Elizabeth Smart testimony today

[Commando]

She's just awkward and embarrassing to watch!

[The_Tick]

As a parent I am bothered reading her testimony. I would hate for that to happen to my child and would feel helpless in figuring out how to help her heal/cope.

What bothers me even more...

My daughter has been texting me all morning about her Psych class at BYU and the open debate they were having about the E.Smart case.

A majority of the class felt that:

1. She is going to be held accountable because she chose to drink alcohol. According to her own testimony she knew what she was doing and she is going to have to answer to God for breaking the WoW.

2. She should have defended herself and not allowed herself to be raped. By allowing it to happen for 9 months, it likens to consent.


This bothers me on a few levels.

1. This is some F@cked up thinking.
2. This is my daughters dating pool.

As a parent I am impressed that Ms. Smart was smart enough to use the alcohol to get through the ordeal.

And I am all for doing anything you have to do to survive to continue to live.

Such a small world view. I am a little more worried about her education at the moment.

[marsupial]

As a parent I am bothered reading her testimony. I would hate for that to happen to my child and would feel helpless in figuring out how to help her heal/cope.

What bothers me even more...

My daughter has been texting me all morning about her Psych class at BYU and the open debate they were having about the E.Smart case.

A majority of the class felt that:

1. She is going to be held accountable because she chose to drink alcohol. According to her own testimony she knew what she was doing and she is going to have to answer to God for breaking the WoW.

2. She should have defended herself and not allowed herself to be raped. By allowing it to happen for 9 months, it likens to consent.


This bothers me on a few levels.

1. This is some F@cked up thinking.
2. This is my daughters dating pool.

As a parent I am impressed that Ms. Smart was smart enough to use the alcohol to get through the ordeal.

And I am all for doing anything you have to do to survive to continue to live.

Such a small world view. I am a little more worried about her education at the moment.

Are you serious? She's going to be held accountable for breaking the WOW? And no 14 year old can consent to what she went through.

[SeattleUte]

As a parent I am bothered reading her testimony. I would hate for that to happen to my child and would feel helpless in figuring out how to help her heal/cope.

What bothers me even more...

My daughter has been texting me all morning about her Psych class at BYU and the open debate they were having about the E.Smart case.

A majority of the class felt that:

1. She is going to be held accountable because she chose to drink alcohol. According to her own testimony she knew what she was doing and she is going to have to answer to God for breaking the WoW.

2. She should have defended herself and not allowed herself to be raped. By allowing it to happen for 9 months, it likens to consent.


This bothers me on a few levels.

1. This is some F@cked up thinking.
2. This is my daughters dating pool.

As a parent I am impressed that Ms. Smart was smart enough to use the alcohol to get through the ordeal.

And I am all for doing anything you have to do to survive to continue to live.

Such a small world view. I am a little more worried about her education at the moment.

BYU is a totally f@cked up place. I've been trying to tell you that. Why would a parent send particularly a daughter there?

[TripletDaddy]

BYU is a totally f@cked up place. I've been trying to tell you that. Why would a parent send particularly a daughter there?

Why is that stance much different than the one Levin was championing through his reference to Camille Paglia? In essence..."hey women, come on....you are at least PARTIALLY responsible for the sexual behavior of men."

The E-Smart case, and any other rape case, is a perfect example of why such thinking is ridiculous.

I have a hard time believing that a majority of BYU students, even in their most advanced state of BYU-ness, would believe that E-Smart violated the Word of Wisdom in any way. That strikes me as over the top, but I was not there so I can't differ. I hope it is untrue.

[Mrs. Funk]

This doesn't have much to do with Smart's tesimony, but have you seen this video of Nancy Grace interviewing Elizabeth?

Nancy Grace is a jerk and tries to bring up the abduction when Elizabeth had agreed to go on the show to talk about new legislation. Pretty impressive response by Elizabeth:

[YOUTUBE]5x8ARIxg51I&p[/YOUTUBE]

GAH.

How terrible. I can't believe I hadn't seen that before.

How the [redacted] dare she try to dig into this girl's past trauma and abuse for the sake of sensationalism on her TV show, and then try to guilt her with a line about "speaking up for other victims"?

[Colly Wolly]

BYU is a totally f@cked up place. I've been trying to tell you that. Why would a parent send particularly a daughter there?

