Wednesday, March 14, 2007

"MAN UP"

Last week the Chronicle printed a story about the suffering of the two young men charged with felonious assault on visiting Yale choir members.

The victims of what San Francisco D.A. Kamala Harris calls a “cowardly attack” had injuries that required ambulance trips to the hospital, but two of the attackers, currently free on bail, are complaining about how much they are suffering.

The ringleader of the attack, Richard Aicardi has lost 30 pounds. Boo fucking hoo.

Aicardi’s mom, a pediatrician, has lost some patients. Even though three of her sons are alleged to have participated in the cowardly attack, Ms Aicardi can’t understand why parents would doubt her expertise in raising children. Boo fucking hoo.

And Brian Dwyer’s life has turned upside down. Boo fucking hoo.

They thought they were immune to the law. They are totally surprised

They thought they should get away with beating people up.

Now the Chronicle has printed an editorial impugning the manliness of the Yale victims.

They had to get a woman to write it. Ms Caille Millner thinks it’s ok to go around insulting men’s masculinity, or is it their grown-upness she’s impugning. She starts the article by characterizing her views as “wisdom.”

A FEW WORDS of wisdom for the kids involved in the Yale New Year's Eve confrontation: Man up.

“Man up”? I guess that mean’s act like men. What exactly does that mean?

From the outcry that's erupted over this, you'd think it was the first time anyone had ever been in a fistfight. You'd think it was the worst thing in the world that a couple of Yale singers got hit in the face. You'd think that human beings have evolved to the point where violence isn't a day-to-day part of our existence.

The commentary over the course of this story boils down to a basic question: is fistfighting and street brawling a part of everyday life? Advocates for the attackers point to the unwritten rules of streetfighting.

This blog takes the position that there is no place in civilized society for fistfighting and street brawling. We advocate “love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s not a new concept.

What Ms Millner is asking for is exactly what she’s getting. The Yale kids are “Manning up.” They’re manning up just the way the Aicardi’s manned up.

Aicardi was outnumbered so he called for reinforcements. Then they used their superior force to prevail over the Yale kids that evening.

Now Caille Millner wants to declare the fight to be over. But the kind of “real men” Caille seems to prefer don’t admit defeat and dishonor, they, just like the Aicardi’s, look for reinforcements and revenge.

Now the Yale kids with their lawyer reinforcements have forced the police department, whom the Aicardi gang thought was on their side, to do their jobs and make a few arrests. So SFPD (at least in part) and the D.A. (at least in part) are on the Yalie side.

Now the Aicardi’s are whining that THEY are outnumbered.

This just proves what they say about bullies, when they meet superior force they turn into sniveling little babies.

You know, the story was fading from view until these two pro-defense articles came out. This is strange. It makes me suspicious.

Hopefully Dan Noyes will continue to investigate why more attackers haven’t been charged. There has been at least one anonymous allegation that one or more children of SFPD brass were involved in the attack.

Transparency is needed here, or we have to assume the worst.

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