Ched Evans - Twitterati Victory Again

It was bound to happen - the onslaught of the Twitterati mob was bound to win out in the end. It needs balls to stand up to the mob, and it seems balls are a commodity that is scarce in the UK at the moment.

For those not in the UK Ched Evans is a professional soccer player who, along with another man, was accused of raping a woman in a hotel room. The woman herself did not report rape. There was no physical evidence of rape. There was no corroborating evidence. The facts are pretty much not in dispute - she was drunk, agreed to have sex with the first man, asked for oral sex from Ched Evans. She later passed out. In the morning she was upset because she could not remember what happened. When she went to the police she did not report rape. The police suggested it was rape because she was so drunk she could not have consented to sex in their opinion. When asked both men agreed that they had had consensual sex with her. The police decided a crime had been committed, and it went to court. The jury found the first man not guilty, Ched Evans they found guilty. He was sentenced to prison, served his sentence and was released.

Now I'll admit that I think this sounds a lot like a miscarriage of justice to me. The whole thing is suspect. But let's just accept that he is a rapist who was found guilty and has served his sentence.

Since his release his attempts to get back into football have been dogged with controversy. The mob have decided that it's not enough that he has done time, he has to be made to suffer permanent disgrace. If he was convicted of a violent rape or an abduction it would be understandable. But that's not the case. At worse he has had sex with a woman who was too drunk to make a decision. She didn't struggle. She didn't say no. There is no suggestion of coercion or violence.

But the mantra is 'rape is rape' -- it's another of those simplistic slogans so beloved of the left as it does not leave room for ambiguity, complexity or thought. It effectively short-circuits any kind of consideration of evidence or doubt. And that's why it - like 'tax the rich', 'the war on Islam' and the rest - are so dangerous.