Rape, and the Spread of Evil

A short version of what happened: a 16-year-old girl, Crystal, posts a video on YouTube. She calls out for help to get her alleged rapist charged with the crime. Later, the case is dropped. According to police documents (look at Smokinggun.com), she had said to police that the sex was consensual, legally speaking. I wasn't there for that. I don't know, so there won't be too much comments on that here, though I will disagree with the FL prosecutor who walked away from the case because the accuser was "a mere 1 month from her 16th birthday." I may be too hard on the prosecutor, since she may have thought that the case was very difficult to push on a jury. In any case, let's look at the ideal here: If the law says statuatory rape occurs with children age 15 and younger, then we must prosecute people who have knowingly had sex with such children.

And beyond this, I have little to spit about the case itself. That's on the sidelines of this post. What happened, what's in Crystal's head. I wasn't there for that. I am not a cop, or a lawyer, nor the accused, nor the accusor's father.

What I do know are the comments left on the video, such as
- "you little slut. you probably had it coming."
- "You are such a little whore! ew!"
- "Someone take an iron poker and stick it in her pooper..."

Wow. That's amazing. As if she had shat on their doorsteps.

If you can give me evidence that proves she burned their houses down, then I can understand why they'd use so many insults.

- "I'd rape her"
- "come to london so i can knock you out and end you misery you silly bitch"
- "Well guys the thing is, there is no "what if it's real...And if you ever make any videos as stupid as this ever again. I'm going to come rape you myself. FOR REAL. DID YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID...FOR REAL"

Wow. Now, people step on logic. Obviously. How do people justify threatening another human being like this, for these reasons. Imagine if someone stepped on your foot by accident.Would you most likely to

A) Walk away?
or
B) Punch them?

I shouldn't have to give you the answer. Really. So logic doesn't explain why they wrote what they wrote. How can we explain their ill logic?

Because people work from emotion. Their emotion guides their actions (I'll tell you from personal experience). A person feels angry, they will tend to construct angry thoughts.

They feel happy, they tend to make happy thoughts. If you feel good, the world resembles heaven. If you feel bad, the world gets a little closer to hell, even if everyone else is having a good day. We each have a universe in our heads. You have a universe, I have a universe. When we interact with each other, we see little windows into those universes.

Then each time we see into those windows, there is the opportunity for our universes to change.

This, I believe, is because of our reaction to seeing how other people act. You see how other people seem to think, and then your thinking changes for a variety of reasons.

Now. Upon seeing the comments toward the YouTube clip, you get a little glimpse into the posters' universes. Only a little glimpse. Even if you knew this person for years, and ate dinner with them on a daily basis, you'd have to work hard to understand the world exactly how they view it. We don't know what these people were thinking when they type; we are ignorant of their earlier memories, what fills them, etc, etc.

What we know, what we sure as hell know: how their action affects us. Or, at least, can affect us. Upon seeing their comments, I am inclined to feel like maybe people are generally bad. That, even if people act civil in public, their private universes fume with venom. And when I think of this, take it to heart, my private little universe get tainted with a little more venom. Their venom encourages the growth of my venom.

Let's repeat: people work from emotion. Their emotion guides their actions (I can tell you from personal experience). A person feels angry, they will tend to construct angry thoughts. They feel happy, they tend to make happy thoughts.

If you feel good, the world resembles heaven. If you feel bad, the world gets a little closer to hell, even if everyone else is having a good day. We each have a universe in our heads. You have a universe, I have a universe. When we interact with each other, we see little windows into those universes. Then each time we see into those windows, there is the opportunity for our universes to change.

So, angry universes can lead into angry universes, which can lead into angry universes, which can in turn lead into other angry universes, and so forth. Angry universes lead into angry actions. Sad to sad, happy to happy, goofy to goofy, etc. And I know that I sometimes lean toward distrusting people, even when they smile to my face. Especially when they smile to my face. That seems like a signal that that person is planning something.

