The Steubenville Rapists Are Not Tragic Heroes

[ashling]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/03/18/the_steubenville_rapists_are_anti_social_criminals_not_promising_young_men.html

What makes CNN's coverage doubly amazing is that teenagers get taken off the path of "promising" every day for behaviors that are exponentially less anti-social than terrorizing girls with sexual abuse. The country is full of nonrapist D students, teen moms, high-school drop-outs, and dim but well-meaning people who have severely limited opportunities to become the sort of community leaders these boys were clearly slated to be. I'd have any one of them be my boss rather than a guy who raped someone and then reportedly texted a naked photo of the victim with the caption, "Bitches is bitches. Fuck ‘em," to his friends later. A system that takes rapists out of the running for certain opportunities so nonrapists have a better shot is a system that is working. After the Penn State scandal, you'd think people would understand the importance of keeping sexual predators out of positions of power.

[Tien1985]

1. I hate the whole "promising"

future thing they've got going on. That is a f'ing lie. They were football players. What about that makes their futures promising? It is a lie that we are telling to all the kids watching this now and it is encouraging the type of behavior seen in Steubenville. Encouraging teens to act as if sports are the be all end all of further success is ridiculous and harmful.

A kid with a promising future? That's the kid who does community service because they see a need, not because its required for graduation. That's the kid the works hard and shows an aptitude for finding the best in others. It's the kid who has inborn talent, or the determination to learn, or both at something.

I'm not saying a good athlete can't have a promising future. I am saying that the way we treat ALL HS athletes on a winning team as having promising futures is downright daft. These players were obviously out reeking havoc fairly often. How can anyone say their futures were promising before this case? I would've called them "at-risk".

Ugh. It just drives me insane.

[snagglepuss]

2. Hear. Hear.

[snagglepuss]

3. "A system that takes rapists out of the running...so nonrapists have a better shot

is a system that is working. "


Bang on.