Pretty much. I'm not going to encourage my sons to go there.

[Indy Coug]

As a parent I am bothered reading her testimony. I would hate for that to happen to my child and would feel helpless in figuring out how to help her heal/cope.

What bothers me even more...

My daughter has been texting me all morning about her Psych class at BYU and the open debate they were having about the E.Smart case.

A majority of the class felt that:

1. She is going to be held accountable because she chose to drink alcohol. According to her own testimony she knew what she was doing and she is going to have to answer to God for breaking the WoW.

2. She should have defended herself and not allowed herself to be raped. By allowing it to happen for 9 months, it likens to consent.


This bothers me on a few levels.

1. This is some F@cked up thinking.
2. This is my daughters dating pool.

As a parent I am impressed that Ms. Smart was smart enough to use the alcohol to get through the ordeal.

And I am all for doing anything you have to do to survive to continue to live.

Such a small world view. I am a little more worried about her education at the moment.

No offense, but a freshman Psych class at BYU has 100s of students. There's no way to tell if what she related to you is the majority position. As per usual, those with the more extreme positions tend to vocalize their opinions more often than those that are middle-of-the-road. Don't be extrapolating a few comments in class as some broad-based description of the attitudes others have about what Elizabeth Smart did while in captivity.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I have a hard time believing that a majority of BYU students, even in their most advanced state of BYU-ness, would believe that E-Smart violated the Word of Wisdom in any way. That strikes me as over the top, but I was not there so I can't differ. I hope it is untrue.

No way. This was either a mischaracterization of the discussion or a bizarre concentration of idiots.

[marsupial]

As a parent I am bothered reading her testimony. I would hate for that to happen to my child and would feel helpless in figuring out how to help her heal/cope.

What bothers me even more...

My daughter has been texting me all morning about her Psych class at BYU and the open debate they were having about the E.Smart case.

A majority of the class felt that:

1. She is going to be held accountable because she chose to drink alcohol. According to her own testimony she knew what she was doing and she is going to have to answer to God for breaking the WoW.

2. She should have defended herself and not allowed herself to be raped. By allowing it to happen for 9 months, it likens to consent.


This bothers me on a few levels.

1. This is some F@cked up thinking.
2. This is my daughters dating pool.

As a parent I am impressed that Ms. Smart was smart enough to use the alcohol to get through the ordeal.

And I am all for doing anything you have to do to survive to continue to live.

Such a small world view. I am a little more worried about her education at the moment.

I can see the argument:

If Joseph Smith could have his leg operated on without the need of alcohol, then certainly 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart could go down on some crusty old dude without the need of it.

Perhaps these kids were just trolling? I really have a hard time thinking that even the most misogynistic-mullah-Mormon would think she could be punished by God for anything that went on during her 9-month captivity.

[Colly Wolly]

No offense, but a freshman Psych class at BYU has 100s of students. There's no way to tell if what she related to you is the majority position. As per usual, those with the more extreme positions tend to vocalize their opinions more often than those that are middle-of-the-road. Don't be extrapolating a few comments in class as some broad-based description of the attitudes others have about what Elizabeth Smart did while in captivity.

This is a cop out. We piss and moan about mainstream/moderate Muslims not doing enough to denounce extremists. Were are the cries for moderation at our own madrasahs?

[Surfah]

No way. This was either a mischaracterization of the discussion or a bizarre concentration of idiots.

I can't imagine a professor allowing a discussion like that to persist especially in that department.

[Indy Coug]

This is a cop out. We piss and moan about mainstream/moderate Muslims not doing enough to denounce extremists. Were are the cries for moderation at our own madrasahs?

I'll get back to you when the extremists start killing and imprisoning the moderates and unbelievers.

[Surfah]

No offense, but a freshman Psych class at BYU has 100s of students. There's no way to tell if what she related to you is the majority position. As per usual, those with the more extreme positions tend to vocalize their opinions more often than those that are middle-of-the-road. Don't be extrapolating a few comments in class as some broad-based description of the attitudes others have about what Elizabeth Smart did while in captivity.

It depends on the section. Mine only had about 35 students or so and met in a small classroom in the bottom of the SWKT.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I can't imagine a professor allowing a discussion like that to persist especially in that department.

Not a chance.