# A lot of women are coming forward with rape accusations against Bill Cosby.. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 19, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093 "2014-11-19T17:48:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/121 "2014-11-21T05:36:30Z")
This is why we can’t have nice things. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/122 "2014-11-21T06:23:04Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > So is eyewitness testimony utterly without probative value? Or only when it is offered by women? > > Your statement is the stupidest thing I have ever seen on the internet that wasn’t a joke. I’d offer congratulations, but you’d probably go and tell your mother. There are thousands of people worldwide that claim they have been abducted by UFO’s or know of secret bases that the government is storing them in . Many more claim to have first-hand accounts of Bigfoot and lots of other extremely improbable things. Many of those people aren’t truly lying - they really believe it. Human perception and recollection of events isn’t like a camcorder. It can be much more similar to a video that is sent through a special effects program. It is much worse as time goes by and anything over a few years old is extremely suspect no matter how many people claim it. The most direct answer to your question is yes, all of those eye-witness accounts are worthless especially because most of them weren’t even eye witness accounts. They claimed they passed out decades ago and then assumed something untoward happened with no other evidence. We have also had real posters on this board that have sworn that they were gassed when they traveled to another country and slept longer than they expected. We have had others that just knew that their upstairs neighbors were following them around and listening to their every move on purpose. If there ever is an application for the phrase ‘The plural of anecdote is not data’, it is this one. I have no idea if he is guilty or not but there is no real evidence for what these women are claiming so I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt legally and otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/123 "2014-11-21T06:37:22Z")
I don’t know Cosby nor have I ever heard any allegations, but allegations from women are not nothing to me. To me, they are asymptotic: the more there are, the more likely they are telling the truth Its more silly to assume that 14 or 100 women would make this up, disrupt their own lives and put themselves in the spotlight, risk backlash from a rich, beloved comedian and his fans than simply tell the truth ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/124 "2014-11-21T06:45:11Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Perhaps I did not make myself clear: > > The OP is a fucking useless waste of flesh who should never have been born. The terrible day a sperm and egg collided into a mass of black pus in his mother’s womb was a blight on the world. His father has a choice between making a stain on the sheets and a stain on humanity, and he chose incorrectly. > > Have your discussion. Enjoy. But I will work to the best of my ability to derail and hijack anything that tainted piece of mobile smegma posts. > > Not because, as you so kindly suggest, I am a rapist–very droll, BTW–but because the OP is awful and should not be provided any more wank-bank fodder than he already has been. He is a troll who desperately craves attention as he bangs out another misogynist, hate-fueled, racist screed on his semen-encrusted keyboard. Fuck’s sake, why on earth do you suppose he opened the thread in the Pit? To have a pleasant discussion? No, he posted here because he knew that we–you and me and everyone else who is not a brain-damaged bonobo–would pile right on with the righteous fury and indignation he craves. > > I will not dance to his tune. And I hope you do not either. > > Yes, I’m aware of the inconsistency in this stance. I am in this very post giving him attention. But at least it’s invective at him personally, rather then the inane, insipid, hateful, and inhuman bile he coughs up in his OPs. > To sum up: Yes. You are right. This is an important discussion, for us at the Dope and for society. But it is not one that needs to happen in this thread, in this forum, from this OP. Better coleslaw than giving Cumstain McWanksalot what he wants. Welp. So much for moving this thread to Cafe Society, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/125 "2014-11-21T06:54:26Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > First of all, I make the best coleslaw in the world, using a secret family recipe. I will make it next week. > > I’m sorry my other similar post was better, I’ll look for it. > > I don’t give a shit if 1000 people call me a troll. I would file a defamation suit if someone called me a rapist. > > The number of witnesses to habitual criminal behavior that is subject to a defamation suit to discourage it tends to suggest that it isn’t just one lone nut, or one lone nut and someone who was “confused about whether they intended to injest knock out drugs while having consensual sex with that comedian”. 14 gets it to a level of pre-meditated criminal activity that would trigger the RICO act if the statute of limitations hasn’t expired, I don’t know if RICO revives it. > > The thing is, each statement of an alleged victim is evidence. And when you’ve got 14 such statements, you start to see that Dr. Cosby has a very fucking warped view of cheating on his wife that amounts to serial rape. I don’t care for cole slaw, so I’ll leave you to that discussion. What I find interesting about the incredulity of the 14 allegations is that most of the allegations are not new. For the most part, they’re the same allegations that were made in the civil suit in 2005. In 2005, when Dio created a thread with the level of outrage you’re displaying, Dio got a smackdown on the level that the OP in this thread is now getting. . . on the same 14 allegations, except Dio was then on the side that is now the supposedly acceptable side to be outraged about. [Here’s Dio’s thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=301636) Having