One must be aware already that the UVA story told by one "Jackie" has imploded in a spectacular manner, as outlined in this CJR report.
One detail about her mother stood out:
Yet Jackie could also be hard to pin down. Other interviews Jackie said she would facilitate never materialized. “I felt frustrated, but I didn’t think she didn’t want to produce” corroboration, Erdely said. Eventually, Jackie told Erdely that her mother had thrown away the red dress. She also said that her mother would be willing to talk to Erdely, but the reporter said that when she called and left messages several times, the mother did not respond.
As it turns out, Jackie's mother could have been a credible witness regarding another allegation:
Jackie meets with Eramo and says she was struck in the face by a glass bottle on April 6. Jackie says her roommate at the time, a nursing student, helped her remove glass from her face. When interviewed by investigators, the roommate denied this and described Jackie’s injury as a bruise consistent with having fallen.
According to Jackie, she also called her mother around the time of the attack. Phone records reviewed by investigators didn’t show that she made such a call.Before we ask what this mother was thinking, let's see where the father was, from Erdely's original reporting in Rolling Stone:
Before Jackie left for college, her parents – a Vietnam vet and retired military contractor, and a stay-at-home mom – had lectured her about avoiding the perils of the social scene, stressing the importance of her studies, since Jackie hoped to get into medical school. Jackie had a strained relationship with her father, in whose eyes she'd never felt good enough, and always responded by exceeding expectations – honor roll, swim team, first-chair violin – becoming the role model for her two younger brothers. Jackie had been looking forward to college as an escape – a place to, even, defy her parents' wishes and go to a frat party. "And I guess they were right," she says bitterly.
By all appearances, Jackie's father is not dead or absent - it's rather strange that both parents seem quite silent for two years about what happened to their daughter.
Yet the mother has more culpability, as she's been mentioned as playing a crucial part in several elements of the story.
Jackie's mother could:
- Corroborate the story about the red dress (e.g. that it existed and she discarded it)
- Corroborate the story about the beer bottle attack
- With Jackie's father, speak to her credibility and emotional state over the past two years
- Pick up the damn phone when Rolling Stone was going to publish the story and make it a worldwide spectacle
These are things Jackie's mother could have done. What did Jackie's mother do? Absolutely nothing.
One of three things are can be true:
- Jackie lied about and/or manipulated her mother
- Jackie's mother is neglectful and indifferent
- Both
Now, as a rule, we can say that #1 is not true and then #2 must be - Jackie must have been telling the whole truth about her mother's involvement. We know this is the case due to one simple fact - lying about child neglect is rare. According to FBI statistics that probably exist, we can say that the vast majority of children reporting their parents to Child Protective Services/Social Services are telling the truth.
When do children lie about neglect? It almost never happens.
Therefore, using impenetrable social justice logic, we can conclude that Jackie's mother is a terrible person.
Not only is Jackie's mother indifferent and neglectful, her silence on this matter is buttressing the patriarchy and outright rape apologia. This is the worst possible form of child abuse and she deserves to be called out on it.
For evil to flourish, it only requires Jackie's mother to do nothing.