Truth and consequences, Emma Sulkowicz edition

Last updated on: June 9, 2015 at 8:22 pm by Jane the Actuary

Truth and consequences, Emma Sulkowicz edition 2015-06-09T20:22:00-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

(If you’re missing background on the Sulkowicz story, here’s a piece by Megan McArdle with lots of context.)

On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely do you judge it to be that Emma Sulkowicz is being truthful in her recounting of events, with 0 being “I’m quite certain that she’s lying through her teeth” and 10 being “I believe her 100%” (and 5 being, of course, “there’s a 50/50 chance either way”)? Really — tell me in the comments. (Except Marsy or anyone else who wants to push an agenda rather than have a discussion.)

In the case that she’s truthful, the accused student committed a serious crime. In the case that she’s lying, she herself committed a crime (or what most people would consider a criminal act, even if we don’t make a practice of jailing false accusers, and, in this particular case, she didn’t bring a criminal complaint).

Shorn of all context, to judge one case more likely than the other, you’d have to believe that either men or women are more likely to commit crimes. In the “she said” version, hidden behind that mild-mannered college student exterior is a cruel, vicious, violent man. In the “he said” version, the crusader for justice is really a vindictive woman scheming to punish a man who rejected her.

Conventional wisdom says that, yes, the “she said” version is almost certainly the truth — which carries more than a small dose of assumption that men are more likely to be violent perpetrators than women are likely to be vengeance-motivated liars. We look at such a situation and say, “why would a woman lie?” and assume that she has no motivation, but take it for granted that a man needs no motivation to attack a woman, because it’s somehow just inborn. Which is kind of troubling, isn’t it?

Of course, in the case of a woman who accuses a man in criminal court, and knows that, assuming he’s convicted, he could be jailed for many, many years, perhaps even for life, we expect that the seriousness of the consequences of the charge (coupled with the fact that perjury is, in fact, a pretty serious crime) would discourage all but the most sociopathic of women from making a false accusation (though these pop up periodically, say, when a woman claims rape to explain a pregnancy when a boyfriend was out of town). But in a university context, when an accusation means expulsion, not jail time, and when the charge is not made under oath, it would seem at least more likely for a woman to make a false accusation, if she wants to inflict harm on someone, and has the confidence of knowing that the harm she inflicts will be malicious but only metaphorically life-ending.

Megan McArdle, last week, wrote about the lack of data on the question of false accusations. And rape accusations have a completely different sort of character than, say, lying about theft to collect insurance money — it’s an accusation against a specific individual.

So what do you think? Or is my perspective too colored by being the mom of three boys, the oldest of whom just finished his freshman year of high school, and who gives us a lot of worry in terms of his ability, three years hence, to navigate the college environment?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 9, 2015

College for all, the Europeans, and path dependency

Next Post

June 9, 2015 Poems by my 2nd grader

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hatred Trouble Strife Anger