Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Almost unthinkable to believe this reaction to the brutal attack on Lara Logan came from a woman, or for that matter a human being.

In response to the news that CBS correspondent Lara Logan had been brutalized and suffered a "sustained sexual assault," Islamophobe extraordinaire Debbi Schlussel said the following:

So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows. Or so we’d hope. But in the case of the media vis-a-vis Islam, that’s a hope that’s generally unanswered.

This never happened to her or any other mainstream media reporter when Mubarak was allowed to treat his country of savages in the only way they can be controlled.

Now that’s all gone. How fitting that Lara Logan was “liberated” by Muslims in Liberation Square while she was gushing over the other part of the “liberation.”

Hope you’re enjoying the revolution, Lara! Alhamdilllullah [praise allah].

As you can imagine this sick and virtually unbelievable statement has received substantial coverage from many of us on the Left, including a segment tonight on the Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. 



In response to that blowback Ms. Schlussel has posted the following:

I’ve received many moronic insults and threats of violence from the left in the hours since I posted this, showing me more and more that there is very little difference between the left and the dominant, violent, fanatical forces in Islam. In fact, there’s really no difference at all. My favorite part of all of the responses is their common claim that the “real rapists” of the world are white males and American soldiers. Uh-uh, you keep telling yourself that, as you live here under the protection of American soldiers. Riiiight–It’s not Muslims who don’t respect women and treat them as baby factories, sex toys, and property. It’s America and the West. You keep tellin’ yourself that, morons.

Personally I would like to see some of these "threats of violence" that this horrible excuse for a human being cites.  Because while I have no doubt she is receiving many insulting and angry letters in response to her comments, I somehow doubt that anybody angry about Ms. Schlussel's insane response to the attack on Lara Logan would then turn around and threaten her with physical violence themselves. (It kind of reminds of all of those "threats" that Sarah Palin supposedly receives.) 

Speaking just for myself I certainly do NOT want Ms. Schlussel to suffer the same fate that befell Lara Logan, nor do I want her to suffer any harm whatsoever.  However I would really like it if she could perhaps visit a women's shelter and see for herself the emotional and physical devastation that is the result of a sexual assault.  And while she is at it perhaps she could do some fact checking and see for herself that yes the rape statistics within our own military are shockingly high as well.

Rape is a crime of aggression, not sex, and sadly it has been used by men to dominate and objectify women since the very beginning of time.  These men did NOT assault Lara Logan because they were Muslims. They did so because for some reason they allowed their most primitive and aggressive instincts to dictate their actions.

Those very same hateful actions are performed all across the world every day by Christians, and Jews, and Buddhists, and Hindus, and Sikhs. and Muslims who, for whatever reason, suddenly forget the laws laid down by their religions and allow the very impulses religion exists to control to be unleashed on somebody they perceive to be weak and less important than satisfying their own base desires.

48 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:01 PM

    Schussel is a piece of shit, plain and simple.

    But that's par for the course for celebrity conservative women these days...Schussel, Coulter, Bachmann, Bruce, Palin, etc.

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  2. Anonymous7:12 PM

    There are some really fucked up people out there and Ms. Schlussel is obviously one of them. When her karma catches up with her, I hope it's not twice as brutal as what Lara Logan suffered.

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  3. Anonymous7:16 PM

    Wow. How low will some on the right go? I am sure there are despicable people of all races, religions, and political persuasions, but it's hard to believe it gets much worse than this.

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  4. Anonymous7:16 PM

    Just when you think the rightwing scumbags in this country can't get any more sickening, they never fail to come through, spewing vile hatred and oozing evil.

    Why are these people tolerated? Why aren't they shunned as the social pariahs they are? Where have we gone wrong as a nation that people who celebrate murder and bigotry and hatred are celebrities? We truly are a sick society, although not for all the reasons these "christianists" would have us think.

    Sick, sick, sick people.

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  5. Anonymous7:26 PM

    I would call on anyone who has to suffer through any contact with Debbi Schlussel to offer her the fate that her comments deserve - total social ostracism. From the barista or waitress at her coffee shop, to her hair stylist, from her grocer to her dry cleaner, simply tell her that her business and her person is neither wanted nor welcome in that establishment. I hope it goes without saying that the clergy of whatever church door she chooses to darken should also offer her no succor until she apologizes - publicly.

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  6. Anonymous7:31 PM

    What a disgusting woman Schussel is. Is there really nothing that can be done by people like her , is there no action that can legally be taken?

    All the best to Lara, she is in my thoughts.

