How Not To Write A News Story About Rape

Hommer saying Doh!

The home page for my browser shows the news feed for Yahoo News. Imagine my shock when a front page story’s headline talked of the family of a victim of an “alleged rape” filing a civil lawsuit for wrongful death against the suspects after she had committed suicide. Luckily the article wasn’t a news report but a blog post about a news story because this was an excellent example of how not to write a news story about rape.

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Even Some Liberals Defend A Rape Culture

logo for the website for Daily Kos

Sometimes I repost blog entries on the Daily Kos website. I like to try to get a lot of comments and recommendations that might help in promoting my blog. I get nervous waiting for comments over there but I like the rush no matter what the response is. However, I really wasn’t prepared for the comments after posting my entry about the Steubenville Ohio rape case. The comments showed how ingrained the rape culture is in this country as even some liberals play into it.

If you don’t know Daily Kos is a big blog that tends to express and support liberal political views. It also allows members to post blogs called diaries that are listed on the front page. Members who read the posts can comment and recommend the article. If enough people recommend a post it will be promoted as a featured post on the front page of the site. That is a goal of mine when I post entries there.

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Guys, If The Girl Is Drunk It Is Rape – Period

clipart of the scales of justice

The Steubenville, Ohio rape trial is over and a verdict might be known by the time this post is published. No matter the result the news reports of some of the testimony really ticked me off. It is real simple guys, if the girl is shitfaced drunk she can’t give consent for sex – period. Taking advantage of a woman who is drunk is rape. It also makes you a coward since you have to have her intoxicated to get your jollies.

Here’s a bit of the report that pissed me off:

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The Firing Of Joe Paterno Was A Business Decision

image of Joe Paterno in happier times

Penn State University has a mess on its hands and many heads rolled as a result – as they should have – but many people on the Internet either falsely claimed that Coach Joe Paterno was accused of molesting the children or that his lack of action upon finding out made him as guilty as the former staff member who is actually accused. Make no mistake, Paterno was fired on Wednesday so the school could protect their brand and get ahead of the massive negative story.

Child abuse, especially of a sexual nature, is, as it should be, a heinous crime. People tend to lose their mind when it becomes public. The downside of that freak out is that due process and the concept of “innocent until proved guilty” seems to fly out the window. Incidents that become news explodes all over the people involved and indirectly seeps down to people not directly involved.

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A very special Little House

While on break from work, I was flipping through the channels and came up on one of my favorite episodes of the TV show “Little House on the Prairie”. In a special 2 part episode, first shown in 1981, Albert falls in love with a girl named Sylvia. I do have to admit that the reason I loved the episode is that at the time I had a crush on the girl playing Sylvia so it is a bit creepy because of the plot of the episode is about a pretty girl who triggers the hormones of the local boys and gets undue attention from an older man who ends up raping her.

Here is a 30 sec recap of the entire episode for those who need a reminder:

The 30-Second Little House: Sylvia

A quick text recap is Sylvia is a pretty girl who has “developed” a bit more than the other girls in Walnut Grove. That sets off the hormones of the local boys and also an older man who attacks the girl while she walks home from school. We then find out that Sylvia is with child from the attack and Albert tries to “save” her by saying he was the father. The girl’s over protective father forbids the kids from being together so they decide to run away. At an old barn the attacker returns and tries to attack Sylvia again. It is then his identity is revealed which is a shock plot twist. Albert then shows up to fight the guy. Sylvia falls off a broken ladder and the girl’s father with Mr. Ingalls in tow, shoots the bad guy with a shot gun. Sylvia doesn’t survive her injuries leaving Albert devastated.

It was one of the best episodes of the show because it had a memorable actress playing Sylvia, the plot was not something the show usually had on, and if I remember right there was some controversy about it because of the theme of the rape of a child on a usually family show. It did introduce the topic for families to talk about it.