Martha Cobb is a right-wing firebrand, a rape victim, and a fictional character on a recent episode of “Law & Order: SVU.”
In the episode, Cobb speaks on the quad at (fictional) Hudson University, railing against political correctness while protesters chant and charge at the stage. The next scene we see is Cobb, lying disoriented and bloodied, next to a dumpster.
What follows is a barely fictionalized version of the very worst of both sides of the political spectrum. Video evidence shows Cobb’s fans carrying Confederate flags and holding signs with slogans like “diversity is code for white genocide.” Supporters of Cobb as a speaker aren’t simply normal First Amendment advocates or principled conservatives. Heavens, no – they’re all avowed racists.
Cobb herself is a deeply unsympathetic victim. She won’t give detectives the time of day, and shrugs off the very people who are trying to help her. Did NBC miss the memo about conservatives supporting justice and the people who seek it? Apparently so, since Cobb seems irked at the existence of the legal process. Detective Olivia Benson tells her colleague not to trust Cobb to pick out the perpetrator from a lineup: “[Cobb] dissembles for a living, Raphael, it’s what she does!” The opposing lawyer uses her politics to make his case that “[Cobb] is an opportunist who would exploit her own misfortune to sell books.”
The detectives detest her views and her supporters. When they question the head of the Young Conservatives Club about the attendees, he says “It was a Facebook event open to anyone interested in what Martha had to say.” Detective Odafin Tutuola responds, “So, white supremacists, Nazis, wannabe KKK members.” Very professional police work.
If this right-wing speaker has any fans who aren’t totally abhorrent, they never made it to the episode’s final cut. One of Cobb’s fans, Randy Platt, is suspected in the case. He’s a misogynistic racist living in his mom’s basement. Platt drops alt-right lingo like “cucks” and “libtards” – with one mention of “make America great again.” Trump might not have been a character on this episode, but the writers made no secret that the hateful man-child Platt was a Trump supporter.
That’s not to say that NBC gave the Left a free pass; Antifa is portrayed as equally odious. DNA under Cobb’s fingernails matches that of an Antifa protester, Justin Vichinsky. A bloody cardboard tube found next to Martha matches his protest sign. The detectives find the man working as a barista (because of course). They tell him she was sexually assaulted, and he says: “Cool. When’s the parade?”
Even the legal professionals don’t trust Cobb. Cobb picks Vichinsky out of a lineup and says he did it. But when Detective Benson makes clear that nobody trusts her, she doubts her own memory – saying that her memory blurs after she was hit in the head during the assault. That shred of doubt, apparently, is enough for Detective Rafael Barba to ask the judge to throw out her case. The very person tasked with representing Cobb in court instead personally ends her chance at legal justice.
He tells Benson that the whole thing had become too politicized. Since when does something become “too politicized” for a victim to get justice? What happened to all victims deserving the right to be heard? Those legal principles evaporate when the victim is a conservative woman.
The episode’s insidious message says that a rape victim can be considered less trustworthy based on her political views.
Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) writes about politics, media, ethics, and culture. She holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Georgetown University.
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