Bill Cosby Is Just A Man - Stony Brook Independent

Bill Cosby. Photo from abcnews.com

by Kaylyn Ahrenstein

Staff Writer

Bill Cosby is a 78 year old man who, in the last year, has been accused by nearly 60 women of either rape, sexual battery, sexual misconduct, child sexual abuse, and/or drug facilitated sexual assault. The alleged crimes occurred throughout the years of 1965 to 2008. They said to have occurred throughout 10 U.S. states and one Canadian province. Cosby repeatedly denied these allegations, but whether he is lying or not is the biggest question on everyone’s mind (besides what do we do if Donald Trump becomes president-but that’s another story).

Bill Cosby has been a beloved part of the T.V. and comedic world for my entire life and more. I am 21 years old, he has been in the business for 52 years, that is more than twice my life time. Could he really be behind all of those crimes, or is it possible that he is simply a wealthy man and a few women knew the possibilities of winning a large case or perhaps settling. Then, after the few allegations spread more women jumped on the band wagon and now an innocent man is guilty before proven innocent. If you’re thinking to yourself “I thought that sentence was the other way around,” you’re right. Cosby should be given the benefit of the doubt, innocent until proven guilty, but the media and propaganda has caused such an uproar that he no longer has that opportunity.

Recently, the media released to the public that the legal issue of Cosby not being able to be prosecuted has changed. In January, Cosby was arrested on felony charges for these many accusations. He was released on $1 million bail and no date has been set for the case to begin. It is expected to be between 9 and 12 months before it begins according to CNN legal analyst Paul Callan.

I feel that his bail did not make sense due to the fact that it is unlikely he’d skip the trial. He could have and in my opinion should have been released on a PTA or promise to appear. The money was set, and at such a high price, because of his fame and fortune which is ridiculous because he is just another person in this situation.

As far as the ability to be prosecuted now, I believe he should have been prosecuted to start, however, if the trial began without evidence then t’s that and it would end in his innocence. I don’t know if Bill Cosby is innocent or guilty, but I do know he is not being treated like a person should be treated in this situation. He is innocent until proven guilty and he should be treated as such.

Disclaimer: This is a blog post in which an opinion is established. We encourage our readers to reach their own conclusions based on reading several articles that support and refute an opinion. The opinions established in this article do not represent the beliefs or ideals held by the Stony Brook Independent.

lawbad

I agree. The reason we have courts of law, and systems of law, is because people can be easily corrupted or motivated to do the wrong thing to achieve a selfish end.

Leaving aside the question of guilt, you have almost sixty women making public accusations decades after the fact. You have lawyers who are eager to sue Cosby because of the potential of a large settlement. You have the news and entertainment media who like the Rise and Fall of Bill Cosby story and who are motivated by the current Presidential election (this case has become about more than Bill Cosby, but Rape Culture, statute of limitations, and the question of how well the system protects victims of sexual assault) to get women civically engaged. You have a hotshot District Attorney in PA who is using the opportunity to prosecute a famous person to raise his political profile. You have the courts who are motivated by the money it make in allowing these cases to go to trial.
KiaSoto

