Wednesday 20 February 2013

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose ...

That means the more things change, the more it's the same old, same old.

In March last year, I wrote a response to George Zimmerman shooting and killing a black kid, claiming that it was self-defense and using the Stand-Your-Ground law in Florida as justification.

It was entitled Aileen Wuornos is My Homie

I wondered what would happen if women in the US started MASSIVELY using Zimmerman's pretext.  It's obvious that law is supported by the NRA lobby; they often exploit concerns about women's safety as a rationalization for demanding gun-owners rights be sacred, and blahblahblah Second Amendment.

Well, wouldn't you know it but some dickheads in the NRA and/or the RAPEublican Party decided to spin an awkwardly expressed opposition to gun-toting college students, then piled on the politician who uttered the words as if the first-term Democrat was worse than Todd Akin.

They created the #LiberalTips2AvoidRape meme for their twitter campaign; it unleashed thousands of RWNJ typically humour-challenged, tone-deaf tweets.

I looked at some of them, vaguely remembered my Stand-Your-Ground post and zipped this one off:


This of course, reminded me of a particular scene in the movie _Thelma and Louise_ which isn't available on YouTube, where Louise confronts the man who sexually assaulted Thelma.  She demands that he stop hurting her friend; he becomes quite aggressive and threatening.  She shoots him, and that's when Thelma and Louise become fugitives from justice.

So I sarcastically tweeted this:




If you remember men's reaction to that scene, most felt that Louise's action was over-the-top and unwarranted.

Anyhow, I'll check my twitter account in the morning to see if anyone has responded to my counter-spin.

Update: fernhill reminded me that the implicit Rules of Patriarchy demanded that Thelma and Louise die for their transgressions.  So, "Stand-Your-Ground" is okay if you're a gun-toting white man but not if you're a woman defending yourself against a violent spouse, a potential rapist or a stalker.

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