Media talking heads weep for rapists

A few months ago, 2 high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio, were indicted for raping a 16-year-old girl at a party. The defendants have now been found guilty and will be incarcerated. In the months leading up to the trial, however, defenders of the rapists swaggered about town, accusing the victim of ruining the rapists' lives. The pro-rape contingent even said the crime should be overlooked because the perpetrators had such a promising future in football. School and government officials also led a cover-up of the rape in order to protect the rapists.

Occupy has been conducting protests in Steubenville against this cover-up. These rallies helped expose the rape and bring about the conviction of the defendants.

The attitudes of a city's residents are often a product of local institutions. I'm confident that most folks in Steubenville surely don't want rapists anywhere near. But the relatively small number who support the rape defendants were influenced by local organizations known for their conservative bent. In that regard, Steubenville is like many other places - where a small, arrogant contingent inspired by reactionary institutions catatonically excuses violent crimes that afflict the community.

Several nobodies at CNN seem to share the view of this small contingent. Today, one of these nobodies sniffed that it was "incredibly difficult" to watch the rapists hear the verdict "as they believed their life fell apart." Another of these CNN nonentities added, "There's always that moment of just - lives are destroyed. But in terms of what happens now, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders."

Tough shit. Crimes have consequences. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Why do the thought guardians at CNN expect us to feel sorry for 2 young criminals who raped a teenage girl? It sounds like they care more about the perpetrators than the victim.

The fact that a media outlet has so much concern for the rapists is another example of how the hard frost of rightism has dashed America's morals. But victim-blaming is not "cool" like The Media thinks it is. One of the most shameful aspects of this story is that some will insist that the defendants' conviction is a sign of "tyranny" by "the liberals." Those who say this are those who judged the victim for attending the party where she was raped - but not the football players who attended the same party.

I hope that future prospective employers will see that these thugs have a rape conviction on their records. If workers in 24 states can be fired for the "crime" of entering into a union security contract, then I sure as hell hope a person can be fired for being a rapist.

(Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/17/cnn-grieves-that-guilty-verdict-ruined-promising-lives-of-steubenville-rapists)