How did I miss that?

Another sign that the UVA rape case was a hoax from the start. I should have noticed this right away, considering that I attended a heavily Greek university where neither I nor my girlfriend were allowed to rush because our first-semester GPAs were too low.

Now, the "rape" supposedly took place during a fraternity party and was allegedly committed as a ritual fraternity rite by pledges on September 28th of that year. But what university Greek system has pledges at the beginning of the academic year? Not Bucknell. And not UVA either; Rush week there is in February. To be even remotely credible, the fictional story would have needed to be set in February or March.

The reporter, Sabrina Rudin Erdely, went to Penn, so she should have known that. I'm guessing that she wasn't among the 25 percent of the student body who was involved with the Greek system there; it rather looks as if the story may have been the belated revenge of a GDI rejected by the Greeks on campus.

Some of these quotes about Erdely are amusing in light of the obvious calendar discrepancy:

For former editors and colleagues of Erdely, a University of Pennsylvania alumna who cut her teeth at Philadelphia Magazine in the 1990s, the backlash provoked immediate skepticism.

"She's one of the most thorough reporters I've ever worked with," said Eliot Kaplan, who hired Erdely at Philadelphia Magazine in 1994. "She's not a shortcut-taker - very precise, diligent."

Lisa DePaulo, a former colleague of Erdely's at Philadelphia Magazine and a writer at Bloomberg Politics, was incredulous about the attacks on Erdely's reporting. "As far as I know, there's never been a piece of hers that was sloppy," she said. "She's an absolute pro."

How inept are journalists when someone who is supposed to be particularly good can't even get THE TIME OF YEAR correct when attempting to pass off fiction as fact? She might have as reasonably claimed that "Jackie" was raped at a college Christmas party in July.

Posted in: trainwreck,Women Ruin Everything