March 18, 2013
"For readers interested in learning more about how not to be labeled as registered sex offenders, a good first step is not to rape unconscious women, no matter how good your grades are. Regardless of the strength of your GPA (weighted or unweighted), if you commit rape, there is a possibility you may someday be convicted of a sex crime. This is because of your decision to commit a sex crime instead of going for a walk, or reading a book by Cormac McCarthy. Your ability to perform calculus or play football is generally not taken into consideration in a court of law. Should you prefer to be known as “Good student and excellent football player Trent Mays” rather than “Convicted sex offender Trent Mays,” try stressing the studying and tackling and giving the sex crimes a miss altogether."

—

Mallory Ortberg, laying waste to fools on GAWKER, today, regarding CNN’s offensively lovey-dovey coverage of the two high school football stars who were convicted on Sunday of sexually assaulting a blacked-out drunk 16 year old girl from a neighboring town at a party, and then sharing pictures of her on the internet. 

More details HERE. 

I think it’s reasonable to say that, given the football culture of Steubenville, OH and the notorious difficulty of proving sexual assault even when the victim REMEMBERS WHAT HAPPENED, it is likely that what these jocks did to this other human would have become simply a dark part of Steubenville high school folklore, were it not for the digital trail of photos, tweets, and texts that the bystanders and assaulters themselves put out into the world. 

SO THANK YOU, NERDS, FOR INVENTING SOCIAL MEDIA. 

And thank you, Mallory and Manhattan snark-media for reminding some people—including CNN, apparently—what personal responsibility actually means. 

That is all. 

(via areasofmyexpertise)

(via wilwheaton)

12:07pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZBXRbygYcxee
(Notes: 5,123)
  
Filed under: CNN Gawker Mallory Ortberg sexual assault high school rape Steubenville victim 
June 23, 2012

(Long ago) Earth…had better things to offer - crops without cultivation,
fruit on the bough, honey in the hollow oak.
No one tore the ground with plowshares
or parcelled out the land
or swept the sea with dipping oars - 
Clever human nature, victim of your inventions,
disastrously creative,
why cordon cities with towered walls?
Why arm for war?

-Ovid, The Amores, Book 3 Elegy 8: The Curse of Money

8:20am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZBXRbyNyYlun
Filed under: Ovid war Earth honey plowshares land inventions Prometheus victim human nature poem poetry cities walls arm for war 
November 12, 2011

nevver:

Are Penn State Fans Really Kneeling in Prayer outside of Paterno’s Home?
Yep
 Penn State raised $22,584 today for child abuse victims. Or 21 cents for every person at the game.
We Are Cheap State!

5:17pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZBXRbyBrNB_T
(Notes: 192)
  
Filed under: fucked up Penn State Joe Paterno child abuse victim 
May 9, 2010
"So, Son, instead of crying, be strong, so as to be able to comfort your mother… take her for a long walk in the quiet country, gathering wild flowers here and there… But remember always, Dante, in the play of happiness, don’t you use all for yourself only…. help the persecuted and the victim because they are your better friends…. In this struggle of life you will find more and love and you will be loved."

— Nicola Sacco’s last letter, to his son Dante.

7:47pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZBXRbyYueOE
Filed under: Nicola Sacco mother struggle persecuted victim life anarchists death