Women's group condemns Nicole's recantation. Of course.

Now the women’s group Gabriela has chimed in to condemn the recantation we reported earlier today: Liza Maza, Gabriela Party’s representative, branded Nicole’s recantation as “unfortunate.” A press release on that organization's website stated: “The burden now in seeing to it that full justice is served lies in the hands of President Arroyo. She should assert Philippine custody of Smith and she is the one who should be blamed not Nicole if and when Smith continues to get away with the crime.”

Have you ever seen so many people so unhappy about a recantation?

And what if the recantation is accurate?

Trust me, they don't care. They've got a male in prison for rape, and that's where they want him to stay.

Why? Because Nicole's victimization has come to represent a larger "truth" to the zealots so terribly unhappy about the recantation, much like the zealots in the infamous U.S. Duke Lacrosse case. And let us be perfectly candid about this: they don't care if an innocent young man rots away in prison for the rest of his life for a rape he didn't commit. For all they care, this young man should be a sacrificial lamb, collateral damage for the greater good -- to "prove" that women are victimized by men.

I don't know if this recantation should be accepted as valid, but it damn well raises serious questions that need to be addressed. Anyone who would dismiss this recantation out of hand without giving it the most careful consideration epitomizes evil; that reaction is not just morally grotesque, it is misandry elevated to new heights. Hell has a special place reserved for the persons who espouse that position.

Everyone agrees that people of both genders lie about everything under the sun for all manner of reasons, good, bad and indifferent -- except, according to some feminists, when it comes to rape. In that singular instance, mirabile dictu, one gender is incapable of telling a lie while the other is incapable of telling anything but. The very discussion of rape becomes a sort of truth serum for women, a magic elixir that forces anyone not possessing a Y-chromosome to utter incontrovertible fact.

Except, of course, when it comes to recantations.

Because, you see, the goal isn't to get at the truth. The goal is to convict as many men and boys for the ultimate crime of the "patriarchy" as possible. So the accuser must be believed; and the recanter must be disbelieved.

And justice, and morality, and fairness be damned.