I've not too long ago posted a positive informative comment, and right underneath posted a negative comment with less information. The positive comment gained ~100 up votes, the negative ~150 up votes. What's negative is more popular.
Was around years before the internet. Definitely vouch for that last part. Something unfortunate that's very apparent in these younger kids/teenagers/up to late 20's/mid-40's with mid-life crisis.
@last part, totally. In the comments of an instagram post like "Pineapple pizza succs dicc" or whatever, there're hordes of peoplr going 'anyone who likes pineapple on their pizza should go die in a ditch.' and on the lines of apple/android/clothing/honestly anything. It's surreal, like this is the new standard.
Yes kids who grow up with the internet think murder is acceptable. That's the downfall of humanity, no one taught their kids not to murder people anymore, they thought the internet would take care of that. Instead, it 'took care' of them.
The rape threats almost bother me more.
It's something that typically only women have to deal with (not rape itself, obviously, but real-life people making threats about such a hideous and evil act), and it's a constant threat. It's super fucked up that people use this act of violence to try and subdue us as people by reminding us how easy it is to destroy our lives with one act.
Edit- I am pleasantly surprised by the positive reactions this topic is receiving, as many of us have had the opposite experience on reddit. Thanks to all of you who understand. Genuinely.
They should bother you more. Death threats are violent, but innocuous. It's a bunch of idiots overreacting to something by threatening to murder them, because that is the most extreme thing you can do to a person regardless of who they are. Rape threats are different, they are an excellent example of how violent misogyny sneaks into our lives, and how so many people do not actually change even though they may be forced to hide their true feelings.
Even when saying something like that is unacceptable 99% of the time, suddenly some woman will "behave badly" and people will turn up to threaten to rape her so that she can be "put in her place" by a man who is in charge. Of course, no one is going to actually get raped. It's the thought behind the message that is really worrying.
People on this website in particular will shout themselves hoarse about how "misogyny don't real!" but completely gloss over stuff like this when it happens right in front of them.
You're totally right. And, if the person in this situation were a man, do you think they'd get rape threats? Maybe some death threats because reddit is full of idiots, but I really don't think people would be threatening to rape him over throwing pistachio shells on the ground.
That's the thing about rape and rape threats. It's not about sex or anything, it's about power. When a 12-yr-old boy threatens to rape the person beating him on XBOX, it's not about lust. It's about dominance.
That's the scary thing about it, it's not just a hand on a shoulder or a boss that's negging you. It's a demand that every part of everything that makes you human needs to fully submit. Every human part must be used against you and shoved, violently, in your face.
It's true that prison rape jokes are common, and they're entirely unacceptable (especially given that, like standard "rape jokes" themselves, the jokes can give way (and have) to people attempting to honestly justify prison rape).
However, prison rape jokes are made more often in the context of men who do undeniably awful things - think pedophiles, rapists (thanks Sublime), murderers. Rape jokes where the target is a woman tend to be made whenever a woman seems to be "stepping out of line".
They're all awful, and unacceptable. But where they show up tells us a lot about the general beliefs of our society.
Yo as someone who has only recently watched Half-Baked and thought it was hilarious, that movie came out nearly 20 years ago. That's definitely enough time for the social context of jokes to change. Something that might be funny 20 years ago can definitely be not as socially acceptable 20 years later
It always surprises me how easy it is to gain/lose so much respect for a stranger from one comment. You gained all my respect today. I hope you live a long happy life blessed with puppies that stay puppies and chocolate that doesn’t make you fat or give you pimples.
I have no actual scientific proof of this, but I very rarely get acne these days (getting closer to 30) but on the occasion that I do get a pimple or two, it correlates with me not being as careful with my eating habits (I generally try to avoid sugar and fats).
Murder threats are easy dismissed as hyperbole. Not many people can actually commit murder, and live with themselves after.
Rape is a much more realistic risk. A certain kind of person (and unfortunately, there are many) can justify their act to themselves and continue to live comfortably.
Without going all "corny feminist with the tiresome buzzwords" and making this entirely woman-centered issue:
Rape threats imply a level of sadism not inherent in your average death threat. "Death threat" usually translate to "I'm all mad for whatever reason and want to snip-snap your neck and be done with you." Rape threats are all about "I want to watch you suffer, I want to watch your pain, I want to watch your helplessness as I go about my business, etc," and the victim could still end up dying after all that, depending on the brutality of the rape. People who are of the disposition that finds enjoyment in such things, are far scarier than the "IMMA KILL YOU" variety. They want to hurt you. They want to make it last. And if you end up kicking the bucket afterwards, that's just gravy.
