Because.......
Here's the funny thing about rape cases. Something you may not have realized. Something they don't tell you.
It's not the victim who is on trial.
See, this is the way the system works:
1) Innocent until proven guilty holds true even in rape cases.
2) This means that even the victim is innocent.
3) No, seriously.
4) I don't care what Fox News said. She's still not the one on trial.
5) Yes, even if she has kids.
6) Yes, even if having kids doesn't mean she'll marry whomever ejaculated near her in a means of becoming a proper little lady.
7) Hell, even if she won't bleach her skin all shiny-white like.
So, if you have an urge to delve into the depths of self-hatred, check out Feministing, where the "debate" is raging between one self-hating woman who can't figure out why no matter how much she get's her hate-on against other women, she still hasn't bought herself a hubby (see: me again), one little white boy who's terrified of the possibility that being white may not be a "get out of sin" card after all (see: hujo), and a nineteen year old punk who's really hoping that the interweb will hide his acne from all, and make everyone think he's a Real Man (see: no name).
Some fun quotes for your parusal:
I don't doubt your statistics either. The problem I think is that blacks aren't very well educated and they don't seem very inspired. I'm not sure of all the reasons why this might be, but I know black people are capable of being much better than they currently may be.
My bad. By 'quotes' I meant 'quote'. Figured I head on over there and pick up some good ones, but that right there hit me in the face right off the bat, and well, that pretty much says it all, doesn't it?
Fuck.
posted by Impulsivecompulsive | 11:52 PM
6 Comments:
I didn't know you read Feministing. True story? One of the founders is a girl who was a good friend of mine in high school. When I found out, I looked her up on Friendster and congratulated the shit out of her. As 17 year olds, we were just kids with potential and bright futures. I'm proud that, as an adult, she chose to use her potential to be a good guy.
Anyway, this rape case is a sore spot. The actual case itself gets buried behind our stereotypes (dancing ladies, rich lax players, etc.) and (aside from the actual crime) the ugliest part is the way it exposes our cultural striations like this.
Hoping for a swift resolution. And hoping she (as well as the accused ) get the fair shake they deserve.
One of the founders is a girl who was a good friend of mine in high school.
That's a great way to find out where someone went with their life. Fun.
That post (well, mainly the following comments) amazed me. The pure hate filled drivel that those trolls were spewing was just insane.
And yes, I realize that there are people on the other side who would love to see those players locked up for life, and fuck the trial (and yes, I'm probably one of them), but when it comes to putting that hate into action, those boys have a defense lawyer to deal with that. And she doesn't.
Because she's not the one on trial.
But in the courts of public opinion, she's been judged guilty. And that's just not okay. Hell, it's a long, long ways from okay.
impulsivecompulsive,
It seems we find many of the same things interesting. The Duke case is staggering on so many levels, including the fact that the women's lax team chose to wear the numbers of the indicted players during the Final Four in a show of support.
I wrote about this case a little while ago and thought you might enjoy the Musing. Here's the link: http://musingsnmn.blogspot.com/2006/04/letters-to-young-colored-girl.html.
Don't mean to presume, but if you liked my other work, I thought you might dig this too.
Looking forward to reading more of your stuff.
NMN: Been there, read it, and yes, I did enjoy.
And that reminds me to get on that link there.
Hujo! What a...suprise. Rather delayed reaction, but we can't all act in a timely manner, now can we?
Anyway:
Not only am I from Canada but while slavery was going on in the states, my ancestors were in Scotland being oppressed by other white people but you don’t see me using rape as an excuse to incite hatred against British people now do you.
Although I do realize that Canada is sold in the international market as being a friendly, laid back and overly polite and apologitic little society, having lived here for my whole life, I beg to differ. Being Canadian, yes, even of Scottish decent, is not a get out of sin card any more than being white is.
And maybe you can be the first blogger to explain how a rational society puts blame on the innocent generations centuries after atrocity and decades after segregation?
Sure! First, let's start with the basic premise that we understand that not all groups within society are equal. When it comes to socio-economic factors, there are some pretty clear delineations based on race and gender.
Now, given that there are these differences, there must be a reason for them, and we basically have two main reasons that we can work with:
1)White men are genetically superior, or 2)Society is failing certain people.
Now, if you beleive reason 1, that pretty much guarentees that you gotta be racist and/or sexist.
If, on the other hand, you don't think that the white male is the end all and be all of humanity, then you'd have to look for reasons other than, "Dem black's don't think right." So if a group is lagging in society, it's a societal problem. Which means that it's society's job to fix the problem.
Denial is not the same as innocence.
Also, segregation does not instatly wipe out hatred. After all, if all it took to keep everyone lovin' each other was ditch slavery, then we wouldn't be having this whole, "War on Terror" thing, would we?
Also how is it you blame the entire population of modern white men for the softly-proved discrimination of the vastly small elite minority???
I don't. I blame the entire population of people who think that the vastly small elite minority has a right to make anyone who is not a member of their group suffer. Them, and the vastly small elite minority. And those who make up for not being members of the vastly small elite minority by treating anyone who falls below them in the social ladder in the same shitty way that the vastly small elite minority treats them.
What I want to know when is it time for feminists to be in sin for branding white young men sinners simply for possessing white skin and being born with a penis, then down the road men will be in sin again for giving it back, then women again then and men again and black and white and so on and so on , or we could grow up and move forward?
Giving what back? I just got a mental image of a hoard of repentant young white men handing their penises over to, oh say, Twisty, on silver platters.
Call me a man-hating bitch for finding that freakishly funny, but my imagination's just a little off center at times, and yeah, the mental image was that funny.
And oddly enough, I know plenty of men who don't think that they're being put on trial every time a rape case comes up, or run trembling whenever they hear the word 'feminism'. Why? Because they don't feel guilty, they understand that things are not equal, and that makes them want to instill change, and be sure to treat others as equals.
Being part of a socially elite class doesn't make you a bad person. Hell, being a part of a class that has created institutional and social barriers to other classes joining in to that socially elite class doesn't make you a bad person.
But refusing to admit that you are in that class because that's the way we built society won't make the facts go away. It's just going to make it more likely that you'll assume that you're entitled to being better off then others, and that they deserve whatever happens to them. And next thing you know, you're going on about how lazy dem blacks (or dem natives, as the case may be here), are, since that's obviously the only reason that there could be for them to have less (money, education, social status, whatever) than you. And maybe, since they're kinda lazy, you shouldn't hire them. And certainly don't be dating them. And hell, if you're on the jury for a rape case, chances are, she's lying. After all, you would never have to strip to put yourself through school, now would you?
Nobody's blaming you for being white, or male.
They're blaming you for refusing to beleive that you have an unfair advantage because of that.
And yes, I know that pre-segregation does not equal slavery.
I was trying to type a response, feed the cat, feed the fish, get the kid to bed and answer the phone all at once, and rather forgot where my sentence started by the time I'd gotten to the end.
My bad.
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