Rolling Stone hangs rape victims out to dry

Caroline Hale chastises mass and social media as Rolling Stone hangs rape victims out to dry.

Rolling Stone let us all down, but most of all, they let Jackie down, by letting her become an example to all rape survivors of what will happen to you if you step out of line, if you don’t fit the impossible mold of a “good” victim but dare to speak out anyway.

It is disappointing to see so many progressive media outlets reinforcing the same victim-blaming narratives as conservative pundits. Such narratives have a wide-reaching impact and tell people it is okay to disregard sexual assault survivors who don’t tick all the right boxes.

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And what a convenient way to silence survivors: say that we can be heard and believed, but set the bar so high that only a tiny percentage of us are deemed worthy of listening to. And that those of us not worthy of listening too are deemed worthy of attack.

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But people who are serious about campaigning to end rape culture do owe solidarity to anyone who speaks out like Jackie did, especially someone like Jackie who had asked not to have her story published — a solidarity that includes challenging victim blaming myths that silence survivors.

Emphasis Mine

As John Pilger says, there are worthy victims and there are unworthy victims. People who are oppressed by the current system are unworthy victims. And those who fulfil a need for the system are worthy victims.

Compliance with the systems requires one to ignore the pain and suffering of the unworthy victims. For to accept and console such pain suffering is to challenge the inherent goodness of the system. And ruthless systems do not tolerate such challenges. Their legitimacy derives from the acceptance of their inherent goodness.

Brutality, such as rape and torture, delineates between the rulers and the ruled. The former can do what they like to the latter with presumed impunity.

One cannot accuse those fine, young men who will one day ascend to the highest echelons of our society in order to continue the benevolent rule of our masters. They cannot be such beasts to rape and brutalise other people. It that were true, it would call into question the inherent superiority and quality of our ruling class.

This is why all such claims must be quickly quashed and forgotten. Otherwise the system would be exposed for the rotting corpse that it is, and civilization would collapse because there is no alternative (TINA) to Capitalism.

This brutality serves to keep us in line, for we know what will happen to us if we dare to question the system.

Thus, there is a contradiction to brutality. We cannot believe the victims, nor publicly call it out. But we must silently acknowledge its existence through our continued compliance.