard should be allowed to exist on broadcast media, or be defended when exploited in a profit driven manner.

When Al Sharpton years ago spoke against the use of "Ho", what was the media's response to Sharpton? Was he taken seriously? What was Salon's response?

If the point of the rappers is that they are artists, and they are making commentary on society, then why can't Imus make that claim too?

Now, I don't know what the defense of the rappers is. But maybe Salon could look into that. I am not defending Imus, I am asking why it is somehow okay for rappers to use these words and still have society EXPECT that no one else can.

In a similar vein, look at the "b" word, which I would never use. But I certainly hear women call each other "b" all of the time, and I also hear feminists claim a) if men use the "b" word they are misogynists, but b) the feminists have reclaimed the "b" word so it's okay for one feminist to call other women a "b". In the meantime, the word is now so prevalent that the "Winx club", a cartoon for young girls about witches, feels free to have one witch call another witch a "weeyotch" as in of course, a "beeyotch", a bitch.

So is it rational for society to give artists a pass on their language and still expect the rest of society not to pick up and use that language?

And how is all of that language policing and thought policing working out for us anyway?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVtsAvKfs

Chris Rock on Hillary or Obama, a black man or a white woman. "As if it's a suffering contest.... It's not even close."

Come on Broadsheet, they are on your blogroll, and you link to them frequently. Are you going to let them get away with pretending this never happened and that they never egged this on?

When was the last time you linked to TalkLeft?

Did you link to Jeralyn Merrit's op-ed this morning?

Just what sort of female do you consider blogworthy?