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New York, 4:10 AM
Mon Dec 7
19 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/20/09
"The way you get all this stuff done if you're Obama is you simply insult the intelligence of the average American." Actually, that's exactly what Rush and Glenn and Michael Savage do every single day. The problem though is that their listeners don't yet understand that their intelligence is being insulted because they are too busy eating it up and then voting against their interests. I really believe that their listeners, the ones who then go on to believe everything they hear, don't yet know that they can fact check. That, in fact, they can think for themselves and use logic along with rational argument to differentiate between what is actually going on and what these conservative pundits want them to think (for God knows what reason).
The use of rape as a figure of speech by conservative pundits is the same as their use (and love of using) the Holocaust and Nazi Germany as a figure of speech. Not only are they grossly misrepresenting what it is they are actually talking about i.e. health care or simply a Democratic run (in theory) government. They are completely and universally disrespecting the people that these crimes were actually committed against.
These men have no conception of what rape is or what the Holocaust and Nazi occupation was. They simply cannot, as both Atticus Finch and Martha Nussbaum have asked us repeatedly to do, put themselves in someone else's shoes. They just can't do it. I wouldn't be suprised if they were sociopathic because there is a limit to how far you can go to make your point. For some of us that limit is when it becomes too ridiculous to even be true anymore. For most of us that limit is when we must lose all of our compassion for other human beings, past and present, to make a point. These men go way past that limit and they aren't even making a valid point.
11/20/09
11/20/09
aka, how is saying "that test raped me" more offensive than saying "that test murdered me?" Both will bring up deeply hurtful memories in a small (but significant) part of the population and both carry similarly violent commentators. I have similar feelings about the overuse of the word 'lynched' in popular media (aka, getting 'lynched' by other commenters, which I'm pretty sure is about to happen here).
11/20/09
Everyone who has been murdered is dead.
94,000 people were raped in 2004, compared to 16,000 murders and the rape number only occurs convicted rapes. Rape is easily 10x the problem murder is.
The two are not comparable.
11/20/09
Try telling someone who's brother was brutally killed that she shouldn't be offended at your saying "my Boss is gonna murder me"...
#tips
11/20/09
The murder analogy is a red herring.
11/20/09
1) Whether you're talking 16000 or 100000, you're still talking about hundreths of a percentage point in context of the overall population (0.008% vs 0.05% respectively). Including loved ones for something like murder (which is impossible to hide/not report) is different than something like rape (which often goes unreported) swings things further in the direction of murder but ultimately muddies the quantitative waters so I'll let that drop.
2) If you read my post, I say small (statistically) but significant (emotionally) portion of the population. I stand by that statement.
3) The murder comment is not a 'red herring.' It is generally an accepted point by everyone I give two sh*ts about (and by just about everyone on this board) that it is wholly inexcusable to use rape in anything other than it's literal context. This is a fight that has largely been won in these very small social circles for similar words such as retard and f*g. It is still generally acceptable, however, to use murder (or other brutally descriptive substitutes) in a manner for which it is not intended, which is extremely offensive to me and to those who are similarly affected.
The logic behind the argument against using rape, lynch, retard, wifebeater, f*g, or any of the other words in a non-literal context works just as well for murder, the debate just hasn't happened yet. If you're going to get up in arms about rape you should also be similarly offended (or at least empathetic) about words such as murder.
#tips
11/20/09
So when I say "Oh man it kills me that my father loves Limbaugh" I don't actually mean that I'm dead, and because our culture all agrees that actually killing someone is the worst thing you could actually do, my hyperbole isn't minimizing the reality or horror of murder. No matter how many times death is used as a metaphor, everyone still agrees that death is a big deal. My use of the term is obviously hyperbolic, and I would probably never say something like "Oh man this cervical cancer totally kills me, man!" in a joking way, because cancer and death are two concepts closely related in our cultural imagination. I would only use death or murder as a metaphor when it is obvious and clear that the incident has nothing to do with death.
