Doing Right

“It takes a big man to admit he’s wrong. It takes a bigger man to do something about it”

Geoff Hebert called me out. Any you know what? He was right. He didn’t complain about me intentionally dragging the Stevenson name through the mud, something I didn’t feel I did anyhow. He compared my recent work on the Paterno situation and the serious manner in which I addressed it to the cavalier attitude I took in dealing with this case and then he took me to task. When I finished reading his email, I had one thought: I fucked up. Now it’s time to do something about it.

I must admit, when I first read the Barstool story about the arrest, I laughed. I’m not sure why. Part of it is I don’t see this as a case where the victim is free of all responsibility. The affidavit says that she was “manipulated” into making the video, though it fails to mention specifically how she was manipulated. Ultimately though, the tape was made with her knowledge. I know we often fail to appreciate how our actions can come back to bite us in the ass in the future (like me with my original article. D’oh.) but the implications of placing a 26 minute video of you performing sex acts into the hands of someone else are pretty obvious. Is it her fault that the video made it to the internet? No. Does that mean she should have made it anyways? No. She learned a hard lesson there.

Some people might say she got what she deserved. I disagree. No one deserves to have their life torn apart because they made one bad mistake. On a personal level, I did something really extremely incredibly unbelievably stupid last spring. I was on the verge of losing a lot of things that I had worked extremely hard for and nearly had my life turned upside down over something that was a dumb decision but ultimately not egregious. So to the ex-girlfriend in this story? I feel you. You don’t deserve to have your life ruined because you consented to something foolish when you were twenty-two. Doing something dumb that doesn’t break any law other than ones involving common sense shouldn’t define your life.

Some more personal sharing here: I may be a NESCAC boy, the product of an elitist collegiate culture and a believer that such an experience is unparalleled, but I am a blue-collar guy at heart. My parents, how do I say this, strongly encouraged me to learn the value of hard work. I wasn’t the beneficiary of parents who handed me money, cars and toys at my every whim. My parents did me one better. They gave me a strong moral upbringing, something that I hope comes through when I express my outrage about what happened at Penn State and my sincere sorrow at the death of Derrik Flahive. I almost went into law enforcement with a NESCAC education simply because I find those who victimize others so detestable.

In light of that, I have no idea how I brushed over the mention of child pornography in the stories about Chris Scott. I have no excuse for this. If he did indeed possess such images, I believe he should be locked up for however long the maximum sentence may be. Crimes against children are deplorable and the possession of child pornography promotes the commission of those crimes. By possessing child pornography, a person reduces their self to the level of those who originally took the pictures. Given the graphic and violent nature of the pictures allegedly in Chris’ possession, he would be promoting a particularly abhorrent brand of child exploitation. Such a criminal, if the charges proven to be true, is deserving of no mercy and no leniency.

One of my best friends was raped when she was a teenager. I wish I had remembered how I felt when I first heard about that when I was reading about Chris Scott. Geoff, thank you for setting me straight. I owe you some cold drinks and a hot meal. I will leave the original story up because I do not believe in hiding from our mistakes. One of my favorite websites, ProFootballTalk.com, once reported that Terry Bradshaw was dead when he was in fact very much alive. To this day, that post still exists in their archives. This is emblematic of the attitude I take in running this site. I will not hide from my shortcomings.

Stevenson Responds

Preface: Following the posting of the Chris Scott story earlier today, a few past and present members of the Stevenson lacrosse program expressed concern via Twitter over the original title of the article, “The Pride of Stevenson Lacrosse.” Upon receiving their complaints, I extended an open offer to any of them to explain why they found it inappropriate with the promise that I would post it here. Both Michael Simon and Geoff Hebert provided responses. I would like to thank them for their efforts.

