Persky’d Again: The Insanity of Attenuated Taint

His application for coach of the Fremont Union High School Junior Varsity Tennis Team reflected an extremely well-qualified candidate.

The district said Persky, who used his legal name, Michael, when he applied, was a highly qualified candidate, having attended several tennis coaching clinics, adding that he holds a high rating from the US Tennis Association. In a statement, the district said he “successfully completed” the necessary hiring requirements and passed a fingerprint background check.

Why wouldn’t he pass a fingerprint background check? He was a judge, for crying out loud. But then they learned he was “that” Persky and the dots that only the unduly passionate can see were connected.

“Some” members of the community went to the school district because he was “that” Persky. Demonstrating its clarity of thought, its commitment to facts and logic, its moral fortitude, the district immediately collapsed.

Effective September 11, 2019, Mr. Persky’s employment with the District as the Junior Varsity Girls Tennis coach has ended.  We believe this outcome is in the best interest of our students and school community. The District will begin the search for a new coach immediately with the goal of ensuring that the athletes on the JV tennis team are able to have a successful season.  Both the Lynbrook and District staff will be supporting the team and their families throughout this transition.

In a sense, this is the same irrational connection that cost Harvard lawprof Ron Sullivan his dean job at Winthrop House. Not that he did anything wrong, because he absolutely didn’t, but that he was tainted by someone who (in Sullivan’s case, at least) did. How can anyone trust someone who was in any proximity of evil?

But Persky’s situation is even worse, as he performed his legitimate function as the judge in the Brock Turner case properly and lawfully, but the shrieking shrews, led by non-lawyer Stanford lawprof Michelle Dauber, playing upon the most ignorant and worst nature of her fangirls to oust Persky for his perceived excess of lenience toward Turner.

It’s fine to disagree with the propriety of a sentence, but they demanded, and obtained, the destruction of this judge as a warning to any judge who might show leniency in the eyes of the hyper-carceral feminists toward a male accused of a sex crime. It’s either the defendant’s  (metaphorical) death or yours, judge.

Was it not enough that the idiocracy got Judge Persky recalled? No. Not nearly enough.

“If someone wants to have Persky coach them, they can figure that out on their own but this is a public school,” said Lynbrook High School Alumnae Shivani Kavuluru. “It is concerning the district hired him in the first place.”

Kavuluru started an online petition to remove Persky as a coach. The petition was signed by students, alumni, parents, and staff who found his hiring troubling.

“The teacher is a role model, it’s someone the students can look up to for safety,” said Kavuluru. “I think having him here sends the message we are not survivor centric. We are not supporting survivors on campus.”

Was there some act on Persky’s part that in any rational, conceivable way, could be deemed as making any student feel unsafe? Certainly, he was never alleged to inappropriately touch any person ever. Nor was he alleged to have failed to protect any person from being touched. There was nothing about Judge Persky to suggest a hint of rational threat by his being the JV tennis coach.

But there was the vague, attenuated rationalization of the irrational to face: Judge Persky failed to impose a sentence of sufficient harshness to placate the shrews who demanded Draconian punishment for a male, Brock Turner, who committed a sexual assault against a female, Chanel Miller.* Thus, Persky must be a supporter of rape, or at least care nothing for the welfare of survivors of rape, or he would have sentence Turner to life plus cancer. Who would allow their daughter to be coached by a man who supports rape?

The recall was grounded in lies and distortion but succeeded because it’s far easier to whip up a mob then it is to explain law or reason. This is even more true when the “offense” involved relates to sex and a female “victim.” Nothing seems to get in the way of outrage, and it’s essentially pointless to try to argue the irrationality. Judge Persky did what was required of a judge, even if you find the sentence “outrageously” lenient, not that it mattered to the mob.

If the message to judges wasn’t clear enough before (which it was), this latest indignity should certainly drive home the point. If you are not unnecessarily harsh to a man who sexually assaults a woman, we will not only end your career as a judge, but we will haunt your every move in perpetuity to assure that your life is destroyed. Who doesn’t want judges to consider their own futures at the hands of the mob when determining sentence?

As for Judge Persky, he reacted to his unceremonious firing with a dignity that both reflects who he is and who inane shrews like Dauber are not.