read that thread and this thread, I’m not particularly convinced or heartened that any of this is about justice or women’s rights. FTR, I didn’t doubt the accusations then. I don’t doubt them now, which doesn’t mean there isn’t room for skepticism. I’m not a Bill Cosby fan. However, I still find it troubling that the same facts can bring about the opposite consequences for people who are tried in the court of public opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/126 "2014-11-21T13:55:18Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > So is eyewitness testimony utterly without probative value? Or only when it is offered by women? Well, naturally only when it is offered by women, who are all a pack of liars. When a man makes a statement, it of course gets the proper respect it deserves. :rolleyes: A witness statement, _in the absence of any other supporting evidence_, should not be enough to convict someone in a criminal case. That’s all I’m saying. If the testimony of multiple witnesses is taken, each in isolation, and all of their stories match up to a great degree, then you might have something. That is not what happened here. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/127 "2014-11-21T14:20:37Z")
My favorite part is the cabbage. Don’t dress it up too much. And hold the chicken heart, please. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/128 "2014-11-21T15:43:24Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Doesn’t it then become sauerkraut? I always thought shredded cabbage + mayonnaise (+ shredded carrots) = coleslaw ; shredded cabbage + vinegar = sauerkraut? > > If not, what’s the difference between coleslaw and sauerkraut? Coleslaw is a fresh salad made of cabbage, possibly other ingredients like carrots or onions, and a dressing. The dressing can be mayo-based; it can be vinegar-based; it can be mustard-based. It’s basically just another type of salad. Sauerkraut, as has been stated, is a fermented dish. The point of sauerkraut is to preserve cabbage over a long period of time (fall/winter). This is done by layering either shredded cabbage or cabbage leaves with salt in a crock or barrel or whatever, and keeping it in a cool, dark place for an extended period of time. Over time, the salt helps draw out the water, and Weissella, Lactobaccilus, Pediococcus, and other bacteria that naturally occur on the cabbage and is in the environment, ferments and pickles the cabbage. Usually, you’re looking at about a month or so before you’re done, provided a cool place. (You don’t want the temps too high once the fermentation gets going, or you can produce off-flavors.) Kimchi is made under the same principle, as are traditional pickles (like the sours and half-sours you get at a New York deli. Not the stuff you find in a jar.) So, basically, sauerkraut is pickled, and coleslaw is not. If you just pour vinegar over some fresh, quartered cucumbers, those aren’t “pickles” any more than taking fresh, sliced cabbage and pouring vinegar over it makes it “sauerkraut.” ---
**Author:** ![kstarnes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4da419/32.png) [@kstarnes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kstarnes)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/129 "2014-11-21T15:58:32Z")
In other news: Bill Crosby has yet another accuser, this time a Latina has accused the actor of forcing her to jack him off (after slipping her the pill, of course.) This might paradoxically help Bill Cosby, for one thing, people might wonder, “how do u force someone to jack you off?” Was there threat of imminent death at the hands of Bill Crosby if you refused? A narrative template has been set, and these liars are making up ever more absurd stories. These women prefer to see themselves as victims rather than to own up their responsibilities and their own personal agency. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/130 "2014-11-21T16:04:51Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Coleslaw is a fresh salad made of cabbage, possibly other ingredients like carrots or onions, and a dressing. The dressing can be mayo-based; it can be vinegar-based; it can be mustard-based. It’s basically just another type of salad. > > Sauerkraut, as has been stated, is a fermented dish. The point of sauerkraut is to preserve cabbage over a long period of time (fall/winter). This is done by layering either shredded cabbage or cabbage leaves with salt in a crock or barrel or whatever, and keeping it in a cool, dark place for an extended period of time. Over time, the salt helps draw out the water, and Weissella, Lactobaccilus, Pediococcus, and other bacteria that naturally occur on the cabbage and is in the environment, ferments and pickles the cabbage. Usually, you’re looking at about a month or so before you’re done, provided a cool place. (You don’t want the temps too high once the fermentation gets going, or you can produce off-flavors.) > > Kimchi is made under the same principle, as are traditional pickles (like the sours and half-sours you get at a New York deli. Not the stuff you find in a jar.) > > So, basically, sauerkraut is pickled, and coleslaw is not. If you just pour vinegar over some fresh, quartered cucumbers, those aren’t “pickles” any more than taking fresh, sliced cabbage and pouring vinegar over it makes it “sauerkraut.” Thank you, **pulykamell**! This post is succinct and clear, and fights ignorance. This is why I love being here. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/131 "2014-11-21T16:10:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > (You don’t want the temps too high once the fermentation gets going, or you can produce off-flavors.) Oh, also: My grandfather’s recipe/method for kraut says not to begin a batch before the fifteenth of October; in rural Virginia that was when he liked the temperature (and resulting flavor) best. In later years he also used plastic barrels instead of crocks. They were easier to move around and none of us ever noticed a change in flavor or texture. ---
