Respectable Idiots (I)

Continuing somewhat on the theme of seemingly respectable idiots doing horrific things to providers (see this post), I want to turn somewhat to exploring some of the manifestations of the kind of hypocrisy, outright misogyny, and all-round nutterism espoused and performed by seemingly respectable members of society. Perhaps such behaviour is a manifestation of whatever underlying beliefs that ultimately cause some of these people to also misbehave towards escorts. One thing is for sure: I can definitely say many such "respectable people" I know, herein defined as those holding jobs providing well above-average incomes, positions of authority in substantial private and/or public bodies, and those who are generally seen as leaders/authorities in their respective fields or even in life generally, frequent escorts.

The appalling case of Clayton Weatherston  

For those who don't remember, CW is a convicted murderer.  He was a former PhD candidate at the University of Otago, who also held down a job as a tutor in the Economics Department. One of her students was Sophie Elliot, a photogenic and genuinely beautiful young lady who appeared to have been destined for an exceptional career as an economist. She probably made few mistakes in life but one definite mistake was dating CW. They had apparently split but Sophie continued to maintain some contact with CW despite the concerns of others. One day, CW went to Sophie's house unannounced whilst carrying a kitchen knife. CW went into Sophie's house with her and later proceeded to stab her to death with the knife and scissors. Sophie suffered 216 injuries in total and there was expert evidence at trial that there was some deliberate disfiguring of Sophie.

CW pleaded not guilty but the jury rightly decided he intentionally caused Sophie's death with the intent to kill. The Court of Appeal has rejected his appeal and the Supreme Court has refused to hear another appeal.

You'd think justice served, right?

Not to many QCs and other "respectable" members of the litigation bar and society at large!

As a person who has worked in the law, I am absolutely ashamed of the attitude that CW was hard done by or all the chest-beating (yes, I really heard these) from some of the leading criminal QCs that if they had represented CW, they would have "gotten him off" murder and that he would do manslaughter only. CW advanced what was known as the provocation defence, which required the jury to accept that (1) he had subjectively lost self-control at the time of the killing and (2) a reasonable person of his emotional, psychological (two psychiatrists gave evidence that CW had a narcissistic personality) and physical characteristics would objectively have lost self-control under the same "provocation" that he suffered from Sophie, i.e. in the main being "dumped".

The jury rightly decided that no reasonable person would/should have lost self-control and killed someone in such circumstances. As a result of the way CW behaved during his trial and owing to the clamour by reactionary elements like the Sensible Sentencing Trust, the provocation defence disappeared from the law. I happen to think this is a good thing but law changes should occur in a more considered fashion and not simply owing to reactions over one controversial case.

One really has to wonder what kind of mindset one has to have to focus oneself on the perceived professional "success" of  possibly acquitting CW (bearing in mind the courts and the jury have made clear that CW shouldn't be acquitted of murder), instead of the insufferable tragedy suffered by Sophie. Even more, one has to be sickened by the objectification of Sophie throughout the trial and the aftermath, where much of the "What a pity!" kind of observations floating out of the mouths of males were frequently tinged with an element of "Gee what a waste, so beautiful and should have chosen better. I would have been a better b**g!".

An unscientific observation

A lot of the idiots that have expressed such views I know to be frequenter of escorts. I even know some of them to take pride in describing such ladies in grotesque terms. My point here is that I think no one ought to be surprised that there's some kind of correlation. I don't pretend to have any answers but if you look at the CW case and moral inconsistencies like men frequently brushing aside female predators engaging under-aged boys in sex whilst screaming bloody murder and demanding castration should a guy commit such acts on a young girl, society sadly has a long way in its ability to self-reflect and its willingness to respect women as equals.