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| Lara Logan, shortly before the attack |
There has been an astounding amount of vile shit posted on the internet about the reported sexual assault and beating of CBS reporter Lara Logan in Cairo’s Tahir Square. I spent a depressing hour or so the other night looking through hundreds of comments on the Yahoo news message boards; it was a virtual festival of misogyny, racism, victim-blaming and simple nastiness. A sample (each quote is from a different comment):
don’t put some nice white pu55y near crazy @#$% arabs. it’s like goddamn king kong
Kinda’ like sending a woman reporter into a locker room? Don’t ask me to feel any kind of remorse for her. Equal rights demands equal responsibility
it started as a revolution and turned in a black spring break! mwaa ha ha
She loved every minute of it.
I could multiply examples ad infinitum; the last I checked there were more than 1500 comments on the one Yahoo news story I looked at, and most were of this sort. The only slightly encouraging sign? Most of these vile comments have more downvotes from readers than upvotes.
You expect this kind of behavior from the Yahoo message board crowd, which has never been very big on civility, or even basic human decency. Typical anonymous internet assholery.
Leave it to the readers of The Spearhead, though, to take commentary on this sad case to an even lower low. Yesterday, Spearhead head honcho W.F. Price published his own, predictably victim-blaming, take on the subject — essentially blaming feminists for encouraging women to report the news in the same dangerous places that male reporters go. (When Anderson Cooper was attacked, you didn’t hear anyone suggesting that men shouldn’t be covering the events in Cairo.)
I think that’s a supremely tasteless way to use this tragedy to push an antifeminist agenda. But the comments to his article, roughly 270 of them at last count, are far worse — rarely bothering with even a pro-forma expression of basic human sympathy, some blaming and even mocking the victim, and most using the case to crudely push an assortment of their own misogynist agendas. Here are some of the worst; I present them without comment, as they pretty much speak for themselves. I have edited some for space reasons; you can follow the links to read them in their entirety.
Alucin explained about how rape allegedly benefits its victims:
When I studied in university a woman claimed to have been gang-raped. After telling the story, she acquired a certain authority. She was at the top of the feminist hierarchy …. Her word was gold because of her rape.
It was never even verified if she had in fact been raped.
It’s a harsh thing to say, but the woman at university gained immensely from the rape, or her rape story-telling, with this increased stature. She probably wouldn’t have gotten into that very small degree program without the rape story to tell to the admissions committee.
At school, no one, especially a man, could ever challenge her about any subject, however remotely related to rape. …
Rape against men or women is a tragedy, but I also find it sickening how “survivors” or their “friends and supporters” often use their status for personal gain. … It’s the same thing when feminists politicize breast cancer.
Opus added:
I agree with Alcuin: In my experience women wear RAPE like a badge of honour or military medal (as I presume Ms Logan will now do). I, of course, never believe word of it, and I notice most guys these days are equally sceptical. There may be an increasing Rape epidemic but no one I know is a Rapist. Funny.
Confused declared that he didn’t give a shit:
No group on earth is more privileged that American/western women.
I won’t waste my time any more worrying about their safety, or lack thereof, due to their choices.
intp took it a step further:
Don’t believe her. Don’t care. I hope the Arab guys didn’t catch anything from her.
That is what the non-stop lie called feminism has done to me. Vive la nihilism.
Rebel offered this highly original take on rape:
I don’t see the point here..
According to feminist orthodoxy, humpteen gazillion women are raped every day. This one is the humpteen gazillionth plus one for that day.
Women are raped if you have sex with them, women are raped if you don’t have sex with them, women are raped even if there are no men around. …
Every time two animals are copulating, a woman feels raped. There are more rapes on earth than there are hydrogen molecules in the universe.
To women of today, rape seems to be the highest achievement, the Royal Road to Success.
I’m laughing so much I might get a hernia, my belly is aching from the laughter.
Papa Smurf suggested the reported rape was a great career move, and ended his comment with a smiley:
she’ll be a CBS news anchor in no time. great way to get promoted.
