A Dishonest Rewrite

"If you're trying to change minds and influence people it's probably not a good idea to say that virtually all elected Democrats are liars, but what  the hell." TRKOF&S LIARS “ A Dishonest Rewrite of the Duke Lacrosse Case On an author's publicity tour, he's even more explicit in trying to taint the students who were falsely accused. (by Dorothy Rabinowitz) "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?… Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?…The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." - 1984 In the outpouring of praise for William D. Cohan's new book "The Price of Silence"—a work, remarkably enough, being celebrated as a model of evenhandedness, scrupulous objectivity, etc.—one essential has gone overlooked. Namely, the central point of this tale about the Duke lacrosse case and accusations against three players of rape and assault at a house party. It takes no close reading to see that the book is meant to recast the story so as to nullify the outcome Americans thought they knew—that the players were exonerated and had been falsely accused. In Mr. Cohan's portrayal, the workings of decency and justice were undone by malign forces—among them, it would seem, the ability to hire defense attorneys. [...] No surprise the accused beat the charges, Mr. Cohan is regularly at pains to make clear: These were white sons of privilege, from families who could pay for their excellent defense lawyers. In Mr. Cohan's revisionist history we find a new moral hero—none other than Mr. Nifong, the prosecutor who brought the case and was disbarred for his actions during the investigation.  [The Full Rabinowitz] Forget the details? Case refresher Truth today is what people can be made to believe, or feel unsure about; a concept introduced to the U.S. body politic by Bill Clinton, and a willing media who held him in awe.  Muddy the waters; divide. There is of course the peculiar Liberal Duke culture. ”