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  7. Anonymous7:36 PM

    That is the most awful thing I have read in a long time. Shame, shame.

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  8. Anonymous7:38 PM

    I am sickened by her and sure hope Karma doesn't do the same to her. FUCKIN BITCH

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  9. Anonymous7:41 PM

    I'm sorry, Gryphen, but I don't have the stomach to read the entire post. Did this person actually say (in so many words) she asked for it?

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  10. Anonymous7:49 PM

    Obviously, Debbi is a nasty twisted soul who has allowed her jealousy of Lara's beauty and success to turn her into something vile and evil from which any decent human being should recoil in horror.

    She is filled with hatred, for Moslems, for Arabs, for Christians. As a Jew, I am ashamed of my co-religionist. We are not all like this, truly.

    Yet read the comments on her site, and be horrified by the number who echo her sentiments. A black day for us all. What a monstrous piece of filth.

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  11. Ratfish7:50 PM

    What do you expect from Ann Coulter's pet monkey and sex toy?

    Something intelligent? Thoughtful?

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  12. Anonymous8:12 PM

    Who is this sick person? She is devoid of all compassion. She has no soul.

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  13. Anonymous8:12 PM

    What a hateful, angry, and bigoted woman Schussel is. I hate it that her vicious and ignorant remarks are given any airtime at all.

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  14. Anonymous8:26 PM

    Thank you for writing this, Gryphen.

    That a woman could exploit another woman's horrific, traumatic experience in an effort to bolster her racist views, well, there are no words.

    This event was as much a result of male mob brutality as much as anything else. I would imagine it's possible a number of these men knew of her already (she would stand out, surely, in that square), and had been tracking her on some level. Some may have been involved in her earlier detention, or at the very least were pro-Mubarak thugs intent on seeking revenge for his downfall.

    Sexism is rampant around the world, across religious and cultural denominations. Sex slavery is a shameful practice that knows no particular religious or cultural affiliation. Sexual abuse is universal, sadly, as we all know.

    This Schussel woman, I hadn't known of her before, needs to examine her conscience. She will need to answer for this cruel response to a sister's tragedy, if only in her own soul.

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  15. Anonymous8:27 PM

    As if rape is an act of sexuality.
    It's not. It's violent brutality. Not about sex. It's about vulnerability and body parts that can be injured, just like being kicked in the face.

    A rioting mob in a Middle Eastern country in political crisis, attacking a white female journalist is not personal. It's not sex. It's not about her.

    ~~~

    Columbia Journalism Review May/June 2007)
    Foreign Correspondents and Sexual Abuse
    The case for restraint
    By Judith Matloff

    "Because of the secrecy around sexual assaults, it’s hard to judge their frequency. Yet I know of a dozen such assaults, including one suffered by a man. Eight of the cases involve forced intercourse, mostly in combat zones. The perpetrators included hotel employees, support staff, colleagues, and the very people who are paid to guarantee safety–policemen and security guards. None of the victims want to be named. For many women, going public can cause further distress. In the words of an American correspondent who awoke in her Baghdad compound to find her security guard’s head in her lap, “...I don’t want to be viewed in my worst vulnerability.”

    "Like most foreign correspondents who were assaulted, those women were targets of opportunity. The predators took advantage because they could. Local journalists face the added risk of politically motivated attacks. The Committee to Protect Journalists, for example, cites rape threats against female reporters in Egypt who were seen as government critics. Rebels raped someone I worked with in Angola for her perceived sympathy for the ruling party. In one notorious case in Colombia in 2000, the reporter Jineth Bedoya Lima was kidnapped and gang-raped in what she took as reprisal for her newspaper’s suggestion that a paramilitary group ordered some executions."

    "A correspondent for a major U.S. newspaper says that for some time she needlessly blamed herself for her rape by a Russian paramilitary policeman. How, she asked herself, had she not anticipated that he would follow her back to the hotel after an interview and force himself into the room?"

    It's not about the journalist.

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  16. Anonymous8:32 PM

    As for the apparent fact that these attackers were shouting racial epithets at her, again I would say this was an isolated band of desperate, ugly men, obviously pro-Mubarak and intent on retaliation.

    I have a nephew covering the story in Tahrir right now. He says that over and over again, he is told by Egyptians that they want peace with Israel. This is the real face of Islam.

    Moderates are always drowned out by the fanatics who succumb to evil hate speech and behavior.

