Sunday, December 12, 2010

A bigger message

People first started emailing me Ardin and Wilen’s information on Tuesday night, when Assange was arrested. I didn’t post it until after I’d thought carefully about what would happen. I’m not interested in vigilante justice, and I don’t want to see either of them raped or killed. I realize that if either of those things happen to one or both of them, I’ll have played a big role in making it happen. I’m not going to try to evade blame.

Posting their addresses and phone numbers isn’t intended to encourage vigilantism, but to send a bigger message to women like Ardin and Wilen – if you lie about being raped, this is what will happen to you. Your anonymity will be compromised, your life will be laid bare for all to see, and your name will be destroyed. No rape shield law or journalistic ethic can protect you. You will suffer as the man whose name you vindictively dragged through the mud has suffered.

I want women to see that their choices have consequences. If enough false rape accusers have their identities and personal data exposed to the jeering Internet hordes, others will think twice before they accuse men of heinous crimes for petty and selfish reasons.
This is what has happened. Women must be reminded of the consquences of their actions. There is no need to wait for the trial or even read the evidence. The guardians of male virtue on Internet know what to do. Another man has been accused; his accusers must be punished.

The claim that "I don’t want to see either of them raped or killed" is particularly telling: who said anything about anyone being raped or killed?

Meanwhile, Jemima leaps in:
I was there because I believe that this is about censorship and intimidation. The timing of these rehashed allegations is highly suspicious, coinciding with the recent WikiLeaks revelations and reinvigorated by a rightwing Swedish politician. There are credible rumours that this is a holding charge while an indictment is being sought in secret for his arrest and extradition to the US. An accusation of rape is the ultimate gag.
It also an effective tool for dealing with rapists.


Maximum R'n'B:


11 comments:

Boganette said...

That makes me want to throw up. Ughh. What is wrong with the world. Thanks for posting this.

Anonymous said...

What exactly do people expect when the Internet is just handed out willy nilly without the need for a licence?

Anonymous said...

I am exrenely impressed at The Who's ability to change their clothing whilst playing their instruments. That's something I can't explain.

Russell Brown said...

It's something of a shame that Ms Khan didn't make herself more familiar with the facts of the case before being interviewed by a newspaper. Oh well.

The other man is simply frightening.

It does occur to me that Mr Assange shagging every Wikigroupie who came within range in a country with strong laws on sexual conduct might have been a contributory factor in what has taken place.

But what would I know?

Craig Ranapia said...

To be fair, Russell, the daughter of the more than usually repulsive James Goldsmith didn't have the best role modelling when it came to respect for women or the truth.

Weekend_Viking said...

A lot of people seem to miss the fact that it is entirely possible for Mr Assange to be at one and the same time a brave and crusading counter culture journalist, and one of those wankers who doesn't stop when the condom breaks.

Stephanie said...

The way I read it, the condom breaking is in itself the rape, not the carrying on.

But what would I know about condoms breaking: I've never experienced it so for a man it may be a different experience.

You men out there: can you tell if they break mid-way as it were???

Stephanie said...

More seriously @ Russell Brown; does this mean that serial shaggers are now pretty much criminals or should be treated like one?

Boganette said...

The charges are that the first complainant, Miss A, said she was victim of “unlawful coercion” on the night of August 14 in Stockholm. The court was told Assange used his body weight to hold her down. The second charge is that Assange “sexually molested” Miss A . She told him she would not have sex with him without a condom. The third charge is of “deliberate molestation” of Miss A on August 18. The fourth charge accused Assange of having sex with a second woman, Miss W, on August 17 while she was asleep at her Stockholm home.

If a woman withdraws consent for whatever reason (condom breaking could be a reason) you stop. If you don't stop it's rape.

Quite simple really. I don't know why people are acting like Sweden has totally outlandish rape laws. I think you'll find most rape laws are based around consent. If someone withdraws their consent you don't continue with the act. If a woman says no or stop or says she doesn't want to continue having sex and you ignore her then that is rape. This is really not a difficult concept.

Funny how people are so conveniently ignoring the charges of rape while a woman is sleeping, and holding a woman down in order to rape her. Kinda hard to excuse away those allegations with baseless and completely made-up interpretations of Swedish law I guess.

Russell Brown said...

Stephanie said...

More seriously @ Russell Brown; does this mean that serial shaggers are now pretty much criminals or should be treated like one?


Well, given that he seems to have often had several female acolytes on the go at once, he was more of a parallel shagger.

But Assange's fanboys seem happy to create conspiracies about CIA-engineered honeytraps; less so to acknowledge that he seems to have basically got into this mess on his own.

Weekend_Viking said...

Stephanie: You men out there: can you tell if they break mid-way as it were???

Yep, unless one is particularly insensitive. (Rule of thumb - if you've started out using a condom, but suddenly the level of sensation gets a whole lot better, the condom has probably broken and you should check...) I've had a few condom break incidents; Generally, one or other of us has noticed, told the other, we stop, and depending upon level of relationship involvement/commitment/security, either replace item and continue, or if things had gone too far when the break was noticed, stop and have a pregnancy check, or stop and have an STD check. Not stopping and not agreeing to appropriate level of check is at least bad game, and at most, rape, I guess.