I dont know if she genuinely didnt want what just happend or maybe feminism has affectivly blinded her and rendered her stupid. Blonde western women in the arab world are like all you can eat restraunts to fat people. Just help yourselves 😉
Troll King posted a long rambling diatribe against “western women” in the Middle East, of which these remarks are only a small portion:
*yawn*
Typical feminist/western woman(as if there is a difference) acts like her typical bitchy self in a place that won’t tolerate it. ….
The fact is that women, western cunts, think they can go into a culture and act how they want and treat the poorest of the poor not just like “help” or a but like a slave that should be lashed for simply flirting. I bet these rapists look who do this probably thought she would act towards them the same way white women act towards brown and black men on western tv. Like he was a stud….
But, umm, like yeah dude. That is so hurrible I might go and cry a river.
The Contrarian Expatriate took victim-blaming to a new low:
Sounds like she got what she set herself up for. You can yell, “I am woman, hear me roar!” all you want in the Anglosphere, but step into the 3rd world behaving that way and they will pound you (no pun intended) back into your place.
Again, as is generally the case with the comments from The Spearhead that I quote here on my blog, these are not weird outliers in the discussion there. Unlike the comments from Yahoo I quoted above, all of the comments I quoted from The Spearhead got multiple upvotes from readers there, in most cases several dozen; none had more than a handful of downvotes. Alucin’s comment about the benefits of rape — a comment surprisingly similar in spirit to an infamous quote on false rape accusations from Catherine Comins, an assistant dean at Vassar, that still raises hackles from antifeminists two decades after it was uttered to a Time magazine writer — got more than 80 upvotes. There is more than a little irony here.
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>Richard takes a thread about Spearhead's revolting attitudes towards rape and makes it all about his hobby horse, the divorce courts. Excellent way to make it all about yourself, Richard.And you wonder why some folks have trouble seeing MRAs as having any common decency.
>@ thevagrantsvoice:thevagrantsvoice said: "Richard, I think divorce laws, the draft, sexual abuse of men, and all that stuff is not going to change much by cheering on the mistreatment of women."True, but the absence of cheering, men being docile and apologetic has led, in part, to these anti male laws being passeed. If tomorrow all MRA'S took vows of silence and not one said anything negative about women or feminists, feminists would still dream up some way to slander men. If they can make up the whole patriarchy myth, they can come up with some other bullshit.thevagrantsvoice said: "Despite how you guys valorize folks like Sodini and Lepine, and despite how you guys (as demonstrated above) cheer on incidents of rape like this, these incidents are not making your life any easier."Two things. One, I don't recall praising in any way the violence that occurred to this woman. If I did please point it out and I'll concede my error. Two, when men praise the Sodini's of the world, instead of outrage by women it should be viewed for what it is. Men feeling desperate. It should be a huge red flag and instead of continually fucking with men, these women should take a look at what the laws and culture they helped make has produced. thevagrantsvoice said: "Indeed, in many ways, they set your cause back. Every guy like Sodini or mob like the one in Egypt means another excuse to call men violent and be more suspicious of them and all that. The worse things get for women, the harder your enemies, if you view them as such, are going to drive the boot into your back. Laughing about some newslady getting raped is not going to make the courts change unfair divorce laws, nor will it convince them that most men aren't rapists."True, but being docile little boys won't get us anything but patronized. I don't want to be a little "yip" "yip" dog like Captain Bathrobe and David. Things will change. They have to. The U.S. is broke and sooner or later feminut nation is going to have a hard time dealing with the hordes of angry and bitter men they screwed and all the spiel about empowerment, and girl power and patriarchy is going to mean exactly what it meant to Lara Logan when she dealt with that mob. Meaning not a damn thing.Random Brother
>Yip Yip…Richard is a small dog from his own accounts.Not going to try and refute me are you Richy?
