Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Imperfect Plaintiff Defense.

 


On May 1st at 11:09 A.M. someone left the following comment on my Every campaign needs campaign slogans post.

"the elephant should look in the mirror"

I left the following response:

"This is called the Imperfect Plaintiff Defense.  Trial lawyers used to defend rapists by dragging the victim's sexual history into court or by implying that she somehow brought it on herself by dressing or behaving "provocatively." People are mean, stupid, and jealous so it worked quite well much of the time.

It's often referred to with the maxim that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

There's even a Biblical reference, "Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone."

And it's a very efficient method of preserving one's right to behave badly. It implies that anyone who has ever done anything wrong should refrain from criticizing the antisocial or criminal behavior of others. So...as long as you live in a society full of imperfect people you never have to clean up your act because no one is allowed to complain.


If you know my children or have witnessed something I should know about I'd very much appreciate being informed. And if you're aware of some details regarding my own imperfect behavior as a parent, I would also appreciate knowing about it."

The Imperfect Plaintiff Defense is closely related to the human tendency to blame the victim, a problem I wrote about here.

If you witness this behavior during your sentence in the public school system, feel free to write about it here.

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