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  17. Anonymous8:44 PM

    Schlussel is a true blue fuckwad. What a diseased mind. Maybe her snake venom stems from being "liberated" as a youngster by her father, brothers, uncles, all of 'em, any of 'em? Slimy bitch.

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  18. Gasman8:50 PM

    What a brainless bitch is Debbi Schlussel. First, she blames the victim of a sexual assault for having the temerity to be raped, then she sings the praises of thug Mubarak, then to top it all off she accuses the entire nation of Egypt of being a "country of savages."

    How fucking arrogant, ignorant, and bigoted can one venomous asshat be?

    Debbi Schlussel, you are a brainless Islamophobic moron.

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  19. Anonymous8:57 PM

    How long till the mamma griz tweets her disgust at this woman? Oh, nothing?

    The right has been trying to move women back to the dark ages for ever. They now have women helping the cause. There is no humanity in them. If they win, we are lost.

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  20. Anonymous9:07 PM

    I fail to see the connection that this woman makes that Lara Logan deserved this horrible attack. Lara Logan was a reporter doing her job. What does that have to do with "deserving" to be attacked? Does Schussel assume that every reporter is some kind of sympathizer to the subject of that particular news report?

    Schussel obviously has mental problems.

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  21. Anonymous9:10 PM

    Schlussel's received insults from the Left?

    Well, here's one from the Right: "Schlussel, you're a fucking inhumane moron!"

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  22. Erica from Dallas9:39 PM

    HeyDebbi Schlussel.Is it time for all women to wear burkas or just stay in the house having babies.Maybe you should go home.I am proud of our women that are so brave that they risk their safety to give us a better world.
    I am worried that this right wing politics will take away all our freedom and we will end up like the countries we are so critical of..

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  23. Anonymous11:10 PM

    Odd that you overlooked the comments of liberal journalist Nir Rosen. I'll help:

    "Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger. Look, she was probably groped like thousands of other women."

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  24. Anonymous11:19 PM

    I emailed this psychotic bitch to let her know what a gem she is and congratulated her for promoting herself at the expense of someone elses suffering. Sometimes people take this freedom of speech thing a tad too far, IMO. People without filters deserve no platform to spread their hatred.

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  25. SME13111:47 PM

    Schussel and others like her are no better than the people who savagely beat and rape Lara.

    I am disgusted by the words of those that can take joy in this womans pain and suffering and that politicize it.

    Here's an article that shows even more of this bullshit. I hope they all rot i n hell.

    http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/476530/horrific:_journalist_sexually_assaulted_in_egypt,_mass_victim-blaming_ensues/#disqus_thread

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  26. Anonymous12:58 AM

    I could not believe that idiot said what she said when I heard it on Lawrence O'Donnell early this am.

    Is Schussel really a woman? Is Pam Geller? They are self-haters; hell, they hate everybody that doesn't toe their fascist line. The RW nutcases are really ganging up (no pun intended) on Lara who was egregiously and viciously attacked--the same way prosecutors used to gang up on rape victims.

    As a rape victim, I cannot express my disgust at these vile RW robots enough.

    http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102160010

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  27. Anonymous1:42 AM

    Debbi Schlussel is in no danger of being assaulted.....unless it's by a few dozen hamburgers.

    I believe in Karma.

    Angry people burn out.

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  28. I decided to read her post and some of the replies. I wish I hadn't. Most of the comments were against what she had said. There were also many on the right who said she went too far. Apparently, it pissed her off. This was the reply that came spewing out of her:

    You lefties are so wrong. My life has been way harder than Lara’s. When my Daddy found out I was doing animal porn, he was so mad he made me suck every single cock down at the Moose Lodge. I’m still burping up sperm 5 years later. Daddy’s tasted the worst- like meth and Skoal and roasted possum. Guess you are what you eat. Now please make a donation, so that I don’t have to trade another hummer for the collection plate on Sunday.

    Debbie Schlussel on February 17, 2011 at 3:57 am


    How does she live within her own skin?

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  29. Martha2:25 AM

    I'm getting angry. Glenn Beck accused liberals of being terrorists, and now this. Libel, anyone?

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  30. FloridaDem2:46 AM

    Schussel is a pig, but that's really not the point!

    Gryp, you're off base with this article. On the one hand you assert it's not about sex, and on the other you said that religion is designed to hold back man from their "base" instincts, like rape. Which is it?

