So last week and this week, as American soldiers die abroad and our government spending grows at a record pace (during a deficit), the prevailing story is the charge of felony sexual assault leveled against LA. Lakers Superstar, Kobe Bryant by Eagle, CO. DA., Mark D. Hurlbert.
Should anybody care? Of course not. Ask yourself this question: how likely is this to effect my own life?. That is the question one should ask themselves when they decide what to care about... more importantly, when they consider what to get involved in. But most people are stupid. That becomes blatantly obvious every time you hear that more people watch Entertainment Tonight than any nightly national newscast.
So what do I think? I have no friggin clue. If I had to guess, I'd say that he probably has sex with different women about 50 times a week, all of them consensual and this was no exception. But then again what do I know, I certainly never got laid that much.
The only thing that seems certain is that Bryant and his alleged victim both seem to agree that they had sex. Given that, and assuming that there are no huge surprises to the Bryant defense team, it appears that this case will simply be a contention as to the circumstances of this sexual encounter. Many people assume that automatically means the case will come down to a matter of 'he said / she said' but b/c the alleged victim reported the incident almost immediately there is plenty of physical evidence. And this evidence can tell a story that rises above witnesses, statements and circumstantial evidence. For example, were hairs pulled out of her head? When a hair is forcibly pulled out it looks much different than natural shed hair.
In the wake of a possible 4-year sentence for Bryant, news broadcasters and sports commentators talk as if his career is already history. That seems like hyperbole to me. For one thing the guy is NOT being charged with rape. For another thing the current Senator of Mass., Ted Kennedy, for example, drove drunk and murdered a woman. Former President William Jefferson Clinton, was accused of sexual assault by more than one woman and somehow spent 8 years in the white house. And as we speak, many Catholic priests that rountinely sodomized little boys and girls, are not only not in jail, but some are still priests.
