To be worried about the Ched Evans threads on here

[corkysgran]

Sorry but this does seem like a witchunt to me. Many of the posters (who have signed the petition) obviously have little knowledge of the case. At one point a poster said Sports Direct would withdraw sponsorship if Evans was NOT signed and immediately others were vowing to boycott. Laughable and shows the level of thought before clicking. Online justice and the court of public opinion, not for me. As for expecting football, an industry corrupt from the very top (Sepp Blatter) and inherently sexist, to show any moral stance, get real.

I agree with OP unfortunately I do think there are elements of a witch hunt here. My general feeling is once somebody has served their punishment they should be allowed to return to society and live normally.

Obviously there are some exceptions to this but I don't believe Evan's case is one of them. My feeling is this comes down to a lot of people being unhappy that a criminal can still earn lots of money and have a luxury lifestyle. If he were a brick layer nobody would give a toss.

He hasn't served his punishment. Hhe doesn't accept his punishment. He doesn't think he has done anything wrong. Bricklayers are not idolised by our society.

Sigh.

foreverdepressed
If he was a bricklayer, thousands of people wouldn't be cheering him every week and holding him up as a hero.
If he was a bricklayer, replica footballs shirts with the rapist's name wouldn't be available for sale (including in children's sizes)
It's unlikely that the construction firm that hired a rapist bricklayer would have outreach football clubs running in schools.

Like it or not, footballers are held up as heros and rolemodels by some young (and older) people.
An unrepentant convicted rapist is never going to be an acceptable role model for a civilized society.

He has not finished his sentence.

He has continued to collaborate in the harassment of his victim.

His claims of innocence seem to be based not on new argument or evidence but a lack of comprehension of why he broke the law.

Many, many people also seem not to understand why he broke the law and have continued to use tape myths to defend him.

This puts at all at risk. A return to a sport where he is cheered on every week endorses his opinions. I don't think he would earn untold riches at Oldham. However the only reason anybody earns any money for kicking a ball around is that they do it infront of an audience.

I have said everything in this post before and will keep on expressing them while people keep on expressing views that put women at risk.

I do not believe that makes me part of a mob or a witch hunt:

Oops, rape myths.

I've was a brickie, you are right that would be fine.

Because as a brickie he will not be watched or cheered on by crowds.

It may well be in his interests to move into a different sector. Just like the rest of us, when we don't get the first choice type of work and can't change the factors that led to repeated refusal.

Failure to secure a job isn't a form of punishment. Because if so, just look at how many are being similarly 'punished' every day.

He doesn't have the right to be a footballer. No-one has a right to a specific post, even if you've done it previously. If employers decide they don't like the cut of your jib, or believes that you'd be bad for business you'd be cut out at the interview stage.

And various other typos and phone fails.

Rootypig,

There is indeed a battle between those in football who detest what Evans did, and those who think a drunk woman is a slag who deserves all she gets and therefore can't be "raped".

There is also traditionally a sniggering about rape. Remember "he's going to rape your defence" when Evans was released and expected to return to Sheffield United.

The fallout from this case is showing that those attitudes are unacceptable both within football and society generally.

Perhaps I am naive, but Evans could assist in changing attitudes and preventing future raped by others if he showed some public repentance and made amends. He might even earn himself back a bit of honour in the process. Can't say I'm expecting that though.

My God.

What part of: he has not served his punishment do people fail so spectacularly to understand?

Why do people keep saying it?

Maybe everydayvictimblaming.com/responses-to-media/the-support-of-ched-evans-reveals-how-little-some-of-us-value-womens-voices/ this has something to do with it?

Sadly yes puffins
Its extraordinarily frustrating japanesemargaret

That makes for extraordinarily depressing (because it's so accurate) reading, Puffins.

And this para about the "mob"

If Evans’s perception of the “mob” includes a Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition, a potential sports minister, a saintly athlete, a sensible Oldham fan, and a respected law enforcer then he is in even more denial than the public suspect. Law schools and colleges offering PR courses will surely stage Ched Evans seminars in the future, focusing on “how not to conduct a campaign for your client”, using all the myriad mistakes by Evans’s ‘people’.

A second passes before your daughter, old enough to know exactly what a rapist is, asks you to explain what they are shouting about.

What can you say?

Exactly, just like when your 9 year old DS asks what ' Ched Evans, he fucks who he likes' means, because it has been chanted at a football match. Or worse, shouts it out during a school football match because he is copying what he has heard.

but he struggles to see how he could have been convicted beyond reasonable doubt that she didn't consent, or didn't have the capacity to consent. Basically how could the jury possibly know that it had been proven beyond reasonable doubt that she was too drunk to consent?

Both Evans and McDonald stated in police statements and in court that they didn't ask her.

Add to that, what I have said many times, if you are a semi conscious teenager, naked in a hotel bed with 2 men bigger and stringer than you, and another 2 or 3 outside the window watching and jeering, how much choice do you have?

What do you think will happen if you say 'no'?

I didn't realise he'd published his statement on his own website, thus drawing traffic to his protestations of innocence/victim-blaming/hounding. That's a real nice touch Ched!

To the pp who raised the point about bricklayers: my garden wall needs redone, should I ask a convicted rapist who has shown no remorse to do it?

(What's actually hilarious (not) in that scenario is that if I did knowingly ask a convicted, unrepentant rapist to do some work in my house and the rapist went on to rape me, I have NO doubt that would then become my own fault in the eyes of many people...)

I noted with great satisfaction the emphasis that the woman reading the BBC news on the radio this morning put on the phrase convicted rapist in her bulletin.

That Telegraph article is really good. At least the mainstream media are thinking correctly about all this.

I think you should boycott Sports Direct because it's a shitty company.

CE published his statement apologising for the effects on the victim from a website which

a. has footage of her on it and

b. has a letter published on it describing her as 'screwed up' and stating that 'girls like this ruin lives' and are the reason 'real' rape victims can't get justice.

If CE wants to be taken seriously, then he needs to take down this abhorrent website.

this is very good