EDITORIAL - Minds rooted in the Stone Age

People are entitled to their opinion. And with an open mind, most people can take the opinions of others. But sometimes there are opinions that are too appalling they go against the sensibilities of most people.

Take the opinions expressed by people who disagree with a court decision convicting US Marine Daniel Smith in the celebrated Subic rape case. They belong to what most people would describe as appalling.

It is perfectly all right for some people to believe that Smith is innocent. If that is what they believe in, then they are entitled to that belief. There is nothing anyone can do about that.

But when they begin to suggest and even forcefully argue that the woman deserved to be raped simply because she accepted drinks from Smith and his companions and later on went out with them, then that is stretching open mindedness too thin.

While it has been established that the woman imbibed the drinks offered by the Marines and then went out with them later, it does not follow that the Marines, particularly Smith, now had the license to help themselves on her against her will.

If we allow that kind of logic and reasoning to take root in our increasingly " social " society, then God knows how dangerous social occasions and places of leisure and entertainment can become.

Anyone who has ever attended a party or had a night out knows offering a drink is a very civilized gesture meant to strike an acquaintance. Unlike the cavemen of long ago who carried big sticks, offering someone a drink has become an acceptable way to make social contact.

We have yet to hear of the gesture being understood as a license to rape anyone, until of course the defenders of Smith came along. They are not unlike those who condemn victims of sex abuse by priests instead of the priests. They have minds that belong to the Stone Age.