Too Much Information

by Phil Stott

The big news out here on Long Island this week has been of an alleged gang rape of a girl on the campus of Hofstra University that turned out to be a lie. Four guys were paraded in front of the media, their lives and reputations (not to mention those of their families) held up to scrutiny and judgment because of a lie told by one college student. Not 24 hours after the initial story broke-with news crews camped out on campus, and mug shots of the men concerned plastered across newspapers, computers and TV screens-it was over, with police now said to be considering bringing charges against the girl for wasting their time.

It's a case that's given me pause for thought both as a general member of society, and as a parent-and mostly because of volume of information I've digested in the past week, none of which has done me a single bit of good.

Too soon
First, I'm reminded once again of the double standard in the justice system: four innocent men have had their reputations seriously tarnished by one false accusation, from a "victim" whose identity we may never know. In the day and age we're living in, where information can get passed around at unprecedented speed, and where even our politicians have realized that telling a lie often enough can get people to start believing it, I can't believe that information like that is getting out, only for the guys to be cleared of all charges less than a day later. The key to uncovering the truth, apparently, was that police told the girl there was video footage of the incident: they couldn't have tried that before subjecting four innocent guys to a media perp walk?

Too early
Watching a news bulletin on the case before going to work on the day it fell apart (9/17), my immediate instinct was to cover my daughter's ears-and she's not even two, way too young to understand anything about it. The reason? In less than a minute-and with no warning of the graphic details to come-the news station went from talking about how the four guys had been charged with gang rape to explaining that the case fell apart because the sex between the woman and the four men had been consensual, something the guys had maintained all along. All this before seven in the morning.

Now don't get me wrong: I'm no prude. I curse with the best of them and have heard and said my share of downright offensive things. But I can't for the life of me understand how something so graphic is permitted on TV at a time when children are almost certain to be around. What, so I can't hear the "f" word in case it offends someone, but it's perfectly reasonable for me to have to monitor my TV before I've finished my first cup of coffee in case I end up having to explain the horrors of the adult world to a child? You tell me which is easier: correcting a child who repeats a curse word, or having to answer the question "Daddy, what's gang rape?"

At the end of it all, I'm left wondering if I really needed to know any of that information.  Or if anything good has come of any of it. And my answer to both questions is the same: probably not. But I have learned a valuable lesson that will stay with me as my kids get older: there's no such thing as a "safe" time to forget about monitoring what they might be watching.

(photo: AP Photo/Frank Eltman)