**Author:** ![Fallen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Fallen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fallen)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/132 "2014-11-21T16:19:20Z")
Shagnasty, are you a woman? Have you ever been raped? Do you know for a fact when you’ve had sex or when someone’s had sex with you? (If you are a woman and you haven’t cleaned up afterward, trust me, you know to a near certainty if not certainty.) Should you ever be raped and you are acquainted with the person who did it, you won’t “forget”. Your post is largely ridiculous, but I’ll be civil and won’t engage in toxic attack. To compare this to people who believeor merely assert that they’ve been abducted by aliens, or people suffering from a mental illness, is ludicrous. This nonsense is one reason why rape convictions are difficult to achieve. It may be that you are one of those “superignorant” people discussed on another thread who simply is unaware of the ignorance, resistant to the notion that you are unable to examine all relevant information, and as such effectively transport yourself into the realm of “stupid” on this topic. Unfortunately, without technological advances, stupidity is not a state that is fixable. It is true that human perception and recollection of events isn’t ordinarily like a camcorder. We aren’t talking about a situation where a stranger entered a dark bedroom while the victim was sleeping and (s)he’s doing the best (s)he can to recollect X or misrecalls or has false memory about details to help identify who it was from, say, a lineup. Mr. Cosby is receiving the benefit of the doubt from many people, and that’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/133 "2014-11-21T16:20:58Z")
> [@kstarnes](#): > > In other news: Bill Crosby has yet another accuser, this time a Latina has accused the actor of forcing her to jack him off (after slipping her the pill, of course.) > > This might paradoxically help Bill Cosby, for one thing, people might wonder, “how do u force someone to jack you off?” Was there threat of imminent death at the hands of Bill Crosby if you refused? > > A narrative template has been set, and these liars are making up ever more absurd stories. > > These women prefer to see themselves as victims rather than to own up their responsibilities and their own personal agency. It’s just a bunch of he said she said she said she said she said she said she said she said… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/134 "2014-11-21T16:24:10Z")
> [@Fallen](#): > > Shagnasty, are you a woman? Have you ever been raped? No, but he has sexually assaulted at least one woman he’s admitted to (by deception not force) so there’s that, I guess… ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/135 "2014-11-21T16:26:32Z")
> [@Fallen](#): > > Shagnasty, are you a woman? Have you ever been raped? Do you know for a fact when you’ve had sex or when someone’s had sex with you? (If you are a woman and you haven’t cleaned up afterward, trust me, you know to a near certainty if not certainty.) > > Should you ever be raped and you are acquainted with the person who did it, you won’t “forget”. > > Your post is largely ridiculous, but I’ll be civil and won’t engage in toxic attack. To compare this to people who believeor merely assert that they’ve been abducted by aliens, or people suffering from a mental illness, is ludicrous. This nonsense is one reason why rape convictions are difficult to achieve. > > It may be that you are one of those “superignorant” people discussed on another thread who simply is unaware of the ignorance, resistant to the notion that you are unable to examine all relevant information, and as such effectively transport yourself into the realm of “stupid” on this topic. Unfortunately, without technological advances, stupidity is not a state that is fixable. > > It is true that human perception and recollection of events isn’t ordinarily like a camcorder. We aren’t talking about a situation where a stranger entered a dark bedroom while the victim was sleeping and (s)he’s doing the best (s)he can to recollect X or misrecalls or has false memory about details to help identify who it was from, say, a lineup. > > Mr. Cosby is receiving the benefit of the doubt from many people, and that’s fine. Every time \*\*Shagnasty \*\*posts about rape, it’s good to keep in mind that he once said how he was just about to rape a friend’s girlfriend, but the only thing that stopped him was she was on her period. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/136 "2014-11-21T16:31:33Z")
**Kstarnes** , we don’t really give a shit what you think of Cosby or his accusers. We mostly want to know your stance on coleslaw. Is mayo-based the bomb or are you a vinegar man? And mustard? WTF is that about? If you were going to make KFC coleslaw following **Little Nemo** ’s recipe, what substitutions (if any) would you make? ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/137 "2014-11-21T16:34:38Z")
> [@kstarnes](#): > > I. Shut up and go away, you useless pile of cat poop. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/138 "2014-11-21T16:55:15Z")
I fucking hate peas. Little green heads bursting their little green brains all over the inside of my mouth. Why can’t they be beans? ---
**Author:** ![Fallen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Fallen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fallen)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/139 "2014-11-21T17:02:44Z")
Eyebrows, thank you. If it’s in fact true that Shagnasty said such a thing and was not kidding (or misinterpreted), that explains a few things … and one can reasonably conclude (s)he’s too dumb to engage in any self-preservation tactics (like, oh, not admitting to committing criminal acts in a public forum) (it may be (s)he’s too stupid to understand that attempted rape encompasses at least two criminal acts). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093/140 "2014-11-21T17:27:25Z")
> [@Subterraneanus](#): > > I fucking hate peas. Little green heads bursting their little green brains all over the inside of my mouth. Why can’t they be beans? Where have you been all my life? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-women-are-coming-forward-with-rape-accusations-against-bill-cosby/705093.md?page=8)