The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Emma Sulkowicz Is a Vindictive, Dishonest and Crazy Slut — Allegedly

Posted on | April 24, 2015 | 196 Comments

That word “allegedly” is important to add because all I’m doing is giving a thumbnail summary of what Paul Nungesser alleges in his federal lawsuit against Columbia University, its president Lee Bollinger and Professor Jon Kessler. They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, and Nungesser has served up a buffet of revenge on Emma “Mattress Girl” Sulkowicz. She tried and failed to get Nungesser expelled from Columbia with what was, according to his lawsuit, a false rape accusation. When that failed, allegedly, Sulkowicz convinced two other Columbia students to accuse Nungesser of sexual misconduct and both of those accusations also failed. That’s when, with the approval Professor Kessler, Sulkowicz began her “performance art” project, carrying a mattress around the Columbia campus to publicize her accusations against Nungesser, despite the fact that he had been completely cleared of wrongdoing.

Now, if we ponder every possible avenue by which Paul Nungesser could (a) vindicate his reputation, (b) possibly collect a large cash settlement, and (c) deliver a brutal payback to Sulkowicz for her effort to destroy him, I doubt he could have done better than what he has done: Instead of suing Sulkowicz, he sues Columbia. Why?

  1. Columbia’s endowment is reported at $9.2 billion — that’s billion with a “b” — which means they may (and probably should) decide that quietly paying Nungesser a couple of million bucks is a small price to pay for ridding themselves of this bad publicity.
  2. Suing Columbia calls attention to how the university violated its own policy by permitting Sulkowicz to breach the confidentially requirements of the university’s sexual misconduct hearing process and, indeed, by endorsing this breach through Professor Kessler’s role in Sulkowicz’s “performance art” project.
  3. Most of all, by not naming Sulkowicz as a defendant, this means that Sulkowicz does not have cause to respond to the allegations he makes against her in the Columbia lawsuit, and guess what? You can’t be sued for defamation because of allegations made in a lawsuit.

In other words, if Nungesser had said some of these things during an interview with a reporter — e.g., that Sulkowicz contracted chlamydia after she had sex with two guys at a party — maybe she could have sued him for defamation. And if he had named her as a defendant, they could have fought it out in court. As it is, all this negative stuff about her is now a matter of public record: “Nungesser said X, Y and Z,” and there isn’t a damned thing she can do to prevent anyone from quoting it.

There is plenty of legitimate basis for Nungesser suing Columbia, but it’s the irreparable damage his suit will do to Sulkowicz (and her clearly dubious claim that he raped her) which is the real news here. Of course, Sulkowicz doesn’t get it, providing this clueless quote to the Columbia student newspaper:

“It’s ridiculous that he would read it as a ‘bullying strategy,’ especially given his continued public attempts to smear my reputation, when really it’s just an artistic expression of the personal trauma I’ve experienced at Columbia. If artists are not allowed to make art that reflect on our experiences, then how are we to heal?”

Sweetheart, you are done. Finished. Over. Maybe you don’t realize it yet, but you will never recover from this, not ever.

Be sure to read paragraphs 16, 18 and 26especially 26 — and don’t miss the footnote at the bottom of page 7.

“Punch back twice as hard,” indeed.

 

Comments

196 Responses to “Emma Sulkowicz Is a Vindictive, Dishonest and Crazy Slut — Allegedly”

  1. Pablo
    April 24th, 2015 @ 9:48 pm

    If artists are not allowed to make art that reflect on our experiences, then how are we to heal?

    Maybe you could try some more butt sex, whore.

  2. ROBERT STACY MCCAIN: Emma Sulkowicz Is a Vindictive, Dishonest and Crazy Slut — Allegedly. – the Revision Division
    April 24th, 2015 @ 9:53 pm

    […] ROBERT STACY MCCAIN: Emma Sulkowicz Is a Vindictive, Dishonest and Crazy Slut — Allegedly. […]

  3. M. Thompson
    April 24th, 2015 @ 9:57 pm

    Good riddance.

  4. Adobe_Walls
    April 24th, 2015 @ 10:55 pm

    She asks how is she to heal which begs the question, heal from what?
    She could have gotten almost as much mileage from this, at least at Columbia, if she’d outed him as a cad.

  5. The Nayden Broad
    April 24th, 2015 @ 10:55 pm

    I read it and my… was that disturbing. Are young people like this today? Sleeping around, talking casually about their “love”-lives and puking all over the place while having sex?

  6. ECM
    April 24th, 2015 @ 11:08 pm

    Alas, yes. this is fairly accurate.

