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A Rape By Any Other Name


By Brainwrap

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13 Comments

  1. Franklin Williams wrote:

    If the child of a rape victim is a “Gift from God”, then let’s free all of the rapists in prison. They were just like Santa Claus, just delivering gifts.

    Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 9:24 pm | Permalink
  2. David Freeman wrote:

    Tina Fey hit two birds with one stone when she said that Todd Akin is “confusing the phrase ‘legitimate rape’ with competitive gymnastics”.

    Friday, October 26, 2012 at 4:56 am | Permalink
  3. Fred Hamm wrote:

    How come these assholes makes these comments about rape, which they have absolutly no idea how the act of rape affects a women. That would be like me telling a woman should cherish her period, and shut up about the pain that they go through, because it isn’t THAT bad. I have no idea and neither do they!

    Friday, October 26, 2012 at 10:19 am | Permalink
  4. Dan wrote:

    I’m surprised the GOP doesn’t split down the middle because of this. Instead, the financial conservative side cynically abides these lunatics. Or they are self-deluded that this is ok.

    Jonathan Haidt’s observation about Conservatives is that they differ not only in their positions on various policies, but about what emotional attachment they have to politics. He points out that Conservatives care much more about group cohesion and falling in line.

    Friday, October 26, 2012 at 11:22 am | Permalink
  5. Don wrote:

    Dan, your comment reminds me of Adam Clayton Powell and a comment made concerning him in the late 60s. ACP was the representative of, I believe, Harlem and was one of a very few blacks in Congress at the time (first one elected from New York). He has a tremendous record in the civil rights arena, but he was also, apparently, a bit of a shyster (he carried his ex-wife on the Congressional payroll for 6 years after she’d left the country and performed no work for the Congressman). When a prominent community member was asked why the voters would tolerate such a person as their representative to Congress, he replied (I’m paraphrasing here) “He may be a crook, but he’s our crook.”

    I think the folks who want to demote Obama so much are pretty much of the same mind. They may have mindless candidates, but they are their candidates and winning is the only thing that is important.

    Friday, October 26, 2012 at 11:13 pm | Permalink
  6. Yudith wrote:

    Just for clarity purpose, let’s replace the word «rape» with the word «torture». Then watch the face of, for example, Clayton Williams when he’s being tortured and he hears «Relax! Enjoy it!»

    Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 6:03 am | Permalink
  7. Dan wrote:

    Don, thanks for the interesting relevant story. The question, however, is what “our” in “our crook” means? Representative democracy is certainly about groups being represented, so having groups is not a problem per se. The point I was trying to make is that at some point the group you are supporting doesn’t even represent you anymore, but supporting the group is elevated to prime objective. Was ACP representing Harlem correctly? Just because he was a shyster, does not mean he did not present the better representation for his voters. Was he bad for Harlem? If not, then maybe the voters turn a blind eye to his indiscretions. If you are a libertarian and gay, then the GOP is very definitely bad for you. You have a tough choice.

    I do think that a lot can be explained by such “lesser of evils” type choices. And, to be fair, I suspect there’s a lot that going on in the GOP camp: a financial conservative or libertarian member might very well be unhappy about the lunatic fringe, but might still believe it’s better to put up with that than switch to one of the very few alternatives. Just look at the friction between Ron Paul and the GOP (although it’s not exactly along the lines I just delineated).

    Yudith, I don’t think I understand your comment.

    Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 1:21 pm | Permalink
  8. Dan wrote:

    Yudith, Oh, now I see the quote, sorry.

    Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 1:23 pm | Permalink
  9. Iron Knee wrote:

    If you know it’s inevitable that you’re going to be tortured, you might as well relax and enjoy it!

    Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 6:02 pm | Permalink
  10. Linda Jackson wrote:

    You write about what a few Republicans say, but I say actions speak louder than words. There were plenty of Democratic men who treat or treats women like crap and you probably didn’t write about it. For instance Clinton, Kennedy, Weiner and on and on.

    Monday, October 29, 2012 at 9:07 pm | Permalink
  11. Arthanyel wrote:

    Linda: Being a misogynistic A#^%#^^ is unfortunately all too common among men of both parties. But this post, and this discussion, isn’t about “treating women like crap.” It’s about a belief, CLEARLY only on the Republican side, that women’s rights and equality need to be ROLLED BACK and that the social conservative MINORITY wants to dictate to all women how they are allowed to behave and what they are allowed to do with their bodies.

    And that should be intolerable.

    Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 12:14 am | Permalink
  12. Iron Knee wrote:

    Linda, you attack me because I “probably” didn’t write about it? Give me a break. I sure as hell did write about it (although I’ve only been blogging for 4 1/2 years, so not much about Kennedy).

    Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 7:41 am | Permalink
  13. Dan wrote:

    Linda, please don’t draw a false equivalence between behaving like an @sshole in your private life and being so blinded by your faith that you legislate public government control over women’s bodies.

    Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 8:09 am | Permalink