Duke and Iraq: Activism Crying Wolf
The flaw of activism is that it blinds us to fact. Activists of all political stripes are so intent on promoting an issue that they cherry-pick details and obscure reality in order to make their point. We see this in racial activism, we see this in the run-up to the invasion of Iráq, we see this in many arenas where there is a genuine problem (few would claim that there is no racism or that Ṣaddám Ḥusayn was a good guy, for instance) but where the hype far outreaches the reality.
A good example of this is in the Duke lacrosse case, in which the activist instinct in the prosecutor, in media like the New York Times, and in large sectors of the public nearly ruined the lives of three young –and innocent– student athletes largely because of their gender, race, and perceived social class. The political presumption of the accuser’s honesty (and consequent presumption of guilt for the accused) so blinded people to reality that the fallacious case was zealously promoted even after DNA tests turned up negative.
The parallels to the intelligence-flubbing by the Office of Special Plans could not be more clear: an activist prejudice for a certain political reality meant that the clear facts were out the window. The preconceieved conclusion trumps all: Iraq is developing WMDs, men are sexual predators, whites are racists, wealthy kids are delinquents, etc.
My disdain for this sort of activist hype and discrimination is not merely to protect those harmed immediately by the slander and fraud perpetrated by people moved by activist politics rather than justice — the thousands of American service members and Iráqi civilians killed in a war ignited by lies, or the untold numbers of innocents whose lives are scarred by prejudice — but also because zealous activism hurts the very cause it claims to champion.
Every false accusation of rape, sexism, or racism today makes it harder to muster outrage for the real incident tomorrow. Every wrong way taken on the road to national security makes our national security weaker, not stronger. Every time someone motivated by political activism cries “Wolf!” in vain, it makes the danger of “wolf” attacks worse due to the cynical negligence this inspires in society.
The president might not be able to express “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” but the average American understands this principle: after a case like Duke, the cries of real rape victims are more likely to fall on deaf ears.
Those who are truly concerned about sexual assault, irrational prejudice, national security, or any other important issue will be very skeptical of the one-way, one-track delusions of activism.
