About two months ago I had a maddening conversation with a woman on Twitter about rape. Her name was #itsmotherswork and it all started with her posting that women shouldn't have to change how they dress to avoid being raped. Another woman, Melissa BV, was also part of the head-spinning conversation. I believe it all started with a news article and some official making a comment that women should be careful not to make themselves an easy target. Itsmotherswork and Melissa BV commented that such statements were insulting.
They were getting angry because I simply could not understand their point for the life of me. I tried, too. I wasn't trolling them. I wanted to understand what they said. I wanted to know why they had the opinions they did. It was like we were telling each other, "the pen is blue," but neither of us understood the sentence. We heard the words but the meanings were all different.
"The pen is blue."
"No, the pen is blue, not blue."
"Look, the pen is blue. You keep saying it's blue but the pen is blue."
It went on and on. Normally such a miscommunication is comedic but the subject was rape. And that's only funny if you're raping a clown. It's hilarious because they make these faces and toot that little horn...
My whole point was anything that stops a crime is good. Her point was that it encouraged rapists to move on to the next victim and that was unacceptable.
And just as I finally understood why she and I were totally misunderstanding each other she blew me off as a troll and said, "Please don't rape anybody." Then she stopped talking to me.
But I get it. After years of wondering why I never understood certain groups of people and why they always looked at me like I was insane, I finally understand, because I had a Moment of Revelation. It was brilliant and it had been so long since the last one I'd forgotten what they were like.
Itsmotherswork and Melissa BV's opinions, as they presented them, were that rape was a cultural problem, not a criminal one, and if social and cultural climates were changed rape would stop. Based on what they said to me, rape was something allowed socially, and these men could be re-educated to understand their behavior was bad.
My opinion could be summed up simply. Humanity is shit and most people will do bad things if they know they can get away with it. If you make it easy for them, they'll do it. If you make it hard for them, they'll move on to the next easy target. But they will always find a victim and they will always do evil acts upon others. It is in their nature to rape, pillage, burn, steal and destroy. No social rules will prevent this. No amount of laws will stop it.
I believe humanity is a crap. The only reason any of us do anything nice at all is because of social, religious or legal pressures. Those pressures were designed to protect ourselves--a social truce--from each other. Or we do something nice in hopes of getting back later on.
Fear of going to hell, bad karma or social ostracizing keeps us in line. Nobody wants to go to prison, or live alone.
Look around you. Nobody likes to follow laws. Nobody actually avoids trouble for any kind of moral reason. The only reason any of our accomplishments have been achieved can be traced back to the 7 Deadly Sins. Inventions come from greed and sloth and music from pride and lust. Our entire way of supporting ourselves is based on greed, gluttony, and envy.
Humanity is a two-legged parasite infesting a planet. We do completely illogical things. I'm a telemarketer who sells people crap they don't want or need so I can buy food that's unhealthy for me and live in an apartment surrounded by weirdos. And if I call somebody a weirdo, you can take that to the bank.
Humanity is the Destroyer of All. We are Bringers of Death. Nothing good comes from us showing up in your neighborhood. Those alien space craft we keep seeing aren't explorers--they are game wardens keeping us from getting off the reservation and polluting the rest of the galaxy. I can only imagine how they feel it's a shit job and their mothers are very disappointed in them.
"And what do you do, these days?"
"I work with humans."
"Oh, dear. Medical school didn't pan out?"
"No. But this job is okay. I mean, I get paid and everything."
"But humans?"
"I know. Don't tell Uncle Gleep, okay? He really wanted me to sell insurance with him."
It's unfortunate there is no God because the apocolypse is really a great idea. Humanity is disgusting and the only reason I wake up in the morning is from morbid curiosity. Every day I get to see a train wreck. Then I write about it.
Most writers are romantic about human beings. They write grandiose characters with good intentions and deep moral foundations.
Not me. I write people as they really are--greedy, violent, opportunistic and mean. I have reality to back me up on this, too. What do you have? A bunch of violated people deluding themselves into following social rules invented by predators while they circle the pack and pick you off one by one. That's what you have--victims. Yummy, yummy victims.
Welcome to Earth, enter at your own risk. And remember to please flush.
Now I know why you write horror. ;)
ReplyDelete