  7. Art Deco
    April 24th, 2015 @ 11:18 pm

    My favorite line from Diner: “Do you have the feeling there’s a lot of stuff going on we don’t know about?”.

  8. McGehee
    April 24th, 2015 @ 11:29 pm

    I know it’s causality-challenged, but it does seem as though “psycho bitch from hell” (PBFH) was coined just for her.

  9. Daniel Freeman
    April 24th, 2015 @ 11:32 pm

    Anal before vaginal (allegedly)? Anal before oral (allegedly)? In the context of (allegedly) wanting a promiscuous lover to use condoms with other girls, and (allegedly) contracting an STI from someone else entirely, which put together would imply that she doesn’t use condoms herself?

    Maybe I’m focusing on the wrong part to be shocked by, but it’s like she (allegedly) either doesn’t know how bacteria work, or just doesn’t care.

    Reality check, please. Am I just a repressed prude, or is she (allegedly) doing it wrong?

  10. Wombat_socho
    April 24th, 2015 @ 11:37 pm

    Nope. She’s doing it wrong, and I don’t think she cares – or she’s bought the line about all this nasty sex being “empowering”.

  11. Fail Burton
    April 24th, 2015 @ 11:47 pm

    Even the Hell’s Angels are more civilized.

  12. Gospace
    April 25th, 2015 @ 12:52 am

    I read the lawyer’s complaint. They need a geography lesson. Mexico and Panama are in North America. And Turkey is (mostly) in Asia.

  13. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 12:57 am

    Come on guys, just because she’s an evil psycho bitch doesn’t mean you shouldn’t believe her!

    The worst thing I can say about Nungesser is that he shows appalling taste and judgement. I have a friend who used to like psycho girlfriends, saying the sex was always great. I replied maybe so, but is a half hour or hour of sex worth spending the rest of the day inventorying the knife drawer and never turning your back?

  14. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:00 am

    Funny. I have managed to heal from various wounds without engaging in slander.

    But I am obviously not an artist.

  15. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:02 am

    Heal from her own bad judgement.

    I don’t think the mattress helps. Maybe I’m wrong, but stacking poor decisions on top of each other doesn’t make them go away.

  16. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:03 am

    Kids today. They should stop having anal sex on my lawn.

  17. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:40 am

    Cripes, dude, you would be if you carried a mattress around. Or dropped religious items in your drug test cup. For example. [eyeroll]

  18. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:44 am

    Being a woman and all, I really hate to say this, but lots of times young women do this. Stack poor decisions on top of each other. Girls do this in an emotional way, and lads do it in a criminal way. =)

    Which is why it was better in the olden days when grandparents – who didn’t work, and thus were around all the time – lived at home with the younger generations. So you at least had some old hag or geezer to nag you out of stupidity.

  19. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:44 am

    Crap, dude!

  20. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:47 am

    Yeah. What Wombat said. That’s “post-modern” “”edjewcayshun”” fer ya.

    p.s. Sorry, had to double scare-quote the education part, because it’s double-scary.

  21. Daniel Freeman
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:50 am

    Speaking of legal action against liars, the Honey Badger Brigade is exploring the option in the wake of their expulsion from a Calgary comics expo. I’ve mentioned this story before, and mark my words, it’s going to have legs.

  22. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:51 am

    Oh come on. You have a couple of beers and you look at Sulkowicz and think “I’d hit it” and then the next thing you know, you’ve got a stalker. I haven’t seen a pic of Nungesser, but I hope he’s a total hottie, after Sulkowicz’s reaction.

  23. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:53 am

    Oh, for crying out loud, Dan. Oooooh, how I wish those morons were in my family, so I could sentence them to copious chores around the farm until they came to their senses.

    Maybe it’s me, but I think this is what happens when idiots spawn idiots.

    Edit: double down on idiocy.

  24. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:55 am

    Perhaps that was a bit harsh.

    p.s. Perhaps not. Reality is a beyotch.

  25. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 1:58 am

    I had that thought the first time I changed my eldest child’s diaper. Which is why “diaper” spelled backward is “repaid”. Because revenge is best served cold, and someday I’ll be in Depends.

  26. Nigel Rae
    April 25th, 2015 @ 2:04 am

    Yeah, this is what young people are like today.
    And they will breed!
    Think how depraved the next generation will be.
    I’m late 40’s & my generation was pretty bad, but it has got exponentially worse with each new gen.

  27. Daniel Freeman
    April 25th, 2015 @ 2:09 am

    I wasn’t raised on a farm myself, but my dad was. He imparted many valuable lessons like not being afraid of hard work, anything worth doing at all is worth doing well, to take pride in a job well done no matter how lowly, etc. It might be an easy target, but I have to give urbanism some of the blame for the prevalence of Petty Liars for Great Justice.

