Jophiel wrote:
I'm not faulting you. I'm laughing at Anonymous Person B hulkraging out over a comment that would have been otherwise ignored and now turning it into part of the rich tapestry that is =4's collective memory.
Nice mis-characterization. I'm not "hulkraging" about it at all. However, I did feel that the comment was well beyond the normal level of banter and innuendo on this thread. She wasn't making a joking comment. She specifically singled out my user name on this forum as an example of someone who'd committed a specific criminal act. I gave her the opportunity to retract the statement, and she choose to blow it off instead.
I thought about not bothering to report it anyway, but as Ugly pointed out, there is a slippery slope aspect to this. If I don't stand up and say something, then that label does get applied and accepted, and I'm not going to accept that. Ever. Honestly, the post that made the decision clear for me was Ari saying that it was somehow perfectly natural for the label to be applied to me because of my differing views on the topic itself.
The legal issue is very real. I post on this site, often from work. I don't make a habit of telling people at work what my posting name is (or even that I post here), but there are certainly some people I know both privately and professionally who could quite easily put things together. In the world of public opinion, not denying something is the same as admitting it. While I do tend to have a thick skin and don't let posts bother me, I felt that this particular post went well over the line.
And on a personal note, the accusation made is so far beyond acceptable to me that it's hard for me to put into words. Let's just say that it's painful to me to have someone make that accusation, and leave it at that.
The reason I hold the position I do on the issue of date rape is not because I don't care, but because I do. The use of the label "rape" as a political tool is offensive to me. When you have some feminists handing out pamphlets and giving rape awareness seminars on college campuses teaching young women that it's rape if the guy gave her a single drink prior to sex (and using that criteria to collect statistics on rape in order to highlight how prevalent it is on college campuses), it cheapens the issue in the name of a sad political agenda. Those who've seen the effects of forcible rape first hand should all be offended by this. Yet, for some, it's a big freaking joke. It shouldn't be though.