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Things you JUST DON'T DO - blame an 11 year old girl for being threatened, gang-raped and further humiliated by having the video of the rapes spread around via cellphone. Talk about how 'hard' it's going to be for the rapists to continue with their lives or how the basketball team will suffer because two of the eighteen men and boys who raped her were big stars on the team. Talk about how she shouldn't have worn makeup/dressed 'inappropriately'/talked to boys. In short, blame anyone but the rapists.
Things the New York Times DID do - blame an eleven year old girl, etc.
You see, it's all about the community. Woe is them. How will it ever recover from having so many of their men and boys arrested? And what about the poor boys? If they were 'drawn in', how will it affect the rest of their lives?
Oh, and did we mention the girl came from a 'poor' part of town, while at least one of the rapists was the son of a School Board member? As if that little bit of classism wasn't bad enough, US bloggers identified the phrase used in the article - 'the Quarter's - as a racist dogwhistle effectively meaning 'where the poor black trash live'.
Look at what she was wearing. And where was her mother? I mean, really, she was asking for it, wasn't she?
Excuse me. I can't keep writing that sort of disgusting stuff without a nausea/outrage break.
It's despicable. Utterly inexcusable and appalling. The girl was effectively made invisible by the NYT. Never mind that she was kidnapped ... threatened with violence if she didn't comply ... repeatedly raped ... filmed while she was being violated ... and then, when a relative of one of the rapists came home unexpectedly, they took her to another location and raped her again. Then, just to add insult to injury, they shared the videos around the town. It was only when a primary school girl saw one of those videos, and recognised the victim, that anyone contacted the police.
None of that, apparently, is important. The NYT seems more concerned with giving a bunch of rape apologists a free, uncritical platform for their hateful crap than it is with the fact a little girl suffered the most horrific violations imaginable. It's more worried about making sure readers know that a bunch of rapists might have to 'live with' what they've done than pointing out how that little girl's life has effectively been destroyed.
The girl is now in foster care 'for her own protection'. Her family has received death threats originating from within the community, and her parents are reportedly looking into how they can quickly move away from the area. None of that made the NYT, mind you - only independent news was ethical enough to bother following up on the victim. Or maybe they just weren't as lazy as the big paper.
The New York Times should be ashamed of itself. It should apologise unreservedly to the girl and her family - and it should do so on the front page, with a banner headline.
And now The Age has repeated this rubbish. Not even an attempt to show balanced reporting or compassion for the victim. It's not like it would be hard to find a rape counsellor to talk about the long-term effects of violent sexual assault, or even run off a quick op-ed piece about this community's appalling lack of empathy for a violated little girl.
Lazy journalism, perpetuating a culture where a rapist gets more sympathy than a rape victim. The same culture where a girl who comes forward to tell her story of being little more than a plaything for 'elite athletes' gets called a 'skank' and a 'whore', and blamed for ruining those athletes' careers. The same culture that says it's not as 'bad' if a rape victim is a prostitute, because she has to expect it (and that's a quote from a judge).
NO. EXCUSE.
A girl was RAPED - did everyone in the fucking mainstream media forget that little fact?
It makes me want to go hug my daugters very, very tightly - because they're rapidly becoming young women, growing up into this culture.
Things the New York Times DID do - blame an eleven year old girl, etc.
You see, it's all about the community. Woe is them. How will it ever recover from having so many of their men and boys arrested? And what about the poor boys? If they were 'drawn in', how will it affect the rest of their lives?
Oh, and did we mention the girl came from a 'poor' part of town, while at least one of the rapists was the son of a School Board member? As if that little bit of classism wasn't bad enough, US bloggers identified the phrase used in the article - 'the Quarter's - as a racist dogwhistle effectively meaning 'where the poor black trash live'.
Look at what she was wearing. And where was her mother? I mean, really, she was asking for it, wasn't she?
Excuse me. I can't keep writing that sort of disgusting stuff without a nausea/outrage break.
It's despicable. Utterly inexcusable and appalling. The girl was effectively made invisible by the NYT. Never mind that she was kidnapped ... threatened with violence if she didn't comply ... repeatedly raped ... filmed while she was being violated ... and then, when a relative of one of the rapists came home unexpectedly, they took her to another location and raped her again. Then, just to add insult to injury, they shared the videos around the town. It was only when a primary school girl saw one of those videos, and recognised the victim, that anyone contacted the police.
None of that, apparently, is important. The NYT seems more concerned with giving a bunch of rape apologists a free, uncritical platform for their hateful crap than it is with the fact a little girl suffered the most horrific violations imaginable. It's more worried about making sure readers know that a bunch of rapists might have to 'live with' what they've done than pointing out how that little girl's life has effectively been destroyed.
The girl is now in foster care 'for her own protection'. Her family has received death threats originating from within the community, and her parents are reportedly looking into how they can quickly move away from the area. None of that made the NYT, mind you - only independent news was ethical enough to bother following up on the victim. Or maybe they just weren't as lazy as the big paper.
The New York Times should be ashamed of itself. It should apologise unreservedly to the girl and her family - and it should do so on the front page, with a banner headline.
And now The Age has repeated this rubbish. Not even an attempt to show balanced reporting or compassion for the victim. It's not like it would be hard to find a rape counsellor to talk about the long-term effects of violent sexual assault, or even run off a quick op-ed piece about this community's appalling lack of empathy for a violated little girl.
Lazy journalism, perpetuating a culture where a rapist gets more sympathy than a rape victim. The same culture where a girl who comes forward to tell her story of being little more than a plaything for 'elite athletes' gets called a 'skank' and a 'whore', and blamed for ruining those athletes' careers. The same culture that says it's not as 'bad' if a rape victim is a prostitute, because she has to expect it (and that's a quote from a judge).
NO. EXCUSE.
A girl was RAPED - did everyone in the fucking mainstream media forget that little fact?
It makes me want to go hug my daugters very, very tightly - because they're rapidly becoming young women, growing up into this culture.