  28. This is the Clintons’ Best Case Scenario? | Batshit Crazy News
    April 25th, 2015 @ 2:20 am

    […] Emily Sulkowicz is probably for Hillary, Friday Fiction, did you know her Majesty loves karaoke? and This is what feminism looks […]

  29. Daniel Freeman
    April 25th, 2015 @ 3:13 am

    I didn’t read the whole filing — got bored around the predictable “scorned woman goes scorched earth” part — but he (allegedly) slept with her chastely at first, and even crazies can value self-restraint. He might be perfectly average.

  30. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 3:27 am

    Yeah. I think he’s perfectly average in most ways. But intelligent. And with a good lawyer. Hence, the filing. So, intelligent woman (me) in favor of intelligent guy filing lawsuit? +1.

  31. DeadMessenger
    April 25th, 2015 @ 3:34 am

    100,000,000 upvotes. You had me at “not being afraid of hard work”.

    I’m a 30-years married 56-year-old Mensa-lady, but I have this 23-year-old virgin Christian daughter who is exceptionally smart and is a degreed chef. What are you doing next Friday, lol?

  32. concern00
    April 25th, 2015 @ 3:57 am

    This is not art. It’s a mentally disturbed individual in a post-institutionalisation state.

    Maybe if she went back to the institution she could sketch…or something; that might be art.

  33. concern00
    April 25th, 2015 @ 3:58 am

    The great thing about the mattress is that anytime she wants sex, she just pops it down and presto…a comfy safe space…for sex. I think it also facilitates anal.

  34. concern00
    April 25th, 2015 @ 3:59 am

    We don’ need no edjewcayshun…

  35. concern00
    April 25th, 2015 @ 4:00 am

    She looks Asian. They’re not a protected species anymore are they?

  36. Daniel Freeman
    April 25th, 2015 @ 4:16 am

    No, Asians are white now, the poor bastards.

  37. Daniel Freeman
    April 25th, 2015 @ 4:29 am

    Well, I think I have a good measure of your character and I’m sure you raised her right. But if you want to fix her up, you can probably find a man that isn’t technically old enough to be her father, isn’t on the opposite side of the continent, and doesn’t still need to fix himself up a bit to be worthy of a good woman. 😉

  38. concern00
    April 25th, 2015 @ 4:34 am

    Just like hispanics or is that just white hispanics? I’m losing track.

  39. Daniel Freeman
    April 25th, 2015 @ 4:52 am

    “We don’t need no thought control” and “Teacher, leave them kids alone!” take on new meanings these days, all things considered.

  40. Daniel Freeman
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:03 am

    All of the white hispanics, plus all of the “coconuts” (brown on the outside and white on the inside).

    Not my term. That’s how non-whites otherize their own.

  41. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:31 am

    Oh, no no no no. Absolutely not. This is art, and it would be wrong to commercialize it. She will have sex for free, just for the purity of her art.

    Besides, there’s some federal art grants coming in…

  42. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:33 am

    I wouldn’t worry much about the breeding part.

    Enough abortions and the most fecund womb will become barren. By the time they grow up and begin considering the value of family life their procreative organs will be nonfunctional.

  43. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:34 am

    I saw a bumper sticker back in the nineties that was “Psychoamazonwarbitchfromhell”

    The running the words together, I think, is what made it. That and the font, which if not Comic Sans was darned close. Seriously considered finding some for a few friends.

  44. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:39 am

    Does dark sarcasm in the classroom come with a trigger warning?

  45. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:40 am

    Well, he’s German, hence European, which will go a long way among that generation. Foreign and exotic.

  46. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:45 am

    Philistine!

  47. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:47 am

    See, that’s what happens when you have a solid work ethic, respect achievement, and stress family. You do well and next thing you know, no longer a minority.

    Well, not one that counts. You know, hapless victims.

    Every group arriving in the US has gone through the same process. Save one.

  48. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:48 am

    Don’t forget Oreos. Black outside, white in the middle. Also bananas, yellow outside, white inside.

    That’s in addition to the more common slurs persons of tolerance and diversity employ when their wards get uppity and wander off the plantation.

  49. Daniel Freeman
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:52 am

    Yes, and “You’re just another brick in the wall” is engraved on the participation trophies (in a euphemistic code of course).

  50. Steve Skubinna
    April 25th, 2015 @ 5:53 am

    Well, as bad as the anal sex is, it’s better than when they start meddling.

    Darn meddling kids. And their dog.