Today at 2 p.m., I was fired from my job as the Junior Varsity Girls Tennis Coach at Lynbrook High School. Polly Bove, Superintendent of the Fremont Union High School District, explained that she was motivated by a desire to protect the players from the potentially intrusive media attention related to my hiring.  Although I am disappointed with the District’s decision, it was a privilege to coach the team, if only for a short time.  I wish all of the players the best in their future academic and athletic endeavors.

The mob won again. and will continue to undermine the independence of the judiciary by mob intimidation whenever a man is accused of sexually assaulting a woman. And the mob is just thrilled at how they can ruin a judge’s life.

*The “victim” had been known as “Jane Doe” until she decided there was money to be made by publishing a book about her “experience.” She’s now revealed her name so they know where to send the checks.

36 thoughts on “Persky’d Again: The Insanity of Attenuated Taint

    1. SHG Post author

      But if you can’t destroy the judge (remember, many are elected), what about destroying their spouses or children? When the mob gets rolling, any target will do if it achieves its goal.

  1. Howl

    As he steps into the minefield, he wonders, “What is the difference between destroying the life of a truthful victim during cross for the sake of the client, and destroying a judge’s life for the sake of the cause?”

        1. SHG Post author

          Experience isn’t a perfect means of gaining perspective, but lack of it often precludes a broader understanding. One of the most important lessons learned over time is how often the moment’s moral certainty ends up being very wrong.

  2. zoe

    Oh, it’s that Shivani Kavuluru — of the pronouns she/her/hers and 2019 graduate from Pitzer College (the Stanford of the South?) with a degree in Philosophy and Creative Writing/English. So you know she has an extensive real-world experience and resume that dwarfs the likes of a Sergey Brin. And no doubt she can execute legal jiu-jitsu in a head-to-head debate against Ruth Bader Ginsburg in any mock trial. ANY.MOCK.TRIAL.

    She’s probably right because anyone who can play and teach tennis must be EVIL.

    Ironically, it’s our failing education system that got us into this position. The highly educated would be great teachers for our high schools, but they are shunned because they are highly educated.

  3. B. McLeod

    The “survivor-centric” would send Persky to a camp if they could. Failing that, it will be whatever they can manage via various mob mechanisms. They can get Roxane gay to coach the tennis team. Nobody will be able to play tennis, but that is a small sacrifice in the Great Scheme of Things.

  4. B. McLeod

    She probably has some better photos out since the bariatric surgery (not a request), but I am guessing still not ideal tennis coach material, based on all the factors that led to her pre-procedural condition. But, they kids would probably feel “safe.”

      1. B. McLeod

        This site is tricky, because it always says “Leave a Reply” even if you haven’t clicked the “Reply” link.

        It also makes me “assert personhood” by claiming that “I’m not a robot.”

        1. SHG Post author

          I tried to change the captcha message to something more tasteful, but google told me I can’t without Roxane Gay’s permission.

  5. ShootingHipster

    I might be alone here, but I think that person is a monster and should be kept far away from young minds. Is there a recall process to get Michelle Dauber removed from Stanford?

  6. Fubar

    Quoth Lynbrook High School Alumnae Shivani Kavuluru:

    “I think having him here sends the message we are not survivor centric. We are not supporting survivors on campus.”

    For survivors we must do our part.
    Persky’s recall was just a good start.
    If he’s still on the street,
    Then our job’s not complete.
    Nail him down. Drive a stake through his heart!

    1. B. McLeod

      We’re survivor-centric,
      And we want proper schools,
      So we won’t have a tennis coach,
      Who takes us all for fools,

      How, now, wokey cow,
      Who the Hell are we?
      Alumnae true, parents too,
      Haters of Per-sky!

  7. Julia

    The petition collected 3,326 signatures from all over the area, the country and the world. It almost feels like the purpose of putting out an online petition is to fake support (did they get a single parent of an involved student to sign it?). And even here they couldn’t collect more signatures. I wonder why the school district bought into it so quickly. But that lady with “Philadelphia” in her signature wants your coach in San Jose fired.

    1. SHG Post author

      Victim has become an overloaded word, and when she’s capitalizing on her victimhood to sell a book, it becomes a dubious characterization. As for suing Turner, of course she could, and no doubt she would collect billions from a college student with no assets, income or future.

  8. DaveL

    I think having him here sends the message we are not survivor centric

    God forbid you have a girl’s tennis program that’s centered on anything besides rape survivors. Like, say, tennis.

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