H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 21°, L 6°As the victim described in Heather Burian’s article, “Woman reports robbery early Friday,” I am disturbed by the condescending tone in which my story was told. I agree that I should have called a cab or SAFEwalk, and I have been the first to concede that I made a poor choice. My objection is that Ms. Burian’s purported “source” not-so-subtly implies that because I was walking home drunk and alone, I was essentially asking to be attacked. I’m not asking for sympathy, just some sensitivity. I am lucky to have escaped unharmed, to have defended myself from having my belongings stolen; however, it is unsettling to know that in an area that is increasingly prone to attacks, I was screaming for help and there was no one around to aid me. The police need to spend more time patrolling the streets and less time in the bars.
I vehemently challenge Rosemary Lee’s legitimacy as a source. Ms. Burian’s decision to include a source who would trivialize what happened to me seems unfair. No one, be they sober, intoxicated, walking home from the bars or walking home from the library, deserves to be assaulted. Ms. Lee, the issue here is that students and citizens must feel safe on the street and must be able to trust that the police will be there should the worst occur. Ms. Lee’s statement that she just could not defend me because I made an admittedly stupid decision suggests that I deserved to be dragged down the sidewalk by my hair. I find her comments disrespectful of my traumatic experience, and I believe Ms. Burian’s decision to include them in her article damages her journalistic integrity.
Anonymous letter submitted by the victim of Friday morning’s robbery.
IP hash: 16abd10d
The blame-game should not even be played on this one…
At no point in the original article did anyone imply that the victim deserved to be attacked. I am truly glad that the victim was not seriously injured and retained her belongings.
I am also the first to advocate for less police bar raids and more street patrols, but to blame police for not hearing screams for help seems a bit far fetched. Police presence at that specific minute, at that specific location may have been a deterrent, but who is to say the attacker wouldn’t just follow their victim a few more blocks until they are even more isolated and vulnerable?
The case was an intoxicated, female, walking alone, at night, in a not-so-trafficked area who was violently attacked by a stranger. To single out “blame” of the police or the victim alone is not warranted. The question asked should not be of blame, but what were the conditions of this situation and what could have been changed to reduce the likelihood of this attack from happening? and the answer involves BOTH the words police presence AND individual responsibility…
IP hash: 7ce024d3
The issue is not safety, Madison is a very safe city, the issue is common sense which is something you seem to lack. Everyone who read the article quickly realized you made a series of irresponsible and foolish choices which made you a target — in any environment. While we do have pity for you and do believe it should not have happened, you all but invited it to happen which makes it difficult to support your belief that the Madison police are at fault. The police department can not patrol looking for individuals drunkenly walking home and offer them a ride for safety, nor would a significant foot patrol in the campus resident neighborhoods be significantly effective in terms of either costs or prevention. Lowly individuals in society prey on the innocent and weak regardless of the police presence. Perhaps a little more foresight on your behalf (e.g. prevention) would have helped and we would not be having this discussion.
IP hash: 4089035a
Shame on you, 6:50. SHAME ON YOU. You make me sick.
IP hash: 6fabc93d
a) Did our 20-year-old get fined for underage drinking?
b) Did the bar that served her get fined?
c) Did she use a fake ID to get served?
Be smart kids. No one’s looking out for you, but you.
IP hash: 3c0d88d9
10:19,
6:50 may be harsh but what he says does contain some truth to it. While the victim is not to blame here, she clearly increased her risk of attack by being irresponsible. That is not to say that the attacker was not showing the utmost of irresponsibility, however the depravity of some individuals cannot be removed; the bad choices that the rest of make can.
IP hash: 3e5b42e1
The fact that the victim feels revictimized by this article and these comments is really unfortunate. She admits that she made a bad choice, and ultimately she suffered a very unfortunate consequence because of it. We should be very glad that she was not more seriously hurt, and use this as a learning experience. We should be looking out for our friends and making sure we get each other home safely. Unfortunately, the resources are not out there for the police to be patrolling at all times. We need to take our safety into our own hands. Placing “blame” here is not helping anyone; what if this happened to one of your friends/family members—you would probably not react this way. Instead, we should use this as a reminder to talk to our friends before going out about a plan to stick together. Again, let’s be glad that this victim was able to get away, and be proactive to try to prevent it from happening again
IP hash: 9624483d
@12:32: “Longtime Madison resident Rosemary Lee said … the victim had no excuse, drunk or sober, for walking home alone. … �My feeling is if a person has enough money to go drink … they darn well better have enough money to take a cab home.� … This is a teaching experience for students who need to be aware the �evil on the streets� will approach vulnerable persons, according to Lee.”
@6:50: Walking home drunk and getting mugged doesn’t indicate a problem with walking home drunk, it indicates a problem of muggers. If there were no would-be muggers, nobody would be forced into this twisted, victim-blaming game. How safe is Madison, really, if you admit that foresight has become necessary?
IP hash: 004cddd7
No one, including the author of this letter, disputes that certain steps can be taken to avoid putting yourself in harm’s way. But picture a society where you, bound by “common sense” as 650a calls it, stay within your apartment with the doors locked and never leave because you’re afraid you’re going to get mugged. You’d never get mugged, sure, but it certainly isn’t consistent with our conception of freedom.
She should be allowed to go wherever, whenever she wants. No one does, indeed, deserve to be assaulted. The real culprit here is the person who jumped her, not her.
IP hash: 075f1409
There weren’t any police doing barchecks at the time this happened. This happened at 3:05AM. The bars were closed.
Don’t blame the cops. Blame the suspect.
IP hash: 7ce024d3
The author at 650 has a reasonable argument, namely not making obviously dumb choices. You wouldn’t leave your wallet laying out in a crowded bar, your car unlocked with your ipod laying in plain view, or have unprotected sex with an anonymous stranger without fear of having your wallet or ipod stolen or contracting an STI. No, people should not live in fear but for fuck’s sake don’t do stupid shit that everyone tells you not to do and cry foul when what you should have tried to prevent happens!
IP hash: 0d3d601b
i wanna see how many students at NYU get mugged