I'd like to think that goes without saying, y'know? But apparently I have to say it, because just yesterday I had a woman tell me that I should not discount the Occupy America protesters because of a few rapes.
Of course, the outright hypocrisy of Progressive "feminists" has been well documented over the years. Look at their enduring love of Bill Clinton, who is definitely a harasser if not an outright rapist.
Still--and maybe this is some vestige of youthful naivete showing--I had figured that four sexual assaults in three cities (that I have been able to track down online sources for), tied together by the fact that they happened at these Occupy protests, would be enough to give any woman pause.
Obviously, I was wrong.
I will reproduce my links here, in case anyone who comes across this blog wants proof. Now, I realize that yes, some women falsely report rapes, but the truth is that the number of rapes and other sexual assaults that go unreported far outstrips the false claims. In the NYC cases, there are two women accusing the same man, and they made the accusations at different times, independent of one another, which makes it that much less likely they're lying. Anyway, here are my links. You will notice that only one of these comes from a right wing source; I included it only because there is a video report from a local newscast embedded:
The Rape of a Protestor: Occupy Wall Street New York City
Tonye Iketubosin Arrested At Occupy Wall Street For Alleged Rape and Sexual Assault
Rape Alleged at Occupy Cleveland
Emotional Interview: Alleged Occupy Baltimore Rape Victim Says Activists Refused to Help
Oh, hey, I followed a link from that last one up there and found another rape, this one of a 14-year-old:
Police Investigating Possible Sexual Assault Of Teen At Occupy Dallas
Look, y'all know I said to begin with that we should concentrate on our similarities with the Occupy America folks. I'm far from the only person to note that there is some crossover between OWS and the Tea Party. Only...well, the Tea Partiers have managed to protest for quite some time now without raping anybody. I think that's pretty significant.
I cannot support any group which harbors rapists, especially when it has been widely documented that they are discouraging proper reporting of these crimes. That is so anti-woman it is flat disgusting. The only thing worse is any woman excusing this behavior because it's only a few people.
I don't care if it is only a few people. The proper response to repeated sexual assaults isn't to claim ignorance, as so many OWS supporters are doing, or to flat-out repudiate it, as I have also had happen. It isn't to blame it on infiltrators--there's no such thing as infiltrators when you allow anyone to come play. It sure as hell isn't to pressure women to let the crimes be handled internally. It is to repudiate those who excuse it and prosecute those who do it to the fullest extent of the law. It is to walk the victim to speak with the police and to stay by her side to ensure a rape kit is done, thereby increasing the chances she will see justice done.
Anything else is simply unacceptable, and the fact that I have to spell this out is fucking ridiculous.
10 comments:
***Thumbs up***
There is no excuse whatsoever for sexual assault whether it is "just a few" or a lot. And anyone who excuses rapists is someone I don't want to associate with.
No one is excusing RAPISTS. But the point remains large that OWS didn't rape those women, criminals did. Guaranteed the GA didn't "harbor" the three (by your count) people who did this. Don't cut your nose off to spite your face. Again.
They most certainly are harboring them. It has been documented in more than one city that sexual assault victims are discouraged from going to the police. This isn't my reading of it--it would never occur to me that such a thing would happen--but that of several independent organizations. If you discourage proper reporting of rape and sexual assault, you are protecting--ie, providing safe harbor to, or harboring--the perpetrators of said crime.
That individuals have committed the crimes is indisputable. That is not at question. What is at question is the utter disinterest that OWS has shown, as a whole, to address this problem correctly. To date, their only response to the outcry has been to have a "women only" tent at one event. This is just as offensive to women as telling them to not wear short skirts or walk in a given area of town. It is putting the onus of avoiding crime on the victim, and thus is inexcusable.
Funny how you're trying to use rape to discount the movement itself, when one really has nothing to do with the principles of the other. Another gigantic Sabra fail.
Y'know, offhand I'm thinking that if you had an actual argument, you'd make it. Instead, though, you've made a Blogger account just to insult me. Know how I know you're a pathetic troll?
They're probably posting from Starbucks. On their iPhone. That they got from AT&T, Verizon or Sprint.
IMO, the Occupy Wall Street movement is its own worst enemy.
I had an actual argument. Try reading again. "One really has nothing to do with the principles of the other." Trolls are everywhere ... sometimes they even get their own blogs and post their opinions, under the apparently assumption that someone asked them or cared in the first place.
And some trolls make Blogger accounts just to post comments on those blogs whose authors they imply that nobody gives a shit about, completely oblivious to the irony.
Or is YOUR name Nobody?
Thanks, pistolero, for a wonderful demonstration of what "not having an argument" really looks like.
And, no, I'll tell you what irony is: it's Sabra popping out baby after baby when she's not in a long-term stable relationship, all the while bemoaning things like welfare, which I'd imagine she gets in spades. Along with her state-funded tuition and everything else. That's irony, vato. That's irony.
Y'know, I've let you make an idiot out of yourself because it's mildly amusing, but I'm done with you after this. I could explain point-by-point how wrong you are with your latest round of accusations, but you're not worth my time. Suffice to say, you are full of shit.
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