I suppose if I'd been marginally competent at my avocation here, I'd have included this (barely) human skidmark somewhere on my Assholes list last year, probably in the top five. But the story resurfaced on 60 Minutes the other night, prompting the eternal question once again:
In a country where having so much as a pot bust will disqualify you from a student loan or public assistance, how the fuck does Wanetta Gibson not only get away with perjuring an innocent man into prison for five years, but also gets to keep the money she stole? It's not a "settlement", it's blood money, she stole it, and she needs to pay it back. After she does time for perjury, obstruction of justice, and being a total piece of shit.
The 60 Minutes piece's spin was on how Banks had moved past it all, had forgiven Gibson, and wasn't even interested in pursuing her for what she did. I humbly submit that that's no longer his decision -- Gibson ripped off the taxpayers, both for her bullshit "settlement", and for the cost of incarcerating Banks. She owes Banks, but she also owes us, and frankly, I'd like that money back, like ASAP.
In the wake of the Steubenville rape trial, folks here and there are plaintively asking what it is about "our" "culture" that objectifies women and makes rape "permissible" among males. You could just as well point at vagina-owners such as Wanetta Gibson or Casey Anthony or that whackjob that drowned her five kids in the bathtub, and ask what the hell is up with these here dingbats. The truth is that there is no simple "cultural" explanation, because it's a huge nation, and there's no single set of cultural mores that explain aberrant behavior. There's 320 million people in this country; by the law of averages, some of them are going to be fucking assholes, some male, some female. Trying to explain people like that is a waste of time, you just need to deal with them.
I have zero interest in pseudocultural explanations why the Steubenville losers did what they did, nor do I accept any collective responsibility for it; I'm just glad that those little assholes will get what's coming to them. Similarly, I couldn't care less what Gibson's rationale might be for implicating Banks in a rape that apparently never even occurred; all I know is that she ruined a man's life and career prospects, stole a shitload of money from a public entity that must sorely need it at this point in time, and she needs to pay for those things, just as anyone else should.
Asserting that she was a teenager at the time of her false accusation does not absolve her; Banks was a teenager as well, and he went to big-boy prison. I know people who had their tax returns garnished for years, in order for the state to recoup interest on welfare repayments, for just a couple of months of public assistance. But they're going to let Gibson just get away with this egregious shit? That is completely unacceptable. The only way a county or state entity walks away from a slam-dunk case like this, especially with that much money involved, is because someone fucked up the first time around.
Hopefully enough people in LA will be appalled by this to speak up about it. Maybe the fact that Banks is planning to sue the state of California will motivate them. Banks is certainly entitled to be compensated for his pain and suffering. He can go get his money from Wanetta Fucking Gibson, and hopefully it takes her every remaining day of her life to pay him back.
In a country where having so much as a pot bust will disqualify you from a student loan or public assistance, how the fuck does Wanetta Gibson not only get away with perjuring an innocent man into prison for five years, but also gets to keep the money she stole? It's not a "settlement", it's blood money, she stole it, and she needs to pay it back. After she does time for perjury, obstruction of justice, and being a total piece of shit.
The 60 Minutes piece's spin was on how Banks had moved past it all, had forgiven Gibson, and wasn't even interested in pursuing her for what she did. I humbly submit that that's no longer his decision -- Gibson ripped off the taxpayers, both for her bullshit "settlement", and for the cost of incarcerating Banks. She owes Banks, but she also owes us, and frankly, I'd like that money back, like ASAP.
In the wake of the Steubenville rape trial, folks here and there are plaintively asking what it is about "our" "culture" that objectifies women and makes rape "permissible" among males. You could just as well point at vagina-owners such as Wanetta Gibson or Casey Anthony or that whackjob that drowned her five kids in the bathtub, and ask what the hell is up with these here dingbats. The truth is that there is no simple "cultural" explanation, because it's a huge nation, and there's no single set of cultural mores that explain aberrant behavior. There's 320 million people in this country; by the law of averages, some of them are going to be fucking assholes, some male, some female. Trying to explain people like that is a waste of time, you just need to deal with them.
I have zero interest in pseudocultural explanations why the Steubenville losers did what they did, nor do I accept any collective responsibility for it; I'm just glad that those little assholes will get what's coming to them. Similarly, I couldn't care less what Gibson's rationale might be for implicating Banks in a rape that apparently never even occurred; all I know is that she ruined a man's life and career prospects, stole a shitload of money from a public entity that must sorely need it at this point in time, and she needs to pay for those things, just as anyone else should.
Asserting that she was a teenager at the time of her false accusation does not absolve her; Banks was a teenager as well, and he went to big-boy prison. I know people who had their tax returns garnished for years, in order for the state to recoup interest on welfare repayments, for just a couple of months of public assistance. But they're going to let Gibson just get away with this egregious shit? That is completely unacceptable. The only way a county or state entity walks away from a slam-dunk case like this, especially with that much money involved, is because someone fucked up the first time around.
Hopefully enough people in LA will be appalled by this to speak up about it. Maybe the fact that Banks is planning to sue the state of California will motivate them. Banks is certainly entitled to be compensated for his pain and suffering. He can go get his money from Wanetta Fucking Gibson, and hopefully it takes her every remaining day of her life to pay him back.
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