I'm a little slow to get to this, but I remember reading this Rolling Stone article about the climate of sex, race and athletics at Duke when it first was published. Now that that particular case has reached its rather sordid conclusion, it's worth revisiting. While I think the whole situation was awful, and the players did not deserve to go through the wringer as they did, let's not christen them as martyrs either.
Matana hits this, and a really interesting take on the Imus scandal as well (via TBP). I would add only that his firing proves the effectiveness of economic pressure on hateful speech in media- it wasn't Jackson and Sharpton who made Imus' firing happen, it was the people who put pressure on his sponsors. And if the folks who made noise during this scandal about the misogyny in hip-hop are serious, then get a letter writing campaign going so Budwiser and Heiniken stop paying Jay-Z and Lil' Jon to pitch their beer. Money talks.
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I think that's an important point Pat, and one that the conservative/right base misses when they attack Sharpton or Jackson in regards to Imus' firing. Ultimately, it was a financial decision: sponsors pulled their support due to his comments, and the fact that they would alienate their customers if they continued to support his show.
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