Activism For The Sake Of Activism

Clearly, we blame her.(What?!)

I’m sure many of us have seen or heard people doing this throughout our lives, but at the same time watched either it not fulfilled, or people speaking in part for a cause or problem they do not understand. I decided to write about this today due to coming across a news article (Right) about a liquor board ad that was recently taken down. Reason why? The ad “clearly” was placing blame on rape victims, saying “it was their own fault they got raped”. I looked at the ad, and it CLEARLY does not state anything of the sort. Some people called the ad “graphic” and its message “disgusting”. If anything, the ad is providing awareness of the dangers of alcohol. Being honest about the fact that alcohol is not measurable in effect on any human being, and really the effects vary from mild to extreme in any given group of people drinking. You may be an efficient drinker, who gets  drunk enough to just be having a good time, where a friend of yours can have even less to drink than you but somehow end up so drunk they wander away from the group, talk to strangers, and even start obnoxiously showing their body off because the part of the brain that makes logical decisions isn’t really in arms length for them. For them, there is no morally right way to act.
 

Therefore the ad is just trying to open your eyes to being more cautious with not only yourself but with your friends. The author and many of her readers state that the term “She didn’t want to do it, but she couldn’t say no” is a sort of blame on the victim. It’s not. This is where people take their voices to far, and comment on things they do not understand. Like for example, that rape isn’t just what a boogie man in an alley way does, but it is what anyone can do to another person. Male or female. Rape doesn’t just happen to slutty dressed girls. No, it can happen to a completely sober person, and another person who takes advantage of a situation that is in fact socially normal. And over drinking is socially normal. It is so common that people aren’t surprised by it, and most times expect one person in their group to go too far. this is where the ad steps in and says “take care of each other” because likely your friend either is passing out with this person, and can’t physically say no, they feel the situation is normal and should just be ok with the sex, or is fearful of other consequences (like,say getting punched or kicked). As another commenter on the article stated the ad’s message is similar to that of “"she didn't really want to get ran over by a truck but she couldn't get up" and is in no way putting blame on the victim. For whatever reason, your friend is not in a position to say no, or even if they are the assailant won’t let them, or even hear it.

#firstworldproblems

I am not a fan of the Occupy Toronto, and fellow Occupy Canada movements, basically because I feel that the message has lost its meaning at this point, and are undermining the worse problems out there. Specifically not in the First World Countries. I think the main argument has long since been lost in the muddled rantings of people who have now taken advantage of parks, found themselves a home they won’t get evicted from (in some cases, Toronto being one of them) and even got donations for food, generators, and hygienic products to get through the winter. Um, how about you send that to the orphaned kids living on the streets around the world at the age of 6 who would just be happy to get a warm home, and a hot meal. Or even for our own homeless people here in Toronto who struggle to get into a shelter, whose health is so degraded that they actually cannot get a job due to their mental/physical health from years of living on the streets. Who wish they had a job, or a school that they could leave to protest the corporations! I bet some of these people wish they had a real toilet to use.
Why in the world do these adults need these things? I am sorry to sound un-empathetic but when you live in countries where there is even a small possibility for a homeless person to get into a shelter, or a place where kids who are orphaned have places to go no matter what, how can you be that ignorant and selfish!? No, these things are not perfect in out First World Country, but they are available and a work in progress. These things, should be what we should protest for more of. It may not be easy, or what one wants to have to go through but at least there is a way, unlike for all those families living naked in the more economically challenged countries in the world. Where protesting gets you shot, or being homeless means that you are left to die in the streets cause you are worthless.