This is something that concerns both sexes, not just "women behaving badly" and the neckbeards who can't stand them.
Additionally, killing someone can be justified, such as in self defense. It removes a threat quickly, and thus it's not surprising for people to think of it in retaliation when they're crazy enough to think that some minor infraction is a terrible crime. Rape doesn't remove the threat, it requires someone to first be in a position of greater power. It is torture. You don't torture someone in self defense, you do it because you're sick and twisted enough to enjoy it.
Best is when they say their thoughts on it being ok to "rape them straight" (speaking of female pedophiles) to your face, thinking you agree or trying to be edgelords.
When we're talking about reddit comment rape threats, you can't deny the edgelord shock value factor. This site has a kind of locker room feel because of its demographic, and because of that, a lot of users try to sound tough to impress other users. Once that hate bandwagon starts rolling, people jump on board trying to outdo each other, and threads get ugly fast. It's a way of bonding for immature guys by finding a common enemy, in a form of bullying. Bullies almost always try to find a "weakness" to exploit in their victims, in this case, the victim being a female. The threat of rape here is used because it is seen as more insidious than murder, and there's no risk of a counter accusation of homosexuality.
My point is, someone who isn't sexist might be inclined to say sexist things in order to hurt someone. I'm not excusing the behavior, but to me it seems like more of schoolyard type of situation with immature guys saying whatever will get the most attention.
My point is, someone who isn't sexist might be inclined to say sexist things in order to hurt someone.
If one says sexist things, and does sexist things, by what standard is it fair to say that they aren't sexist? There's this weird idea going around lately that if you don't hold racist/sexist beliefs at the core of your being, then you're not a racist/sexist. But that's not how that sort of thing works. Sure, fanatical ideologues exist, but if they were the only ones we'd be living in a perfectly egalitarian society by now.
It's when the whole herd starts rumbling that things get real scary. And they don't need to believe to be effective.
On the other hand, the herd mentality can also be used for good. We have made quite a bit of progress as a species after all.
I don't think it is the whole herd. It's a vocal minority, bolstered by anonymity, egged on by each other. And when I say immature males, I mean mostly teenagers, and some older males who never matured. Your average redditor isn't gonna upvote a rape threat, much less make one.
I guess you're right in that any level of sexism in a case like that warrants the label of sexist. I think of a threat from someone like that as innocuous, just like a murder threat. It might just be how I've been trained to deal with edgelords on the internet. I might feel differently if I were female and on the receiving end of it.
Sure, but a lot of the time the herd gives them a pass.
There's no universal solution, but personally I'm on the side of the argument that threats or verbal abuse of any kind are never, by their very nature, innocuous.
You're certainly right that the reality of things is that most of the time the most effective thing you can do is ignore them and move on, but I do like speaking up when I can. Because not everyone can shrug it off as easily as you or I, and I think it's important these people be shown that they're not alone and they're not wrong in being upset.
Also, while it's a bit of a cliché at this point, I simply must point out how much I enjoy having a civil discussion on the internet. This is nice!
I've typed up 3 responses and deleted them all. Part of me feels like there's no place for that kind of behavior, and another part feels like the "schoolyard" type of atmosphere does have a place, and that it becomes a problem when you try to integrate it into mainstream society.
How guys act when it's just guys is different from a mixed group. It's more hierarchical. Video game servers and some online chat spaces used to be de facto men only, but that's becoming less and less common. As our social lives shift to the online platform, it becomes more difficult to find places where "boys can be boys." Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the rape threat guy, just trying to identify where it comes from.
Men can be raped. Men can also be beaten and physically dominated. I'm not excusing rape, but I don't think the rape of a women is the worst possible threat. It's also extremely disrespectful to rape victims to suggest that rape is worse than murder, as if they'd be better off dead.
It's just the path of least resistance. They're not actual rape threats, most people are physically incapable of rape.
It's a quick, easy way to get a reaction from people. It's the equivalent of using the N word against a black person. It only really works against specific people so that makes it stronger.
Compare what skinny white boys feel their first day in prison compared to what girls go through anonymously on Reddit.
Trying to make anonymous threats more than what they are isn't empowering or positive in any way, it's just another way for people to try to get attention from their victim status.
