Duke Lacrosse: Life Imitates Art

Tom Wolfe set his 2004 novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, in the fictional Dupont University. Many, me among them, saw the school as a thinly veiled depiction of Duke University. Simmons, a small town girl unprepared for the social psychological nexus of wealth/power/sex/class/race into which she plunged herself, spent a hellacious year being abused in every imaginable way before exacting revenge (of a sort) by landing a basketball star.

I couldn't help thinking of Charlotte when I first heard the story of the lacrosse team rape charges coming out of Durham, NC. In the novel, Wolfe demonstrates the amazing, often mystifying power of culture to shape the behavior of individuals, sometimes in ways radically at odds with their typical patterns.

Culture is the unified network of unspoken beliefs, values, norms, and goals that gives groups their often distinctive characters. "Strong" cultures stand out because their social systems are governed by unique combinations of rules. Think: US Marine Corps or religious fundamentalism.  Membership in these (often highly coveted) groups present high barriers to entry, complex certification processes, and high levels of intra-group concurrence. "Groupthink" is a defining quality of strong cultures.

Recently, we've seen Enron emerge as a perfect example of a strong culture. Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling apparently led Enron by developing a culture focused on delivering quarterly bottom line results at all costs. If you watch the excellent film, The Smartest Guys In The Room, it is quickly apparent that the culture took over and spiraled out of control; perhaps even more so than Lay and Skilling could even have imagined.

Of course, culture doesn't eliminate individual responsibility.  Each of us acts in certain ways, or doesn't, and is responsible as such. But culture powerfully influences those actions. I remember as a youngster being warned about succumbing to "peer pressures" (a lot of good those warnings did!). When we grow up, however, we think we've moved beyond those adolescent forces. Don't believe it. Our behavior is always more malleable to context than we'd like to think.

And so, here we have 40 intelligent young male student athletes attending a fine university. Lacrosse is a tough, physical sport, played mostly in well-to-do Northeast high schools and prep schools. Lacrosse team cultures are often described as "rowdy." In Charlotte Simmons, Wolfe puts the following lines about the sport's charisma at Dupont into the mouth of an effete (and envious) intellectual male:

"Lacrosse is one of the only two sports where white boys are the ones with machismo. The other one's ice hockey. Basketball is totally a black sport. Football is mostly a black sport. It's just not as obvious in football, because the uniforms cover up their bodies and they wear face masks. Lacrosse would be all black too, like that" - he snapped his fingers - "if black teenagers ever started playing it..."

A culture of machismo, racial division, money and class. Black strippers invited to "dance" at the lacrosse team's off campus house. How can anyone be surprised at the outcome?

Like Enron and fundamentalism, Duke's lacrosse culture reaped what it sowed.

Tags: Duke Lacrosse Tom Wolfe

Comments

[SALTY D]

I'LL TELL YOU WHAT THAT MUST BE ONE HELL OF A TEAM. I'VE PLAYED ON MANY TEAMS, LACROSSE INCLUDED AND I FIND IT INCREDIBLE THAT THEY COULD GET EVERY MEMBER OF THE TEAM THERE AND THAT THEY'RE ALL STICKING TO THE SAME STORY

[Tom]

Discipline, D, discipline.

[John Allen]

I enojoyed your comments and it reminded me of many things that most people miss. Such as your reference to "Strong" cultures with "Groupthink" and high levels of intra-group concurrence. Of course the largest group/culture in the U.S. to hold those characteristcs are African Americans. Having two such "Strong" cultures collide will usually result in problems. Representative Cynthia McKinney's alleged actions seems to based in a sense of entitlement that is also a characteristic of "Strong" cultures. It can hardly be a surprise when an African American woman that has that sense of entitlement would make the kind of "Tawanna Brawley" allegations she did. This is quickly proving to be another case of poor judgement of a young black woman who's accustomed to making bad choices.

I very much enjoyed your blog and hope you can appreciate the "diversity" of opinions.

[Tom Guarriello]

Thanks for your thoughtful remarks, John.

I'm a little confused by your comments regarding Cynthia McKinney. Are you saying that Rep. McKinney, with a sense of entitlement, made Tawanna Brawley-like accusations, or are you referencing the woman claiming to have been raped in Durham?

