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Could We Please Stop Celebrating a Rapist? | |
Posted Jan 17, 2010 - 21:50:32
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 So I write this as I watch the end of the Golden Globes - yes, I'm watching an Award show, get over it - and "The Hangover" just won something. This in of itself would be no big deal, but they brought Mike Tyson up on the stage. That's right, Mike "Convicted Rapist" Tyson. Now he's in the movie, and I get that - but my question is why was he in the movie? Why have we as a culture forgotten his horrific crime against a young woman and allowed him to regain stardom?
Day after day, the media feels the need to remind us of the infidelities of Tiger Woods, a man who while violating cultural taboos and destroying his marriage, at least did so with consenting adults. We're told what a horrible person he is.
Meanwhile, Mike Tyson is applauded about having a sense of humor about himself, and loved by the press. You know, that guy who brutally raped someone albeit almost 20 years ago. And I'm not talking about an "alleged" incident. I'm talking about a conviction in a court of law. 12 people sat down in a room, deliberated for 10 hours, and found him guilty.
The media and people in our culture have the memory of a mayfly. If it didn't happen within the most recent news cycle, it just fades into the background. If you have enough money, you really can get away with anything it seems.
There is a reason there is no funny cartoon with this entry. There is a reason I'm not making jokes. I'm honestly angry about this, and at the culture we live in that allows this man to have only served three years of his sentence. I'm angry that we still celebrate this man, and I'm angry that no one is saying boo about this whole damned mess.
And I'm angry at you if you haven't been thinking about this either.
For once I wish people would consider the greater ramifications of what we say and do. I wish we would consider who we celebrate and who they are as people. I wish we didn't admonish one person for cheating on their spouse while ignoring the 220 pound rapist in the room.
Seriously... this needs to end.
- Traegorn
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