Unless someone does something really-really-really-really stupid or ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra dumb, I, for the most part, agree with the general sentiments of the Internet that victim blaming is bad.
Sure, you might be tempted to say something like “That’s why you should always lock your car door” to your neighbor after a hack thief pilfers through their unlocked car at night or “That’s why you shouldn’t play with fireworks” after a friend blows his thumb off with an M80, but no matter how at fault or directly responsible the victim is for what happened to them, you should never blame them for it, primarily because angry people on the Internet say you shouldn’t.
That logic holds doubly true when the people truly are innocent victims, like – for example – the father of a kid who was beaten and abused at school thanks to sicko football coaches and then reported it to school officials.
Apparently, Mike Fields – the soon-to-be former DA for a hodgepodge of counties in north and central Oklahoma – doesn’t understand that simple logic.
A few weeks ago, Fields charged a trio of Kingfisher High School officials – the head football coach, an assistant coach, and a school board member – with a variety of felonies and misdemeanors related to the hazing and abuse scandal that’s divided the community into two camps – those tough, bootstrap pullin' good ole’ boys who are fine with child abuse as long as it involves sports and those who aren’t.
He also charged the victim’s dad for failure to report child abuse or neglect, despite the fact that the victims did report child abuse.