Hi, welcome, first post.

This is really only a filler for what may come, a "lorem ipsum" for my style sheet experiments, and a placeholder rather than actual content about stuff I care about. Today I am too upset to really start anything meaningful, but a rant or two might work.

Pro primo,

A Religious Nutter on a local forum claims that rape and assault statistics rise in step with how many people are out and about, drinking and dancing, enjoying themselves. He does not exactly put it in these words, but that is what he means. Have we heard this before? In Sweden, during the beginning of the last century, accordions were accused of leading the youth into temptation. Somewhat later, dancing establishments were accused of the same, and at that time we are not talking about discoteques, we're talking about wooden plank floors and a tent-like temporary roof, a few fiddlers, accordion and a bass player. Why? Because dancing is sinful, what more reason do you need?

So this Religious Nutter was brought up during that time, and brought up harshly. What does this man do today? Has he rebelled against his constricting upbringing? Has he had a personal revelation and found his own way? Has he found ways to fight violence, injustice and sexual repression throughout the world? I am sure he thinks so. I do not agree.

Why is it that we blame the victim?

Oh yes, I have heard all excuses already. The victim really needs to think about what they are doing, you see. Why was the victim even at the scene of the crime? Should the victim not have known that the assailant has been known to have had friends who move in criminal circles? Should the victim not have dressed more casually? Why did the victim even go to an establishment of drinking and dancing if the victim did not expect, nay, seek out this exact sort of punishment which does or should befall any hapless victim who go to such establishments?

I am ranting, of course. My beliefs are that we, the society, must work to restrict the effect of violent and abusive individuals on the whole. By "the whole", I mean society. If violence reigns unchecked, and it is the common man and woman who must consider the possibility of violence around every corner, the result is not a free society. This is the very reason why most democratic nations criminalize the persecution of minorities, even when it takes on rather ethereal forms such as defamation and slander of abstract "groups", because if we cannot feel free, we will act as if we are not free. If we risk violence for speaking our minds, we are not free to speak. If we risk violence for going out for a drink, we are not free to go. If we risk being raped for dressing how we want to dress, we are not free to choose our own clothes.

And that, my dear curious readers, is not freedom.


/ Per