>I cannot believe how unmoored from reality some of the commenters both here and on the Spearhead are. What, because you can't get a date with a supermodel and you don't agree with divorce laws, that excuses you from basic human decency and compassion? Your suffering (outrage at goddamn divorce laws) is greater and of more value than a woman who got gang raped? You should be fucking ashamed of yourselves. And yeah, that's shaming language – because there's some shit that people should be ashamed of, and insisting that men are forever and always the greater victims, especially when juxtaposed with this tragedy, is one of those things. I can't even begin to imagine what Ms. Logan is going through. First the assault, and now she's taken apart in the media and on the Internet. What the fuck is wrong with you people? She's an actual, suffering human being – not some kind of symbol of woman, not a cipher, not some stand-in for the girl who wouldn't go to prom with you in the 12th grade. An actual person. And how you're treating her, and her story, says more about YOU than it will ever say about her. Here's a question for Richard, Wytch, or any other MRA who cares to answer: I think we can universally agree that rape is a terrible crime which no innocent person should ever have to suffer. Apparently, what happened to Ms. Logan is somehow unworthy of your compassion. In fact, every time there's a news story about a woman being raped, there seems to be an absolute lack of compassion for her in some circles. So here's my question: Please tell me exactly what kind of rape you *would* feel shocked at. What has to happen before you find yourself able to feel some basic human empathy and compassion?
>@ booboonation:booboonation said: "richard, YOU are an idiot. denounce this sexism and this line of reasoning that women should not be working and men are obviously going to rape women in this circumstance."I don't know who you're agruing with but I don't remember agreeing with the line of reasoning you've given.booboonation said: "This has NADA to do with your persecution complex."Persecution complex. Persecution complex. Tell, me, dear, which group is it that claims that men from the beginning of time all joined a secret cabal in order to keep the superior womenfolk down? Who is that, dear? Oh, yeah, it's feminists. So if you want to talk about a persecution complex, maybe ya'll should lose yours first. booboonation: "If you are not sickened by rape and sickened by these comments and able to play this personal persecution game again to deflect responsibility, you are an idiot."I'm sickened by things that hurt me. Got it? Don't demand that I care about things that affect feminists while they don't give 2 shits about things that harm me. That will not happen. As for name callling. I'm an MRA so I expect to be called names.booboonation: "You need to stop with your name calling or you are fair game. Any man that talks the way you just have in the face of a gang rape and the justification of that and vilification of the REAL victim, you are a nut job, and frankly I think the FBI needs to watch you. FBI doesn't need to watch Dworkin. You on the other hand, need a file."Well Dworkin's dead (YEAAHHHHH!!!!!) so she doesn't need a file. booboonation: "Now if you don't want me talking to you like that, then stop calling people idiots."But they are idiots. And what the person I originally called an idiot said was so far out there she deserved it.booboonation: "Denounce this shit Richard, stop with your nonsense persecution complex, it's going to be self fulfilling prophecy."Maybe if feminists weren't so self centered they could see the harm they cause instead of calling legitimate complaints persecution complexes.Random Brother
>@percypruneI responded to someone's post that was clearly wrong. I know feminuts don't care about truth, but some people do.Random Brother
>@ Kave:Kave said: "Yip Yip…Richard is a small dog from his own accounts.Not going to try and refute me are you Richy?"Really, I said that. Sigh. Another pussy begging wimp boy trying to crawl in that oversized handbag with Captain Bathrobe, and David. I would tell you get some pride, but you're a male feminist. We know that's not going to happen.Random Brother
>@ Lady VictoriaI'd feel shocked and full of compassion about the rape, abuse or smearing of a child. This is something that is clearly beyond feminsts as seen by a fairly recent PSA and feminsist reaction to it.If you don't give a shit about men. Eventually men won't give a shit about you. Learn it. Random Brother
>Richard, if you convince yourself others don't give a shit about you then you can justify not giving a shit about them, or even hating them. I see it's working well for you. But it won't stop us from giving a shit about men.
>@ RichardAnd you call feminists hateful….
>RichardAre you ever going to address Davis original post?
