On Friday, Rodger sent a one hundred and forty page
manifesto to family and friends detailing how he would extract “retribution on
reckoning day.” Prior to his manifesto, Rodger a college student at Santa Barbara
City College, posted messages on forums and You Tube sprouting his delusional views,
his lonely existence, and constant questioning why women were not interested in him. Rodger could not understand why a good looking “Eurasian with a shiny
black BMW” could not get a date in a town filled with pretty blondes who rather
spend time with a Black man instead of him.
Rodger had been in counseling since the age of eight years
old. Rodger’s father was the assistant director of Games of Thrones and his mother once dated George Lucas and worked with Stephen Spielberg. Rodger was the very essence of white privilege. A young
man who seemed to have it all, had bottled up rage that intensified over the
years and he blamed women for it. Rodger’s indignation against women led him to
plan to kill all of the members of the Tri Delta sorority house located near the
campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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| Crime scene from Isla Vista shooting. |
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| UCSB students gather at candle light vigil. |
Rage against innocent women is being played out internationally
as well. As we enter the sixth week of the Nigerian kidnapped school girls by terrorists,
Boka Horam, the helplessness of their parents can be felt around the globe. Men
with guns decided to burn a school to the ground and carry off young women and girls
who were being educated as a show of masculine power to world leaders. Men with
guns did not rage war against other men with guns, another country, their government
or other militia. No, Boka Horam, which means Western education is sinful, decided
to show what their definition of brute force by taking young women and girls in
the middle of the night. To the dismay of the world, the Nigerian government
and other countries have not been as quick to look for them as countries were willing to comb the bottom of the sea for months to search for passengers on a missing plane.
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| Nigerian School Girls in video provided by Boka Horam |
To further torture the families of the kidnapped Nigerian school
girls, Boka Horam videoed their kidnapped victims to proclaim that the young
women and girls would be sold into slavery or married off to the lowest bidder
if Boka Haram political prisoners were not released. The young women and girls were the focus of violence;
not the military, not the government, or other factions but the females in the
countryside were targeted to accomplish the sadistic will of a terrorist organization.
Violence towards women is not just committed or cheered on
by men. Bravo TV has help perfected violence-for-entertainment that pay great dividends
to the network. The Real Housewives series have been steadily ramping up the
friction between the women on the scripted show. Each year, the antics of the
cast have continued to include more and more physical confrontations. In March
at a taping, members of the Real Housewives of Atlanta took their personal grievances
to another level that was aired in April. Porsha Williams after being taunted
by Kenya Moore, assaulted Kenya Moore in a moment that was deemed “the weave snatch seen around the world.” Porsha decided to put an end to Kenya’s put downs and
literally drug her by the hair across the floor while kicking and clawing the
entire time. Instead of many condemning the attack, social media weighed in and
many believed Porsha was justified in her actions. Bravo condemned the attack
but continued to replay the show over and over every weekend since the initial
showing of the reunion show in April. The network has been rewarded handsomely
for continuing to show the violent profanity laced episode. The ratings of the Real Housewives of Atlanta netted Bravo it highest ratings since debuting the franchise and has spun off a number of ‘pundit style’ shows where the cast member discuss the fight. Each spin off or follow up show was heavily advertised and all have been highly rated. The demographics of viewers of Real Housewives
of Atlanta are ages 24-54 year olds. There is no denying that the majority who
watch the show, often called Sunday’s guilty pleasure, are women.
In order to address the ever increasing violence towards
women that can take the form of revenge perpetrated by the misogyny ranting of an
obsess sexless fiend, to political kidnappings around the world, to degrading reality
shows disguised as entertainment, women must be willing to denounce all
violence towards women. Women must stand united and strong in the narrative and
not cherry pick one violent act over the other. Women must be the first to come
to the aid of another woman. Often, that starts right in the places we often overlook;
women groups, our communities, on the job, and in our places of worship. Until
women condemn violence toward women first, violence towards women will continue
to escalate and will be used to justify entertainment, political grandstanding,
or a mass killing spree.
Photo credits: LA Times, New York Times, Gif Bravo TV
Photo credits: LA Times, New York Times, Gif Bravo TV
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