Cosby is at 16 and counting..
Originally Posted by Chung Tran
Allegedly.
ijs
Look, I don't have a strong opinion on this at the moment, but I do have some doubts in my mind about the veracity of these allegations. All of 'em. I understand that many women, particularly in previous decades, were very weary of coming forth with reports of abuse/sexual assault. But I also know, being somewhat familiar with those statistics (and, no, I don't have those stats at my fingertips), that the numbers are skewed in that a large percentage of the victims foregoing reports were abused spouses and significant others. We all know a little bit about about that tragic syndrome and why those victims so frequently choose not to pursue charges, but that's not what we're dealing with here. This is not even close to that scenario. Same with the comparisons to the Penn State/Sandusky tragedy: we all know why children who are victims of sexual abuse frequently remain quiet for years (if not longer), particularly when the predator is a member of the victim's own gender. Once again, that's not what we're dealing with in this instance, so I'm a little reluctant to look to those statistics for "support" of the premise that Cosby is a serial rapist. There's more than a lil' bit of an apples and oranges thing going on when one tries to analogize the differing circumstances and facts of those cases to Cosby's situation.
As for the sheer number of alleged "attacks," or whatever we're calling the alleged interactions, that's no more probative of probable guilt, in my eyes, than possible innocence, as the odds of at least one really solid and timely reported case go way up when dealing with a number as large as "16." But that didn't happen. All of these alleged occurrences, when viewed in isolation, have questions -- big questions -- attached to them. In fact, I know of only one alleged incident that led to the filing of a police report (and even that's "iffy," since Cosby wasn't named in the report). In place of the one solid case one would expect out of a number as large as 16, we instead have a bunch of copycat allegations, very few (if any) timely filed incident reports, and the passage of years and sometimes decades, with this man being in the public eye throughout, and not a single prosecution occurring. That's a highly improbable result, in my humble opinion, if these allegations are true. I mean, even the President of the United States -- the most powerful man in the world -- was exposed for his dalliances. That being the case, I have a hard time buying the "he was a powerful man and I was afraid of what he might do" explanations by the alleged victims for their refusal to come forward sooner.
Put it all together, and I have very real doubts about this man's guilt. I am far from being convinced of his innocence, but I'm not nearly as ready to convict as some of you appear to be. If each individual allegation has serious questions attached to it when viewed in isolation, I don't see why the case for guilt becomes more convincing when all those flawed cases are viewed in the cumulative. That reasoning seems very specious to me.
My apologies if I'm working under a bunch of mistaken assumptions. For all I know, by now it may have been revealed that there were a half a dozen timely filed police reports, and the number of alleged assaults has risen to 38. I don't think that's the case, but if it is, then never mind. In any event, y'all are certainly dug in deep, so I look forward to the "Yeah, but..." retorts.