>@ KaveNo. Random Brother
>@ Lady VictoriaFeminists are hateful. This is what's called blowback. In other words you have been trying to fuck over men for the last 60 years to say the least so yeah, I don't feel much sympathy for you feminuts, you've got none for me. Hell in this very thread men have basically been told if your level of pain doesn't equal being raped STFU. Well no, dear, just no.Random Brother
>Richard.You know nothing about they way the world really works. You live your life online being angry at everything, occasionally commenting on how superior you are because you are a man, not because you yourself have accomplished anything of even minor note. Live doesn’t work that way. Life is kicking you in the ass today because you have decided to be the poor victim who cannot do anything for yourself. Get out of your chair and do something today son… instead of yesterdays whine fest.
>RichardIt sucks being a lost soul doesn't it?I feel nothing but pity for you. I honestly feel the only way to respond to you from now on is just to express that pity. OR.. you have a very low IQ. I could also feel pity for you for that. Lead poisoning maybe?
>@ SandyYou wonderful women have truly given a shit about us men as you've crafted laws that put men into prison for the evil crime of not making enough money to pay alimony and or child support. A modern day debtors prison, but you care. Thanks. Thanks a lot.Even better as men lost their jobs with the recession, NOW went and convinced our president to give money to create more jobs for women instead of helping those out of work men back into employment. Thanks! It's great to have all these strong, proud, independant womyn who give a shit about us, lovely.And when you and Valenti get your way and take away the presumption of innocence from men in rape cases, I'm sure you'll still give a shit about all the men who can't afford proper legal counseling and can't prove where they were 10 – 15 years prior, and are thus imprisoned to be beaten and raped, and their lives destroyed, feminist caring FTW! All this and you'll still give a shit about men! Awesome! Fucking awesome! Thanks, you feminists rock! Thanks. Thanks a lot.Random Brother
>RIchardYou do not live in the same world the rest of the world does, in fact if I didn't know you were not my brother I would think you were my brother.
>@ KaveDude,You admitted you spend your free time watching naked men beat off while getting milk poured on them. Your respect of my IQ or whatever means nothing to me.Random Brother
>"You admitted you spend your free time watching naked men beat off while getting milk poured on them. Your respect of my IQ or whatever means nothing to me."—RichardAnd the funny thing is that he views it as "performance art," lol.Look at the time he's spent on this blog—he's trolling, attention whoring, and it's creepy how he's targeting anyone that even mildly disagrees with the themes here. From 7:10 a.m to 2:03 p.m.The idea that Kave is waiting for hours behind his screen like that is rather unnerving. I would suggest someone like that get another hobby, but it only makes them more fixated. Maybe obsessed.I won't feed the sick troll anymore, Richard. Promise.
>Richard, yes, women do give a shit about men. I know that in your narrow, prejudiced world view this is not true. But I care about issues that effect men. I even do something about it.
>(Also I do not want to take away the presumption of innocence. That, like a lot of things, is in your head.)
>@richardThe mind boggles. A PSA that suggests that injudicious social conditioning could result in men becoming rapists is more shocking than the actual attack and brutal rape of a woman?The idea of expressing empathy and compassion for a member of the female gender, no matter how heinously treated is beyond you.Truly, the mind boggles.
>Richard, you appear to lack any common decency. You fail to demonstrate even basic empathy for someone who has been sexually assaulted. Instead, you have threadjacked this post to make it all about you.You're a pitiable figure who has lost his moral compass. Shame on you.
>Well Richard and wytch.. When you obtain tickets to a performace art series and then sit in the audience sometimes you are surprised by the performance art. Sometimes it's very strange sometimes it's disturbing, and sometimes it's beautiful. Point is one of us has attended such theater performances and the other has not., hence you should not be commenting as experts regarding the vagina monologues or even somewhat knowledgeable on the topic. Ie: Dworkin did speak the quote you attributed to her. And yes I have been here all day. Wife and I are leaving for Nicaragua as of Saturday for a few weeks. I'm happy to say I took the day off and spent the day packing and making fun of mra's. Almost a mini vacation before the vacation. Thanks guys.
>wytchI have nothing to do till tomorrow at noon. Dogs have been sent to the farm, I've visited and or talked to all the relatives I need too, my key man has taken over operations. I can just sit back and make fun of you all night if I wish.