But when most people minimize actual rape every day, especially conservative pundits, their use of the concept in other contexts just adds to the serious social problem, which is that the people in charge just don't take rape seriously, and men don't take rape seriously. I couldn't listen after a while, it was too upsetting, but from the first half of the clip, it was only men who were using this phrase. I have a feeling that not even conservative women would use rape as a metaphor, and while so-called liberal or progressive dudes do it all the time, I have never heard a woman use the term rape to mean anything but actual rape.
Because women know about actual rape, and know how nobody gives a flying fuck about it. No matter what their politics.
11/20/09
#tips
11/20/09
1) Not you are not. As I posted in my first response, the number of rape surviors walking around is likely around 18%. As I already pointed out the murder numbers are more accurate than the rape numbers since murder is usually reported and rape is not.
3) It isn't a small percentage, to say so is to ignore both the numbers and the people you know. The only thing I can think is you must be a guy. I can think of dozens of rape survivors I know, but I only know one person who has had a loved on murdered (I'm excluding 9/11). Obviously, my background plays a role in how few murder victims I know, but sexual assault rates rise in lower socioeconomic groups along with the murder rate so my point still stands.
3) The reason the murder comment is a red herring is because you are comparing something rare to something very, very common.
It appears that you have a person connection to someone who has been murdered. While I am sorry for that, this isn't the post to make your point about murder being used to casually. Reading this doesn't make me think about the casual use of the word murder, it makes me think how you are underestimating rape.
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
11/20/09
But 'violent seizure' or removing something through force has always been a dictionary sanctioned meaning of the word rape, and I reckoned his usage was actually correct. Is it okay to still use this usage? Because I do, sometimes. And that's an honest question, I really don't want to seem unthoughtful with my language.
However in this case the idiots on show are not talking about the seizure or plunder of any material thing, they are alluding to forced sexual intercourse, and it's a pretty pathetic metaphor. It demeans the suffering of people who have been raped and it's lazy.
11/20/09
i.e. If you talk about a "rape scene" in a movie, you know it's a "rape-rape" scene, not someone stealing something from someone. I think that definition is very much removed from the average person's vocabulary, kind of outdated.
So yeah, I never use the word rape. Not only because I find it inaccurate and offensive but because I know far, far too many women who have been raped and the word brings up way too many uncomfortable memories. I can't read/hear it without getting a resurgence of emotions related to my past experiences.
11/20/09
And the guys I call on it go "well I don't mean it like that." Reclamation of a term like "rape" or "fag" can't spread to the community as a whole until it is no longer used to describe terrible things (rape as a crime, and those that use "fag" to insult, wound, and intimidate gays). At least, it can't without being offensive and keeping some of the term's actual meaning.
I can't imagine how much worse it could potentially be if you actually had been sexually assaulted and to hear the gaming community trivialize your experience and think it's something to laugh about.
I often want to say "so, you stuck your penis in that other player's character's vagina without their consent?" (I know that isn't the only kind of assault), but I don't know if it'd accomplish anything or really make my point.
11/20/09
It is awful for people who have been raped to hear it, it's like a casual slap in the face, and the guys go on laughing at how edgy they are. It REEKS of privilege. "Haha, rape is so far removed from my actual life because it'll NEVER happen to me, so I can just laugh and laugh about it! And look at all those uptight feminazi bitches who are offended by it just cos they've been like, raped IRL, or whatever, what a bunch of oversensitive pussies!"
Yeah... I freaked out on my boyfriend when he used it once (he'd been hanging with a new crew of gamers) because he KNOWS of my past experiences and he STILL used it, so casually. It stunned me.
11/20/09
I could bully the guys I hang around, but even then they fight it, and they just won't get it and it makes me sad to know that.
#tips
11/20/09
Another day, another bruise on my forehead from hitting it against the wall.
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
Isn't that ironic...
11/20/09
courtesy of Restore Fairness:
[www.racialicious.com]
11/20/09
The horror.
11/20/09
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11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh REALLY suck.
11/20/09