What's really ironic and unfortunate is that although Beck lost in court his fight to shut down "GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoun... . com" - the site's owner felt that he had made his point and voluntarily turned over control of the site to Beck. Now it is Beck who is using the word rape casually and without satire, but effectively, in furtherance of his agenda; The man has no shame whatsoever.
The "GlennBeckRaped.... .com" resolution story is actually a great read, and includes the WIPO filings and the personal letter to Beck from the domain-holder: [techdirt.com]
I got banned from our old sister site consumerist.com for daring to question the journalistic integrity of an author that would claim they were being "raped by credit cards."
I'm not sure if you all know this, but apparently feminists take everything to seriously, and have no understanding of the definition of the word. Well, that's what I gleaned from the conversation at least.
@Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: Yeah, I was totally oppressing the guy who lived down the hall from me in college when I suggested he had not, in fact, been raped by a chemistry exam.
It's so silly to get hung up on the meaning of words, isn't it? Sigh.
@bluebears: It's also weird that every single feminist is totally unaware that apparently "rape" has a meaning other than unwanted sexual violation. Actually no, we do know there is another definition but A. YOU assholes aren't using the word correctly even by that definition and B. it doesn't fucking matter. Find another word. It's always the people that don't give a shit about vocabulary in any other situation that are suddenly up in arms about me trying to CENSOR their word choice.
@Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: I know. Like all the fuckers that are suddenly passionate defenders of the Bill of Rights when you try to take their rape-simulation video games away.
Ugh, I had to stop half way through. They think they are all so above being raped themselves that they can use the word as it pleases them, no matter how uncomfortable it makes the rest of us.
I pledge allegiance to the rape,
of the United Rape of America,
and to the Republic for which it rapes,
one raping nation under god,
indivisible, with liberty and rape for all.
Good work.
That said, you write that that the press could help Clinton by focusing on the actual issues at hand.
Well, Clinton (and Obama) wants to frame her visit as being all about democracy, being tough on corrupt African leaders, helping defenseless Congolese women (I am with Texas in Africa on this). That may be so, but it obscures the larger rationale for Ms Clinton's visit. Which incidentally is not a secret since State Department officials can't stop wanting to tell the media about it, but the media won't report it. That is two things:
By 2025 the US government expects to import at least 25% of its oil suppliers from African sources–Clinton is visiting three suppliers on this trip: Angola, Nigeria, and Cape Verde. Obama visited a fourth, Ghana (they discovered oil in 2007), a month ago. Right now Nigeria is the 5th largest, and Angola the 6th largest exporters of oil to the United States. Oh, and the US is facing competition from China (who operate by a different, easier, set of rules for foreign investment) for African oil and other resources. [africasacountry.wordpress.com]
This kind of media coverage really burns my ass. And while I know we're all busy and have things to do, I'll tell you that editors and producers do go through viewer/reader feedback e-mails often. They can't read all of the e-mails, but they do read some. So, if you subscribe to/read a paper doing this stuff, e-mail an editor or publisher and tell them how lame it is. If it's a station you watch, e-mail the producer and tell them. E-mail addresses are always on the network/paper's Web sites. You may or may not get a response, but hey, it's something.
great write-up, anna. this situation is so infuriatingly distracting from bigger, more important issues-- which, really, is my least favorite thing about being a woman sometimes-- that it can distract from what i want to say/do/accomplish etc.
many props to hillary. lotta respect for her as a person & a politician.
Several media outlets commented on the 'bad hair day" and/or that she "snapped." And HuffPo found the least flattering picture they could and planted it on the front page, along with the constant cheesecake pictures all over the front page--and today there's a headline saying "US Official Struggles to Explain Clinton Outburst." WTF? I don't need to read it; I'm sure she was just upset about her hair. I know HuffPo isn't mainstream but it's rapidly emerging as the most sexist blog out there.
when the media tries to direct the coverage in this way, i'm convinced they're part of a conspiracy charged with dumbing down the intelligence of americans so we don't question anything anymore.
@msAnthrope: They do it because it's easy and sensational, and they're bad journalists. It makes me SO damn mad. It's easier for TV stations to get viewers to watch and easier to report/put together a story on a Hillary video snippet where she gets angry than to put together a story and get viewers to pay attention to rape/anything in Africa.
And as soon as all of the TV stations were running this, the newspapers had to pick it up so they didn't look like they were "covering it up," if that makes sense. In the end, everyone gets screwed because reporters got lazy. Grrr.
Hillary Clinton has been getting a bad rap about her hair and clothing for over 18 years. Probably back in 1991 Tina Brown was e-mailing her pals on CompuServe with subject lines like, "Hillary Clinton has worse hair than Mrs. Garrett on 'Facts of Life!'" or "HIllary Clinton should wear Doc Martins with that peasant style dress!"
Way to roll with the times Ms Brown.
Is there anyone more smug than Tina Brown and Maureen Dowd? ugh.
That being said, one of our least-favorite newspeople, Ann Curry, was on the ball this morning. After the Today show ran the same piece everyone else is running, she made a point of explaining why it's so important that Clinton in the Congo and what life is like there. Curry has spent a lot of time in Darfur, and I have a feeling she would like to be reporting on the Congo as well.
I don't think her sniping was about her marriage.
I think it was about a reporter asking STUPID QUESTION.
