random thought

you've probably heard about the rape case allegedly involving three duke lacrosse players. or maybe i'm just obsessed with scandals that happen where i grew up*, so if you haven't heard about it, here are the details. an african-american exotic dancer, a student at a local predominantly african-american college, reported that she was strangled and raped by three white duke lacrosse players while she was performing at a party for the lacrosse team. the details were made public in the last two days.

i've already seen comments that the racial element of the crime indicates that the old social order from the south is still bubbling beneath the surface. what occurred to me was that lacrosse is not a southern sport; it is most well-funded in the northeast and mid-atlantic regions, predominantly in prep schools and private schools. duke's program is highly ranked, and it makes sense that the top ranked players would come from well funded high school programs. furthermore, duke's student body comes from all over the country. this article notes that 14 of the players are from long island. and all the team captains are from places north of the mason-dixon line.

most likely, all three perps aren't good ol' boys from the south gone bad. i guess my point is that there are violent racist assholes in every part of the country. if the crime did occur as most people suspect, i would blame violent frat boy behavior and extreme hubris, which occurs in every segment of the population. and i hope those jackasses get thrown in prison. and you know what happens to young sheltered college boys in prison, right? poetic justice, no?

* what's going on down there? what about that incident last month where an angry muslim student drove a silver jeep into the student commons area at the university of north carolina at chapel hill and mowed down a bunch of students?