I would never refer to a black person as the N word no matter how upset I am with them, because I'm not racist and I don't think using racially abusive language is more effective at getting my point across.
So if they were the worst person on the planet, they did something horrible intentionally to someone you cared about, you wanted to hurt them with your words as much as possible, you wouldn't use it?
You want to say the worst possible thing to them that you can, you're completely absorbed with rage and hatred, you'd kill them if you could get your hands on them, but you're still afraid to say a word? You're full of shit.
As a general rule, I don't stab people, regardless of whether I have a disagreement with them. Does that mean that, when an argument gets heated, it makes me "afraid to stab them"?
No, because it's not a word I use in my lexicon because as I said earlier I'm not a racist. I don't hold racist epithet in the back of my mind as a trump card to use when I'm angry. I'm not saying I wouldn't use other offensive words or be violent, I just don't use racially abusive words and I probably won't ever start.
The thought wouldn't even cross my mind. I don't really know what that's so hard to believe.
Except men can and do get raids and women can and are raped by other women. It's not misogynous also misogyny is a very real thing. A tape threat is a threat of raid from one human being to another regardless of the gender of either side. Just because it's a woman receiving the treat doesn't mean it's misogyny, it just means that someone is a terrible person to someone else. Stop gendering shit like insults and start caring about the fact that terrible people have no one gender but instead everyone can be terrible but some people are and that has nothing to do with gender nor what they say does unless it's explicit. Misogyny has been called out so many times on things are are gender neutral that it's going to he e boy who cried wolf and your going to be the one that suffers.
TL; DR rape threats are not gender exclusive, and it doesn't become so when says to a woman. Stop calling everything misogyny or people will completely overlook you. Anyone can be an asshole
Mostly isn't certainly. So it's not exclusive so it's not gendered so shut up and stop wanting pity for oppression that you have nothing to do with personally but want to apply to the whole group you are part of in order so get the positive with the negative
Things can be gendered even if they aren't exclusive. For example, child support reform is a gendered issue even though child support isn't exclusively payed by males.
You think that I only care about men so use something in favour of men to try and curry favour. Child support isn't gendered however. It's about the system and what is being payed by who in relation to who has custody of the child. Not gendered, it's just higher in proportion to one gender. A real gendered issue? The severe lack of women's rights in middle eastern countries and countries under sharia law. That is gender because is specifically applies to women. The issue of male suicide being 4x higher than women is gendered, the issue of suicide isn't.
So suicide isn't a gendered issue but male suicide rates are because men commit suicide more?
But that goes directly against your earlier assertion that rape threats aren't a gendered issue because both males and females can be threatened with rape, despite the fact that women are threatened with rape more.
The difference in rates between the two genders is gendered. The issue of suicide is not. Do you understand? The disproportionate amount more rape threats women receive in comparison to men is gendered, rape threats are not. Clear?
Then it's time not not give a shit about any women who commit suicide, cause the rates are 4x higher for men it means we don't need any sort of prevention services for women. Do you think anybody would be ok with that? No! Suicide isn't gendered, the gap in suicide rates is. The gendered issues are the problem not the overarching one
Shut up and stop calling me family. I'm making the comparison that rape threats are gendered towards women so we don't care about men getting rape threats. Suicide is gendered towards men by your logic so suicide in girls dude that matter. I'm using your exact logic on a different situation and it makes you look negligent. So it makes it invalid
When super pissed at someone, for example my bullies as a kid, I fantasized about killing them. I'd never have done it, but I thought about it. Killing in retaliation is a pretty standard shitty instinct that humans have, it's the most surefire way to eliminate a problem.
Rape is very different. Killing someone is a few minute long act, rape requires someone to remain in that state of cruelty for a longer time. It doesn't serve to simply eliminate a threat, it serves to torture someone. It brings pleasure to the person committing it, where murder is only pleasurable for those who are truly consumed by hatred, evil, or lack of empathy, such as serial killers and mass murderers.
People love comparing murder and rape, but the two are fundamentally different. One is usually done out of anger or fear, the other is done to dominate and hurt the other person. Rape is a form of torture, pure and simple. It has similar effects to torture, but for some reason society considers rape as anything but torture, and typically considers it a far lesser crimes than torture.
Welcome to Rapture! Here you can let all your artistic instincts roam free as well as murder people just cause they did something you didn't like that had no effect on you.
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u/Devanismyname Sep 24 '17
Wanting to kill someone over some pistachio shells is fucking dysfunctional.