    Look, I'm a flaming liberal but I refuse to defend the fundamentalism of Islam. In fact, why should I? Liberalism is the opposite of Fundamentalism, in ANY country. And no, this kind of thing is NOT going on in Tibet or Israel, as you compare it to. Lara suffered an attack just the same as the women of Egypt have been experiencing, only in a very public and acute way. It's an attempt by fundamentalist islamists to control and intimidate women through beatings, sexual abuse and arcane laws, and it didn't just start a week ago. Pretending it's not happening or that it's happening for some other reason is not helping.

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  31. Anonymous3:21 AM

    Schussel is copying Ann Colter. She will say anything, the more outrageous the better. She's in it for the money. Ignore her.

    inside the beltway

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  32. Anonymous3:32 AM

    Folks don't let yourselves get twisted by this asshole.It's obvious she is from the Ann Coulter school of journalism and is just looking to stir up controversy.Dis any one hear of her before?Irest my case.Let her sink down into the slimy pit of her own mediocrity and move on to things that are important.

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  33. Disgusting. Send her to Anchorage and disguise her as a Native. She might get to meet some of those lovely white American soldiers firsthand. I know my Native grandmother did.

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  34. Anonymous4:00 AM

    Schussel blames the victim; I wonder if she would say the same vile things if one of her daughters was gang raped by a bunch of white frat boys at a party. Would she also blame the victim?

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  35. Anonymous4:13 AM

    I had never heard of this POS but I went to her blog and found her to be just as ugly on the outside as on the inside. Shudder.

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  36. Anonymous4:33 AM

    Those men attacked simply because the anonymity of the mob mentality allowed them to do so.

    Schussel is ignorant and disgusting, and is the moral equivalent of one of those mob rapists.

    Prayers to Ms. Logan. What a brave woman.

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  37. Anonymous4:34 AM

    Well, yes and no. Harassing women IS a part of Egyptian culture.

    I read a travel article written a woman a little over a year ago. She had gone to Egypt on holiday with a female friend. She said they were constantly harassed---and they covered. They were not walking around with short sleeves or their hair blowing in the wind. Her friend was a particular target because she was fair. They were continually pestered, even when told "No!" One ferry driver actually "stole" a kiss. This woman did not recommend traveling to Egypt without a male companion. Women without men are very vulnerable there.

    Of course, this situation is slightly different because it was a mod and spirits were high, aggravating the situation. But I wasn't surprised to hear about it after reading that article.

    It would be wrong to say Islam condones such activity, but it wouldn't be wrong to say the culture leaves women very vulnerable.

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  38. Anonymous5:26 AM

    Actually, her own words reveal how much she has in common with the rapists. But then, how else should we expect these monsters to respond? Let's just stop calling it unbelievable. They are monsters. This is how monsters talk. Honestly, the sooner we start identifying what these rightwing barbarians are, the better. I am not wasting time anymore with BS like "Well, both sides do it..."

    I actually believe that millions of Americans are in danger if these monsters get too much more power. We're going to have to stand up to them. Our president and Democratic legislators are in a bubble. They don't get it.

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  39. My take on this is a little different. But first let me start by saying that Schussel is a revolting, opportunistic fucktard. Seriously.
    But her reaction is predictable. Right wingers are so quick to forget what Christians did on the crusades, or what they did to women accused of witches, of what they're still doing to women and children in foreign lands when they (we) invade.
    But now the rape of this journalist will be held up as an example of Mideast savagery. And the sad fact is that this was preventable.
    I want to hear the news as much as anyone else does. But I think it is another example of our American Arrogance the way the US media insinuates itself into the story. Was it really necessary for journalists to be in the square during a frenzied protest? I think we know it is not. We can tell the story from a safer vantage point. But somewhere along the way in our culture, journalism became hybridized with reality television. Journalists are no longer reporting the news, they're becoming part of it. They are rushing to identify with protestors in foreign lands, rushing to make their experience OUR experience.
    But it's not our experience and when reporters start to get whacked upside the head like Anderson Cooper or raped like Lara Logan I think that's a good indication that the journalists who think they'll be loved and embraced as parties to the cause they're covering are not exactly welcome.
    I feel terribly for Lara Logan. But I also feel terribly for the co-workers who were unable to do what they never have should have been asked to do: protect a woman in a mob of frenzied men. She'll carry the scars of her attack the rest of her life. Her co-workers will carry the guilt.
    And it was all avoidable.
    Unfortunately, CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the big three networks are turning news into another form of American entertainment. But this isn't a reality show, people. It's real lives and our desire to feel like we're on the ground is not worth the risk people are taking to give us that perspective.
    I find myself reminded of Maximus' cry in "Gladiator." -ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???