Great POV wish more people would like it like you explained it!
Hope Savage

Well, I’ve got a few things to say…

Many of these women do not want or need his money nor do they want or need the notariety of being a Cosby victim. Nowhere in your writing do you express any concern for women who are drugged and raped.And, Honey, when that many women come forward telling the same story, it’s because it’s probably TRUE. There is a special place in hell for women like you. BUT, you are VERY young and there will be plenty of time for you to have many unpleasant encounters with unpleasant men in your lifetime yet. And you will. We all do. You were not even BORN when some of these women were abused so, you don’t understand that things like rape were not discussed in the 60’s and 70’s. We were even told to shut up about dirty old men trying to molest us. We were told it to stay away from them. You have ZERO knowledge of what it was like in those days to be sexually assaulted and then vilified by the police and in court. Not five years ago, I sat in the court while a trial lawyer asked a 12 year old questions about her vagina and the molesters penis and when and where and, with his tongue? With his finger? For THREE HOURS! About a case that happened when she was eight. How do you suppose grown women are treated? How about during the Mad Men era? Do you think those women would have been given any consideration? Now add to it that you are drugged and raped by the most famous comedian of our time. Who will you tell? Will you be believed? Will you ever work as an actress again? There were no rape kits to gather DNA. If you are paying attention (and that is doubtful), you may be aware that EVEN NOW, women’s rape kits are not even tested because some cop decides for himself she wasn’t raped so, doesn’t submit it for testing. You are uninformed and naive. Who do you think you are judging them?
You better get on the sisterhood bus, kid. Women may be the only ones standing up for you if you were ever so unfortunate as to become one of the statistical one in three women sexually assaulted. I am ashamed of you
- jinarvada
  
  The PR strategy that these accusers were never looking for money or notoriety has been pretty much totally debunked by the fact that these women have chased after every bit of publicity and lawsuits for money that they can, despite the fact that not a single one of them has ever produced a shred of credible evidence to support their claims. Honey, when that many women come forward, almost half of them coming forward only AFTER Gloria Allred challenged Cosby to put up a $100 million dollar victim trust funds, and not one of these women has any credible evidence, it’s probably because it’s - guess what - NOT true.
  
  Comparing BC to a rapist of an eight year old girl is a false equivalency, and a failed tactic used by supporters.
  
  It’s true that the definition of rape was very different in the 60s and 70s. In fact, the kind of contact these accusers describe was not considered rape back then. That definition didn’t change until the 1990s. That means there was likely no way to bring rape charges against a person for a crime that didn’t exist. I’m not interested in any debate that it was or always was rape, or it should have been rape, and rape is rape, etc. You can’t retroactively call a man a rapist.
- lawbad
  
  I think you’re doing what many people do in this debate, which is take contextually consistent logic and apply it to hypothetical nonfictional situations, or apply what is generally true without any consideration for the details. I call it the Sisterhood Fallacy.
  
  If someone says we shouldn’t rush to judge Bill Cosby because these women have no proof, no evidence, no witnesses, and no verifiable facts, that doesn’t mean we’re calling any woman who sits on an allegation a liar. If we point out inconsistencies in their stories, that isn’t an invitation to lecture us on other people’s stories, irrespective of their truth.
  
  If you have to change the subject, or turn a discussion about “Billy Cosby accusers” into a defense of “any woman who has ever been a victim of sexual assault”, your point is bogus, and there’s no reason to discuss anything with you because you’re guided by the principle of “I must defend the honor of rape accusers” and not what you SHOULD be motivated by, which is “the truth”.
  
  If these women were just confiding in a good friend or relative, the specific details may not matter. But if you’re going to broadcast your story to the whole world, facts trump feelings. Rights trump rhetoric.
  - Adam
    
    Well said. I wish I could upvote this 10 more times.
- Adam
  
  About the notoriety of being a Cosby victim, it’s really hard at this point to say they don’t want or need it. They’ve done their TV specials and magazine cover shoots from at least CNN, A&E, Entertainment Tonight, the Dr. Phil Show, and more telling their stories. Their name will be forever be known as that women who accused Bill Cosby of rape or sexual assault or whatever their specific story is. One woman who was even found to have completely fabricated her story about Bill Cosby even wrote a rap song about the tale. Literally, a rap song - I’m not kidding.
  
  And as for other rape cases, I was in a jury as well for a case about a father being accused of sexually assaulting his own daughter. Let me tell you, it’s not black and white. Where the fingers go or didn’t go is extremely important as children can easily be led in one direction by using suggestive questioning. You have to get all the facts.
Tom Peffer

Bill Cosby was an extremely horny man… lets get to the trail so the evidence can be presented and we can start calling him a guilty drugger and rapest.
Tom Peffer

this article sounds like someone had a quota to meet
Adam

Thank you for the well thought out article. Well done.