Rising Hegemon
As a general rule, you want to avoid rape, but you especially want to avoid rape in (a) Texas and/or (b) anywhere in the vicinity of either (i) Sheila Harrison and/or (ii) the author of this New York Times piece, James C. McKinley Jr.. Why? Well, because these people have awfully strange ideas about what really matters when it comes to rape, in this case of an eleven-year-old child:
“It’s just destroyed our community,” said Sheila Harrison, 48, a hospital worker who says she knows several of the defendants. “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.”
Ah yes, the "boys". What torment they will suffer! Ms. Harrison sounds as though she'd be right at home in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Residents in the neighborhood where the abandoned trailer stands — known as the Quarters — said the victim had been visiting various friends there for months. They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.
“Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?” said Ms. Harrison, one of a handful of neighbors who would speak on the record. “How can you have an 11-year-old child missing down in the Quarters?”
Jesus! It's pretty early in the morning to be this disgusted with your fellow man, but there you have it.
Update: Tell the NYT what you think about their victim-blaming story.
25 comments:
Goddam fucking pigs.
eh.. I can't get that worked up abuot this.. not having all the facts .. but...
an 11 year old sexy beyond her years hangs out with teenagers being all horny and stuff.. and then some older lowlifes see the chance and start banging her and the others join in.
sad all round. These kids didn't go drag someone out of a car and rape her. Maybe she should have been at home with her ma.
not the most correct attitude.
sorry.
Ah, yes. Let's blame the victim. She obviously asked for it.
Are we in the 21st century yet?
There's only one thing more vile than blaming a victim and that's blaming a victim who also happens to be a child.
Thanks, Joe Blow. I didn't think I could be more revolted than I was when I read this story, but you've exceeded my expectations on that score.
How proud you must be.
Where was her mother?!? Where the hell were the parents (yes, both of them) of the boys who did this? In what universe is gang rape just a "boyish prank"? this is absolutely appalling.
I am not proud at all.. just sad..
From the scanty reprots, it seems that she was hanging out with the teenagers, and then some older guys saw a chance and attacked the girl. Then the boys found themselves in a lot worse trouble.
Should they have stopped it? call ed the cops? Sure. bu they didn't.
What was she looking for? Acceptance? Just like every TV Show and magazine and billboard? that shows the sexy baby is the one they all like?
Its like she jumped off a bride without knowing how deep the water is. or caring..
Sad for everyone and for society.
No, it's like the MALES in this story jumped off a bridge without knowing or caring how deep the water is. Dude, I hope you never have children and are never around children.
Yeah well they did that too. and to expect better from a bunch of poor-educated over-sexed hormone addled boys seems a stretch.
My son, because of what I teach him, will never be in this situation. He would have called the cops on this girl WAY before she got raped so they could do a PINS on her.
It doesn't mean that the boys aint at fault or that they need to pay, but this whole situation is a mess.
and why the hate? I am not blaming her.. I blame.. society!
"The lights are growing dim Otto. I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am. "
What I said was its a sad mess all round. don't know why that is such a reason to attack me.
You're blaming her right here:
"
an 11 year old sexy beyond her years hangs out with teenagers being all horny and stuff.. and then some older lowlifes see the chance and start banging her and the others join in.
sad all round. These kids didn't go drag someone out of a car and rape her. Maybe she should have been at home with her ma."
I don't like ganging up on one commenter because that's what happens on rightwing blogs. So, I'll simply say to Joe Blow: You said a lot more than What I said was its a sad mess all round. don't know why that is such a reason to attack me.
If you honestly don't know why your fellow commenters are upset with you, I suggest you ask your son. If he agrees with you, then you haven't really done a good job teaching him.
OK .. well.. I blame her mother! and her missing father, and the media!
"The macabre attack began when 19-year-old Timothy Ellis lured the girl out of her home and asked if she wanted to go "riding around", according to a police officer''s statement obtained by the Houston Chronicle."
geez.. yeah I guess I am saying she F'd up and has to take some blame for going with that guy.
but what the hell does an 11 year old know? how can she be responsible? BUT how is it that she could think it was a good idea? F'd up family is how.