Geoff Hebert, Stevenson Class of 2010:

I just want to say that I do not blame you for covering this story. It is an awful situation and the particulars of the story need to be examined in order raise awareness and prevent these situations from happening in the future. It happens too often and it ruins lives. This young woman’s life will never be the same because of what he did. Barstool has mentioned that, “The clip, which was viewed nearly 36,000 times on XTube, was copied onto other porn sites, where it remains available.” (Barstool) This video will likely never get taken off the Internet, and the video also includes her hometown and work information. It is truly unfortunate, and I believe he deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for what he did. As far as the child pornography goes? Absolutely disgusting, and given the recent events in regards to Penn State, this is obviously a problem that needs addressing and should be mentioned as well.

I also don’t blame you for mentioning that it took place in a Stevenson University dorm room in 2009, or for the fact that you mentioned that he was a former Stevenson lacrosse player. These are facts of the story and are necessary to provide context. What I don’t understand is the tone of the article, which I found borderline malicious.

First, I think that given the severity of the allegations and the consequences that resulted, the “tongue-in-cheek” tone of the entire article is inappropriate. In the article you wrote, “I thought about leaving it at that, but me being me and this situation being too hilarious to ignore…” Is it really that funny? This girl was manipulated, according to the affidavit, into making a sex video. The manipulator than put it on the Internet and included her hometown and work information on the video. Yes, she put herself in this situation and she has only herself to blame and all that…but someone whom she had trusted manipulated her. This kid is sick and took advantage of this girl. It will be almost impossible for her to find a career, and it will most likely do irreversible damage to her self-esteem, not to mention put tremendous strain on the relationships she has with people she cares about and who care about her. Imagine if this was your daughter or sister or friend you cared about? Not to mention the fact that they found child pornography on his computer. The description of the content of that picture is horrifying. Why would you write about Paterno with such moral conviction, yet write so carelessly about this unfortunate event? I know these two cases are drastically different, most obviously one involves consensual sex with an adult and possession of child pornography while the other involves the rape of multiple children. I am not saying that they are equal on the spectrum of morality; however, I do believe such a lack of empathy in your most recent article contradicts the values of strong morals and empathy you have expressed in your previous articles.

Of the articles that I have read (and rather enjoyed) you write thoughtfully with linguistic accuracy and support morality, empathy and the common good. One only has to read your articles on the Colby player, Derrik Flahive, and Joe Paterno to observe this. However, in your article, The Pride of Stevenson Lacrosse, you use strong profanity, mention hard-drugs, and condone blackmail? In your letter to Chris you wrote, “You just hang the threat of going public with it over her head so that she tells other girls what a great guy you were and how she never had a better lover. Maybe you even get her to take your laundry and do some folding for you.” The crass narrative of the article creates a perceived “stance” on this matter that is so far off from the positions you have taken in the past. I understand the sarcasm of the title; I just find it to be in extremely poor taste for someone who has such a strong moral stance on similar matters.

As it pertains to offending the Stevenson alumni, I’m sure your intentions weren’t actually malicious. However, can you see how the inconsistencies of your most recent article in comparison to articles written in the past, in addition to the title of your most recent article, could lead some to believe that this WAS a shot at the program? I know you changed the title, but I find the “update” equally offensive. This spiteful retort is embarrassing to both of us.

Having said that, the inconsistency and tone of this article does a disservice to your credibility as a respected blogger/author/journalist. I have always respected your opinion because, although you have your biases (who doesn’t), your arguments were always well structured and articulated clearly.  This recent article looks like it was copy and pasted from Barstool or Brobible. I know you are much, much better than the literary garbage you just posted. However, that might not mean much to you; so take it for what it is.

Whether this was an actual shot at the program or it was an impulsive vent brought on by the negligence of college kids, that’s for you to decide.