That said, the newborn PR girl in me would have advised Madame Secretary to say something like, Oh, I'm very proud of my husband -- it's wonderful he can keep serving our wonderful nation even though he is no longer in the Oval Office'. Then I would have her re-direct attention onto the issue at hand, saying -- I'm sure he'd like us to focus on blah blah blah blah today.
Reporters can be very easy to pacify in that way.
@NewsBunny: Hooray for PR girls! Though I think a moment of honest, righteous ball-chopping was necessary here, even from a PR standpoint. If you validate the question, you leave it on the table for the next time and Mdm. Secretary's work is too important for that. Questions like this (even if it weren't the ACTUAL question the person asked) are trivial and need to be stopped.
@LaComtesse: While maybe the soft answer would have gone down better in the moment, I too like that Clinton was a little curt. Hopefully people will stop asking her the question now (although, according to Maureen Down, the questioner was actually trying to ask about Obama, but referred to him as "Mr. Clinton").
I'd be super pissed off too if I was in an important position but all people wanted to hear was what my husband thought of the issue. I'd probably reply in the same way, if not in a ruder manner! LOL.
My dad is currently in the Congo doing humanitarian work, and the stuff that he sees and that he tells me is going on is just awful. There are so many great people who live out there and who want/appreciate the help, but things are very corrupt and the Congolese soldiers even turn on each other (in one instance one soldier killed another over a concubine). Many of the non-profits that offer humanitarian aid out there show an extreme lack of leadership, don't train their volunteers well enough and don't prepare them enough for all the secutiry issues that they will face and don't offer any/enough psychological support to the volunteers as well to help them deal with what they see everyday. Meaning that alot of volunteers aren't extending their contracts and many of them are actually terminating their contracts early. It breaks my heart to see the state the Congo is in, especially considering the fact that they are the richest country in AFrica, resource-wise, but are in an extreme state of poverty. :(
11/20/09
The "GlennBeckRaped.... .com" resolution story is actually a great read, and includes the WIPO filings and the personal letter to Beck from the domain-holder:
[techdirt.com]
11/20/09
I'm not sure if you all know this, but apparently feminists take everything to seriously, and have no understanding of the definition of the word. Well, that's what I gleaned from the conversation at least.
11/20/09
It's so silly to get hung up on the meaning of words, isn't it? Sigh.
11/20/09
Oh, wait ...
11/20/09
11/20/09
#tips
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
of the United Rape of America,
and to the Republic for which it rapes,
one raping nation under god,
indivisible, with liberty and rape for all.
Someone give me my own radio show!
08/12/09
That said, you write that that the press could help Clinton by focusing on the actual issues at hand.
Well, Clinton (and Obama) wants to frame her visit as being all about democracy, being tough on corrupt African leaders, helping defenseless Congolese women (I am with Texas in Africa on this). That may be so, but it obscures the larger rationale for Ms Clinton's visit. Which incidentally is not a secret since State Department officials can't stop wanting to tell the media about it, but the media won't report it. That is two things:
By 2025 the US government expects to import at least 25% of its oil suppliers from African sources–Clinton is visiting three suppliers on this trip: Angola, Nigeria, and Cape Verde. Obama visited a fourth, Ghana (they discovered oil in 2007), a month ago. Right now Nigeria is the 5th largest, and Angola the 6th largest exporters of oil to the United States. Oh, and the US is facing competition from China (who operate by a different, easier, set of rules for foreign investment) for African oil and other resources.
[africasacountry.wordpress.com]
08/12/09
08/12/09
many props to hillary. lotta respect for her as a person & a politician.
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
And as soon as all of the TV stations were running this, the newspapers had to pick it up so they didn't look like they were "covering it up," if that makes sense. In the end, everyone gets screwed because reporters got lazy. Grrr.
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
Way to roll with the times Ms Brown.
08/12/09
That being said, one of our least-favorite newspeople, Ann Curry, was on the ball this morning. After the Today show ran the same piece everyone else is running, she made a point of explaining why it's so important that Clinton in the Congo and what life is like there. Curry has spent a lot of time in Darfur, and I have a feeling she would like to be reporting on the Congo as well.
08/12/09
I think it was about a reporter asking STUPID QUESTION.
That said, the newborn PR girl in me would have advised Madame Secretary to say something like, Oh, I'm very proud of my husband -- it's wonderful he can keep serving our wonderful nation even though he is no longer in the Oval Office'. Then I would have her re-direct attention onto the issue at hand, saying -- I'm sure he'd like us to focus on blah blah blah blah today.
Reporters can be very easy to pacify in that way.
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
You know of any openings in NYC? Message me? :)
08/12/09
My dad is currently in the Congo doing humanitarian work, and the stuff that he sees and that he tells me is going on is just awful. There are so many great people who live out there and who want/appreciate the help, but things are very corrupt and the Congolese soldiers even turn on each other (in one instance one soldier killed another over a concubine). Many of the non-profits that offer humanitarian aid out there show an extreme lack of leadership, don't train their volunteers well enough and don't prepare them enough for all the secutiry issues that they will face and don't offer any/enough psychological support to the volunteers as well to help them deal with what they see everyday. Meaning that alot of volunteers aren't extending their contracts and many of them are actually terminating their contracts early. It breaks my heart to see the state the Congo is in, especially considering the fact that they are the richest country in AFrica, resource-wise, but are in an extreme state of poverty. :(