Classic 'blame the victim' posts on recent GD thread

[kalibex]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4002492&mesg_id=40024
('Heritage Foundation Veep Arrested: shoves ballet dancer to ground')

Like that never happens around here.

So nice, how posters show their true colors. Very useful.

Compare with a recent post elsewhere by a feminist blogger: The chick in the horror flick (note: anti-rape rant).

-B

[BlueIris]

1. Repulsive. Typical blame-the-victim attitude AND a whole

grotesque list of other messed up perspectives, including the list of people who didn't feel that what the man did was "all that bad." One disgusting post I read featured comments essentially stating that the guy acted merely "inappropriately" in a moment of "emotional aggravation," should receive only "minimal probation" unless the woman was "seriously injured" or "injured enough to be conerned about" (eg; "visible" physical harm). As if the degree to which she was injured has any bearing on how severely he should be punnished or as if what he did is even defensible. Or not completely illegal and wrong.

The other aspect of that discussion that unsettled me: what I saw as the higher number of posts sympathetically defending "the ballerina" than those I saw defending the girl grabbed and harassed by the man in the "he grabbed a girl's arm, now he's a sex offender" thread. I wouldn't want to theorize about why I think the "ballerina" thread featured what I saw as more support being offered to the victim (such as that support was). Maybe more of the non-misogynist posters read the other thread in horror and shame and were more concerned with contributing to this latest next one. Or maybe it was because of...another reason. A creepy reason I like to think of as representing an attitude beneath DU. Oh, wait, as that thread's contents demonstrate, few things are beneath DU.

[Warpy]

7. Dunno, I read a lot of heavy sarcasm

which translastes so poorly into print that sarcastic people really need to use :sarcasm: to label their posts so that folks who are easily offended don't take them seriously.

Seriously.

[Misunderestimator]

2. That's odd... your link goes to a post in 2003...

that looks like it has responses in July 2005, but if you click on one of the posts in the thread... the OP refreshes to a post started on 4/2/05. Must be a pointer problem in the data, or your link.

Anyhow... which post were you intending to link to?

[BlueIris]

3. That is odd. Went right by me.

Strange.

[Misunderestimator]

4. Really? Weird... I guess it's a problem with my cookies or something.

That's never happened with any other links though... :crazy:

[BlueIris]

5. I just meant I didn't notice that strange aspect of the link.

Not that that aspect didn't exist.

[Misunderestimator]

6. Oh! Then it is very odd...

Does it lead you to a post by NSMA that doesn't even exist on the thread?

[Hello_Kitty]

8. Very disappointing to see

Some posters were minimizing his behavior and attributing it to the ol' momentary lapse in judgement because he was just so angry and couldn't possibly be expected to control himself. But as long as he went back and apologized later it's ok, you know. :banghead:

Why, why, why, do batterers and bullies still get to use the excuse that they were provoked beyond control? Why so many people just refuse to use basic critical thinking skills where this issue is concerned? Does anyone think for one minute that the asshole would have shoved a large male bodybuilder the way he shoved that small woman? How often do guys who beat their wives or parents who beat their kids in a "fit of rage" do the same thing when the boss pisses them off at work? It's bullshit to claim that you couldn't control your behavior. Every abuser chooses their victims. Every one. It's a deliberate decision to determine that this particular person, as opposed to another, will bear the brunt of one's anger and frustration. Why can't people see that?

[Zenlitened]

9. Well said. :)

:thumbsup:

[smirkymonkey]

11. Exactly - How often do you see people rushing to defend women

who act in "a fit of rage."

I agree with you that there is no excuse - abusers will victimize only those who aren't likely to retailiate. Defenders of such people make me almost as angry as the perpetrator himself. It's sickening.

[Solly Mack]

10. I'm getting a post from 2003

Mon Jul-14-03 04:50 PM
Original message

Strange.