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  40. Anonymous5:29 AM

    Anon at 7:16 pm: "Why are these people tolerated? Why aren't they shunned as the social pariahs they are?"

    I've thought about this. I honestly believe it's because we're not showing enough outrage with diabolical policies. We also have a president that legitimizes much of the rightwing in various ways, to my disappointment.

    Long story short, there need to be a lot more of us protesting in Wisconsin and in the days ahead. It would be nice if we could get as many people who made a pilgrimage to the Jon Stewart rally in Washington.

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  41. Anonymous6:03 AM

    Hey A-hole @11:10 p.m. Rosen (and his boss who accepted his resignation) came out and publicly apologized. Sane and humane people don't believe in further kicking people when they've seen the error of their ways.

    On the other hand you teapublicans delight in violence and abuse. What's your new greeting - "hi, Neighbor, kicked a puppy today?

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  42. Anonymous6:08 AM

    I take it the point is that the behaviors are not limited to those of the Islamic faith. I agree completely. For instance, a white Christian male executive who behind closed doors escalates to profound sexual humiliation and degradation and physical battering then mentally terrorizes "loved ones" his victim is deranged lying he did not commit his actions.

    People need to blame the victims or even offload inhumane atrocities only happen withTHOSE kinds....and someone ASKED for it to construct a false bubble of safety it could not happen to them. Anyone who believes a rapist or abuser will stop at the word NO or standing up to them. Does not comprehend the perverted mind set of pathological disturbed personalities.

    It is bull shit to point fingers at another culture while doing nothing or giving a pass to American males/females too or blaming them so people can put blinders on even when their neighbor exacts a reign of terror. Just ostracize the victims enabling the predator to escalate.

    It is just not done in the open here but not much difference to subjugate, dominate, supress to force servitude and objectify women and girls sabotaging their success or sabotaging obtaining education. Or to intimidate and issue threats of violence to isolate the victim or punish them for socializing to achieve conditions of captivity.

    Shussler needs a reality check.

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  43. Debby Schussel used to call in to Howard Stern's show on a regular basis. She came off as a man-hating, woman hating shrew. She proclaimed that she was an extremely conservative Jew. She also slipped/admitted that she was still a virgin. That was several years ago. I believe she stopped calling in when Howard challenged her too many times. At the time, it was funny - in the same way that "Daniel Carver of the KKK" was - another regular caller. Both gave people a look at the warped thinking of an extremist. It is no longer any source of amusement to hear the likes of Debby Schussel. She is a disgrace.

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  44. Morgan @ 5:29, fantastic post.

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  45. Anonymous8:42 AM

    "And she should have known what Islam is all about."

    So, what's Schlussel's point? White men in the USA don't commit rape? If she thinks she's making a case against Islam, I think she'd better do a bit of Googling. I've read many cases where fundamental Christian parents murder their children because the Devil made them do it. I guess that's what Christianity is all about.

    Personally, I think Debbi needs a little bit of the hair o' the dog. That's the only solution for her kind of assholeness.

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  46. Anne In DC9:22 AM

    What's absolutely sickening about this type of violence is that it brings enormous risks like unwanted pregnancy, STD's (some incurable), or even death in addition to the emotional trauma. Just like you say, Gryphen, rape is a crime of control and humiliation and it has been used against women onsidered "inferior" by the assailants. It is a hostile and degrading act of violence that uses sex as the means of inflicting trauma.

    Every day, these RWNJ's prove over and over again that they are emotional robots without empathy for others. Regardless of another woman's political leanings, or even a man's, I would never wish this kind of ugliness on another human being. The problem with those goons is not that they are Muslim, but that they are misogynists. I read an article in my newspaper that cited sexual harassment as a huge problem for Egyptian woman, which is a reflection of how women are viewed. But that has happened in societies of all faiths, including Christian ones.

    I can only hope, with all we are seeing from the RWNJ's, that people either vote them out of office or keep them from obtaining political offices. And women like Schussel, Coulter, Bruce, Palin, and Malkin should be ostracized because of their toxic views about their own sex, as well as about other issues.

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  47. Anonymous12:43 PM

    One could also point out, following her logic, that if raping women is the property of Muslim men that raping alter boys and women is the property of the Catholic church, even the American Catholic Church.

    You know the Christian ones.

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  48. Anonymous12:47 PM

    Ms. Schlussel's verbal assault to shame the victim and her pathetic need to blame the victim, and to cause traumatic harm to the victim puts her squarely into the same category with the same motives as the rapists.

    Welcome to the sexual abusers club Ms. Schlussel.

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