Comments on: Updated: He's Not Heavy; He's My Bro

By: Roger Chaillet

Roger Chaillet — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:32:56 +0000

Celebrate differences.

Just don’t notice them.

Sweet!

By: Robert Glisson

Robert Glisson — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:54:33 +0000

“I came out of foster care armed with a love of self-teaching and a wholehearted belief in self-motivation.” and “I ran away often and worked as a teenage prostitute in order to survive the streets.” Which story are we to believe, foster care- home, family- meals on time; or sleeping on old newspapers and standing on the corner with a thumb up in hopes of scrounging a meal. I write stories for a hobby. I understand consistency; a dime is too much to spend on this story.

By: Vrye Denker

Vrye Denker — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:43:55 +0000

I also spent my life “on the streets”. Well, if you count spending all afternoon after school riding my bike around the neighbourhood. Didn’t do much good for my grades, but a swift kick on the behind from my dad solved that problem rather abruptly.

By: Vrye Denker

Vrye Denker — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:39:00 +0000

Van Wijk, I have a postulate that this behaviour is carried over from generation to generation because the “victim” is conditioned to act in a way which either provokes the abusive behaviour, or on the flipside, the abusive behaviour is mimicked because the abuser uses it as misplaced rage, or an attempt to make someone else feel what they felt. This doesn’t excuse it though, I would much rather tell each side to grow up and deal with it already.

By: Barbara Grant

Barbara Grant — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:18:57 +0000

Life on the streets?? Has she ever seen a woman who’s lived on the streets? They have twice or thrice the number of wrinkles as their contemporaries; rotten teeth, and a vacant stare. If they get out of that lifestyle, it is usually because of Jesus.

Maybe the writer really meant that she slept on the pavement a couple of times…

By: Van Wijk

Van Wijk — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:20:37 +0000

To the usually incredibly skeptical Van Wijk…

Why thank you. 🙂

It is my tendency not to believe this sort of female’s tales of familial abuse. Repressed memory syndrome; satanic ritual abuse: This type of woman would have experienced them all … in her own family.

I’ve read a few books on the subject, and the ability of abuse to repeat itself with such precision through several generations is uncanny. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. That being said, I do take your point. The quickest way for a young woman to earn instant street cred it to claim parental abuse followed by a “life on the streets.” Whatever her actual background, nothing excuses that level of fanaticism.

By: Nora Brinker

Nora Brinker — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:01:07 +0000

The case from the Vox Day blog reminds me painfully of Dutch journalist Joanie de Rijke who just wanted to do some innocent in-depth research in Afghanistan, got involved with and raped by some Taliban and then blamed Geert Wilders.

By: james huggins

james huggins — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:55:13 +0000

He looked like a thug but she didn't want to appear racist? What in the plu-perfect hell is wrong with people? I see this sort of thing all the time. People tiptoe around so as not to offend some low life who would kill them for pocket change. When Obama low-rated his grandmother in his book he intimated that she was some kind of closet racist because she was uneasy when passing a group of blacks on the street. Sounds to me she had good sense. I'm a grown man, usually armed when I'm on the street and I'm half expecting trouble when passing a group of blacks. If any of your enlightened readers find this disturbing I invite them to come down to the real world and find out how superior they are when faced with the facts of life.

By: Derek

Derek — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:08:09 +0000

As bizarre as this story seems, it is really not too uncommon. Here are a couple more examples from 2009. 1) A Dutch journalist covering the Taliban gets raped by said Taliban and doesn't hold a grudge. 2) A woman in California, who was heading to the parking lot after shopping, noticed a strange man standing by her car. She told police he looked like a thug, but she did not want to appear racist. So she proceeded to her vehicle and got raped.

By: Vrye Denker

Vrye Denker — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:58:39 +0000

I see these “sexual tourists” in Cape Town all the time. The rougher the natives treat them, the more they tip. Then they go back to Europe and blog about being “ravaged by a young, virile native”.