Michael Simon, Stevenson Class of 2009:

Regardless of your intentions or actual feelings, as a novice writer, I would have thought you would have better regard for how your words fall. “The Pride of Stevenson Lacrosse” from the start takes the focus off the individual and shines it directly on the program. I mean think about, before you even read an article the title is going to tell you what it is about. So already you shot yourself in the foot by making this about Stevenson Lacrosse. You then follow it up with your opening line “Per The Smoking Gun, former Stevenson Men’s Lacrosse player Christopher Scott”. Again I would have expected you to have better understanding of how constructing the sentence this way, carefully choosing to put that he was a SU lacrosse player before you even identify the suspect, makes the focus all about Stevenson Lacrosse. From there the rest of the writing is fine doesn’t do anything further to implement SU Lacrosse but the damage is already done and the reader is already honed in on the program itself.

 On top of that there is the title itself. You remind me of teenager who using sarcasm for the first time gets called out by another individual. Immediately the teen says “hey that’s not what I was saying at all! All I was saying was “Fill in the Blank” but then completely fails acknowledge how the context and tone ultimately determined the meaning of their words and not the actual words themselves. What’s worse is you say you were being sarcastic and that should be evident. Ultimately you fail to do anything to back that up in the writing such as stating that this is an isolated incident or explaining how appalled members of the Stevenson Lacrosse community are by this individuals actions. Instead you want to the readers on their own to make this great leap of faith and reach what you were going for despite setting them so nicely (as discussed in the previous paragraph) to think the complete opposite.

I don’t know that if you were intentionally trying to take a shot at SU Lacrosse or not and frankly I don’t care. All I am telling you is this article definitely depicts Stevenson Lacrosse in a bad light, more so than any of the other countless articles I have read about the incident.

Former Stevenson Lacrosse Player Arrested After Posting Video of Ex-Girlfriend Online

Update: In all fairness to Stevenson University and the lacrosse team, it bears mentioning that Scott was not a member of the team in 2011 and was not enrolled at the university. The Smoking Gun report included a link to Scott’s athletic profile from the 2010 roster, which the Stevenson administration has since removed from their athletics website, presumably as a result of the news reports. Unfortunately for them, his name still appears on the statistics page. He did appear in nine games for the team in 2010, registering one assist and taking five shots. I can understand the obvious motives behind the removal of his profile, but for members of the program to attempt to entirely disassociate the fact that he played on the team in 2010 from the situation is a misrepresentation of the facts. In accordance with the facts, I have edited the title to better reflect the situation at hand. None of this changes the fact that this article was about as serious as Rick Perry’s chances of being president of the United States and should be taken as such.

Per The Smoking Gun, former Stevenson Men’s Lacrosse player Christopher Scott was arrested earlier this week for posting an amateur porn film he and his ex-girlfriend made in 2009 in his Stevenson University dorm room. He cited being depressed over the breakup as his reason for posting the video, which included the girl’s hometown and work information. The only thing that could make this better would be the cops finding some cocaine speed meth PCP weed and a bong when they searched his house. Which of course they did. They also found child porn on his computer including, “one image of child pornography that showed a naked, prepubescent girl tied facedown to a weight bench.”

I thought about leaving it at that, but me being me and this situation being too hilarious to ignore, I figured I’d write a brief letter to Chris which you can find below.

Dear Chris,

You fucked up. The number one rule of having a porno of your ex-girlfriend is YOU DON’T GO PUBLIC WITH IT. Period. You just hang the threat of going public with it over her head so that she tells other girls what a great guy you were and how she never had a better lover. Maybe you even get her to take your laundry and do some folding for you. But you don’t just throw it out on the internet. What if her dad had stumbled across it on XTube while the Mrs. was out of the house on a Friday afternoon running errands? That’s just cruel and unusual man. As for the weed, just tell the cops your were using it medicinally to help you get over the depression of losing a girl who was so classy that she agreed to make a sex tape with you. Yeah, that’s marriage material. In the words of Celine Dion, “Your heart will go onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn and onnnnnnnnnnnn.”

Sucks to Suck,

Swank

The moral of the story, as always, is don’t date girls who have back tattoos or who make sex tapes.  To borrow a phrase, you’re going to get what you pay for.