When perusing the op-eds of the right-wing conspiracist publication World Net Daily, you should expect to find a lot of crackpot opinions. A piece written for WND earlier this week by conservative radio host and author Barry Farber is no exception.
In a rambling article titled, “I Want Trump to Pardon Bill Cosby,” Farber says that although “Cosby sympathizers and I yearn for the same outcome,” he has entirely different reasons for wanting the iconic comedian and convicted rapist to stay out of prison.
According to Farber, Cosby’s method of rape deserves consideration since it was delivered in a comfortable setting.
“May we agree that a cocktail snack of special pills on a comfortable couch can amount to rape if the subject doesn’t consent?” Farber writes. “Being accosted by a sweaty, knife-wielding stranger in a freight elevator is also rape. Would you assign equal horror to both alternatives?”
“God forbid, any female relative of mine had to be subjected to one or the other, I’d throw myself on the floor in prayer that it be the former and not the latter,” he continued.
In other words, Cosby potentially spending the rest of his life in prison is an injustice since he wasn’t the proverbial knife-wielding rapist. Since he “did not resort to violence,” Farber argues that leniency should be considered.
He also wants Cosby’s contributions to society to be a mitigating factor.
“Cosby mobilized the healing power of television to deflect rising tension between the two major races, and his life and work gave rise, oddly enough, to good solid moral messages whose penetrating power dwarfs those of any sermon in any church, synagogue or ashram.”
But Farber doesn’t completely absolve Cosby of his sins. Instead, he says Cosby should conduct “speaking engagements before appropriate audiences of young people” instead of serving jail time.
Having a rapist return to being a moral scold of the black community is just the kind of logic one would expect from WND. Maybe the next op-ed will suggest Roman Polanski atone for his rape of an underage teenager by heading youth outreach programs.
Featured image via screen grab/CBS Evening News