And I remember reading this book called "I Never Called It Rape" by Robin Warshaw. The report that acts as the foundation for the book says that about 25% have been raped, mostly by people they knew: boyfriends, and friends. RAINN--the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network--says that 1 out of 6 American women will be sexually assaulted (acts including rape and acts that fall short of rape), most of them were assaulted by people they know. The most restrained estimate belongs to the US Bureau of Justice that says less than one rape victim exists for every 1000 people over age 11. The reason for the discrepancy, apparently, is that rapes are underreported.

So, let's assume that the 1 in 6 stat is the truth. I want you to go to a public space, and count each woman you pass, starting at one, going to six, then start over back to one, go to 6, then again, making note each time you get to 6. So, that sixth woman, chances are, has been sexually assaulted. Look at all that venom getting built up. Look at all those universes getting a little moldly, a little bit more messed up. Those universes in turn influence other universes to get gunked up.

So it goes. Etc, etc, forever and forever. If we lament about the world fall apart, we make a mistake. The truth is that we only realize that the world can suck. Nothing is new except that realization. Nothing is new except our universe getting altered by the universes of others.

And the shape of the change is a choice. We choose how we change, and a lot of times it takes effort to mold ourselves if the environment fights against our actions. Yet that's possible. Every act, every piece of writing, every single thing we do is an expression of our control over our universe. Though the nature of that control remains vague and strangled, it exists.

Books, Systems of Government, Architecture, Transporation, and even YouTube. Leaving our footprints on the Earth.

If I believe in the human race, it is a forced belief. A choice, rather than a conviction--because without the belief, decay sets in. And mold sets in, and shivels the peach, and shrinks it into a hard little ball. And the nectarines grey, and the roaches take over the kitchen, and here, here, the devil reigns, where people are only meat. So, yes, yes, I believe in our Better Angels.

Turning the Other Cheek

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."
—Matthew 5:38-42, NIV

This is why I fall short of calling myself a Christian. That’s a hard rule to follow. ‘Do not resist an evil person.’ That means, should a person attack you, you should be meek. You should take harm rather than give back harm. This results in another bruised cheek. This results in criminals walking the streets, this results in your family getting hurt.

I think this is the make it or break it rule. The dividing line between the ideal Christianity and Christianity in practice. Quite a few people accept the text so far as following the text will help sustain them in the present, physical life. Some will justify their violence using the New Testament.

That’s how Christian people call for assassination or war. Because they are unable to follow the rule, and sometimes justify breaking it as going for the public good. That’s like Michael Corleone going to church. So to me, when a Christian shows or feels ill will toward another, that is about the most serious sign that that Christian lacks an adequate faith.

I know, because when I learned, some time ago, that ill will was the definitive sign of a lack of faith. I find believing in God difficult. If I believed in God, using the heart, I would mind my ill will. Instead, bitterness carried itself to the point that I lost the affection of quite a few acquaintances. I learned that death, loneliness and pain are only feared in the absence of faith. Without faith, family members cry at funerals. Etc.

Yet what Christianity seems to be about the aspiration toward holiness. It accepts sinners. It takes it for granted that practitioners have sinned. Jesus died for sinner. Sin is the major, even definitive, point of the religion. It serves as the foil of how people should act. It serves to show that life should be lived in the service, for the sake, to the goodwill of others so that they can have Heaven on Earth.

I aspire to become a Christian. I aspire to purge my heart of evil. To become a selfless person, or close enough. I am definitely at the stage where when I see that Christianity is used as a justification of ill will, I get pretty pissed.

Imagine a guy with a club shouting: “God loves you, faggot,” and bashing another man in the skull.

It’s something beautiful warped inside out.

Liberia

Liberia: colonized in 1822 by freed African American slaves; founded in 1847 with the support of the US government. It's larger than Cuba, and Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, and even bigger than Israel.

The nation is basically sibling to the United States. And yet we rarely hear of it, even in the history books.

Hm.