As a woman, I would say that blaming the woman for being raped is rather outdated...wouldn’t you?
She had security, and they were overwhelmed. I don’t think that anyone could have anticipated such a reaction during a celebration.
Yes...personal responsiblility is involved, but she had a job to do, and she did it to the best of her abilities.
Frankly, I don’t like her. She’s a homewrecker, and I don’t have much respect for her at all.
However, she didn’t deserve this treatment.
Oh, just damn. No one is saying she deserved it. It is this straw man “point” you two seem to be making again and again that I just don’t get.
The world is rarely as black and white as you and wardaddy seem to see it. “Blame the woman for being raped”? No. I fully recognize that this culture and the mob is responsible for the vast bulk of the blame for this event as I clearly stated. But to say “I don’t think that anyone could have anticipated such a reaction during a celebration” puts us squarely in bliss-ninny land. Many commentators had noted the almost complete male domination of the mobs involved in events in Egypt. Anyone paying attention to events of the last 10 years should know something about female genital mutilation, a practice which goes to the heart of how Egyptian men see woman, and a practice which 50%-90% of Egyptian woman have undergone. These facts, in combination with the complete lack of esteem in which Muslim men hold women, especially uncovered Western woman, should have had everyone involved’s warning klaxons and flashers going full tilt.
So the idea that this woman and her handlers thought she would be able to traipse around this mob with unarmed “security” (not worth spit, and so she could do her precious job, which is just not so critical it required she be on the scene), when other male reporters had already been been attacked (Anderson Cooper) and even thrashed within an inch of their lives (Greg Palkot and sidekick), is just absurd on the face of it.
Look, I’m as critical of this culture as anyone. My tagline would seem to make this pretty clear. But you don’t tempt fate by doing things likely to have a really bad outcome unless you have a burning desire to serve as a great example of what not to do. And I refuse to see recognizing this and criticizing her for it as the egregious breech of protocol you and wardaddy do, while recognizing that the real underlying problem is the whole culture in that part of the world. As I clearly do.
Personally, I think she got too used to being under the umbrella of U.S. military protection in Iraq and made a really, really bad and stupid assessment and action. And no amount of attempted browbeating with your “you are saying she deserved it” straw man is going to change that.