But further reading makes it seem the guys were all crimminals and dirtbags and none were caught up in it by accident.
but u can think what you want.
Oh, and the comment about ganging up on one commenter doesn't apply to O&A.
OH and I plead guilty to having a reactionary thought.
Little information and jumping to conclusions makes fast opinions suspect. and, also, I'm old.
so I plead guilty and reqest a sentence of comments already read.
The law regarding rape of an 11 year old child is a bright line test--there are no mitigating circumstances that can be brought forward to excuse what happened here.
If people can't figure that out (starting with the NYTimes and working down), then we have a serious problem.
this happened in milwaukee. there is probably a lot more to the story, but with teevee and have you seen the clothes they are selling for young girls? ALL young girls?
then add hormones in food + girls are maturing hysically younger. PERIODS AT 8?!?
mirele, A-friggin'-men!
This is the first time I've heard this story....I rarely comment unless I check at least two sources... butt..... Where were the RAPIST'S PARENTS ?
@pansypoo: Not everything that has a market should be on the shelves. Some clothing being sold to preteen girls these days is so revealing and offensive, I wouldn't sell it to 25-year-old strippers.
@Joe Blow: You're wrong. Period. What kind of chicken shits do 11-year-old boys have to be to believe that raping anyone is acceptable? If the Times has fallen so far down the stairs that it can't ask that question, it's almost as useless as Fox News.
Just a few observations:
1) As noted, sex an 11-year-old is rape, period. A child that young is incapable of consent.
2) There were up to 18 boys and young men -- including men in their 20s -- involved in the attack. The victim was threatened with beating (and probably death) if she didn't comply with their demands.
3) Many of the rapists -- including at least one middle schooler -- were recording the attack on their cell phones. In fact, that's what did them in; one of the middle-school-aged rapists was showing around his home movie in school and another student alerted a teacher.
4) The victim has been threatened and is now in foster care for her own safety, but we're supposed to be worried about the boys.
5) Do we know what kind of relationship the victim had with the 19-year-old who offered her a ride? He may well have been known to her, a neighbor or the brother of a friend, or a friend of the family. You may want to say she got what she deserved by getting into his car, but what you're really saying is that women can't ever win.
6) Much has been made of the sexualization of this child, her makeup, the way she dressed, the way she acted. But rather than ask where or how an 11-year-old child became sexualized, the NYT just blames her and her mother and uses the sexualization as an excuse for the brutal assault. Pro tip: a child that young who is sexualized is usually the victim of some kind of sexual abuse.
.
Joe Blow taken apart in this har thread.
Some credit due Joe for his owning up to a backward attitude via his 2:19 PM comment.....
Hopefully the men and the boys involved in this rape go to prison/reform school for a long, long time.
"@Joe Blow: You're wrong. Period."
"What kind of chicken shits do 11-year-old boys have to be to believe that raping anyone is acceptable"
err.. what am I wrong about?
My claim is that it was her f'ed up family that led her to make such a bad stupid decision to go out the door with that 19 year old.
and that the rapists were dirtbags and lowlifes. and that its a sad state of affairs.
not clear about any 11 year old boys..
@zuzu: Thanks for your observations, especially #5 and #6, two critical points that I had completely forgotten.
@Joe: I misread the original article, and concluded that boys as young as 11 were involved. That mistake is mine.
You've rightly moved well away from your initial position, but the girl is still 11. How much agency can you assign a kid that age? The adults in her family should have known better than to allow her to execute her poor decision. Even that assumes that her decision was bad; read zuzu's point #5.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7459716.html
"Even that assumes that her decision was bad"
err.. safe bet..
Thanks for the link to the Houston Chronicle article, Joe. It's more than fair to ask what anyone would be doing standing (or partying, or doing drugs) near a trailer that's been abandoned for well over two years. Nothing but bad decisions could come from a place like that.
chron.com has posted an unsettling update today. It makes clear that the girl was Hispanic; her accused attackers, black. The rape has only added to racial tensions that were already serious.
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