As for a diversity of opinions, this is the sine qua non of blogging. Please continue to express yourself here whenever something you see moves you to do so.

[anon]

I'm not sure what you're saying. Do you think they did it? Or do you think they didn't do it, but the hell they're going through is expected (dare I say, derserved?) simply because they're a bunch of rich, white jerks?

My $0.02 is that she is a poor, black jerk who made up the story of the rape to get back at a bunch of rich, white jerks.

[fouro]

Tom, I didn't see this post the first time around and I'm listening to your podcast on it now. Good stuff. I mentioned going to hear wagoner speak--I couldn't make it due schedule snafus but the one prior was Tom Wolfe. It's funny, I'd scribbled a post then shelved it. Then Duke happened. He had some interesting things to say on mores and Charlotte Simmons, some predictable, some not so--specifically, a very odd examination of the trophy wife phenomenon. I'll see if I can dredge it up.

[Terry]

You've managed to completely miss the point Wolfe's writing. His three novels are full of characters who are driven my resentment and envy - rack hucksters, PC professors, ambitious DAs, effeminate journalists and gold digging women. Add all those characters to this story and THEN the outcome is certainly no surprise.

[fouro]

Not sure who you're addressing, Terry, but Wolfe's fictional characters are about fear of death and loneliness and fear of ultimate judgement.

All in all, quite appropriate for a Washington & Lee/St. Christopher's graduate from Richmond.

[Mike Anthony]

Does anybody know? It was my impression that the "escort service" originally sent one stripper who happened to be black. The other stripper sort of tagged along, at whose invitation I don't recall hearing. I am under the impression that things started downhill for the Dukies' party when the black strippers arrived. Apparently, the hosts did not order black strippers, but that's what they got. Both "sides" were mad - the Dukies because they got black strippers and the strippers because they realized that they were not going to make much money for such things as lap dances, etc. (this last part is supposition on my part.) Some racial insults were hurled and at least one stripper left but then came back (the complainant) Who can shed some light on these questions? Have these questions already been answered in the voluminous press?

[Dukie]

Haha. Better to keep your mouth shut than to open it and remove all doubt. Hopefully for your sake you're never too old to learn.

[Tom Guarriello]

Well, it's interesting, Dukie. Can you tell me that the culture of the lacrosse gathering is something of which the university is proud, despite no felonies occurring? I hope for your sake that you are smart enough to learn the lessons of this awful incident.

[Seth Wittner]

I've heard that Duke now offers something called Faculty Slur Protection. For a small tuition surcharge, your son or daughter can have their name added to a list of students the faculty is forbidden to slander in paid newspaper ads.

Anyone else hear about this? Sounds reasonable.

[truthnow]

Mr. Nifong, God Ain’t Through With This Yet

For the three men charged by the State of North Carolina with raping Crystal Gail Mangum, the fat lady has not sung according to my God. The fact that the State Attorney General has proclaimed you innocent dispite the Attorney Generals office has never before proclaimed anyone innocent without a trial of its peers. Dispite the fact the the governor of North Carolina has never attacked a prosecutor in a criminal case before the trial even begins. Despite the fact that the good ole boys and girls network in the State Bar Association has never prosecuted a prosecutor before a trial for any defendants have begun. This is the same State Bar Association that slap the wrist of two prosecutors that sent a man to death row for 9 years despite their proven knowledge that the defendant was in jail ar the time the crime was committed. Why was Nifong so prosecuted for charging these sacred cows (white boys)? Was it a statement that you are to never take the word of a black women over those of white boys, especiallly wealthy white boys.
If you think that you will enjoy any moneys from this incident? Think again, tell your attorneys God aint through with this yet. God is coming soon and he is bringing with him his wrath. Those things hidden shall be revealed and those guilty shall be punished. News media if you think you wont be punished for your transgression, think again. Your efforts will be revealed also. The words, you can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time is true. This incident may at a glance may seem a black and white thing but this is another incident of fighting between principalities, and we already know that evil has been already been defeated but Gods return soon will testify to this truth. Let those that have ears hear what the spirit of the Lord God is saying to the church.