Thursday, November 20, 2008

Threats of violence from commenter Tim

Back in August a disgusting piece of racist trash was assaulted in NYC for making, selling, and wearing t-shirts, that among other things said "Obama is my slave". In a blog about that, I said,
"In my non-legal opinion (as I have not yet studied law in a full academic setting, nor passed a bar exam in any state) making or wearing a t-shirt that says "WHO SHOT OBAMA?" is an equally violence inciting action, and this asshole should be, at the very least, kicked in the balls several more times."
Commenter Tim took issue with this call for violence, however tongue in cheek it may be. Saying, (several times),
"I am absolutely horrified at your suggestion that a man simply wearing a T-shirt with a message on which you don't agree with should deserve a kick in the testicles. Speaking from experience, I claim that no woman can ever experience the level of pain an accurate placed kick to the testicles can produce, and for you to suggest that the wearer of the T-shirt (in your words) "should be, at the very least, kicked in the balls several more times" abhors me.
I was once kneed in the balls by a woman for wearing a message on a top after an argument followed from her disagreeing with what I had printed on it. She was with two other women and there was no sympathy from any of them while I was in absolute agony and unable to stand up. A result of feminism perhaps ?
Women should NEVER attack or make suggestions like you have about attacking testicles. This type of behaviour must stop.
I'll probably be censored with you being a feminist but at least I'll get my message across to you !"
Well, not only did I publish his comment (twice, though it was submitted three times), I'm writing a blog about it.

In my response, I mentioned two things, and only one of them was addressed: the one that made it look like he was making a reasonable argument and I was making a fallacious one. This was followed by a nice, tidy little threat:
"You women should watch your step regarding your views on men getting kneed/kicked in the balls as some men may get angry over this, and overall we're bigger and stronger than you. Men don't have testicles to be hit in them !"
Some might say that I shouldn't get upset about this threat, that I started it by saying that Doron Braunshtein, aka Apollo Braun, should be kicked several more times for being a racist piece of trash. However, I did say in my response to Tim's original comment that I should not be making calls to violence because violence only begets more of the same; this was before Tim's threat.

I've been threatened with physical violence for my views before. I've endured physical and emotional violence in the past, and I'm not about to sit back and be threatened, but Tim is certainly courageous enough to make those threats from the comfort of his mom's basement (and judging from the British spelling of "behavior" in his first comment, I'm guessing he's at least 8 time zones removed from me).

Making threats on the internet does not make you a big strong man. You're not standing up for anyone's rights because you threatened a woman, or women in general, with physical violence, especially when doing so from thousands of miles away. And yes, the feminist who kicked you in the balls was wrong, but I do have to say there are some circumstances where people get the things the deserve -- I realize the latter portion of that statement goes against the ethos that violence is always wrong, but it seems to me that this boy has an axe to grind against feminists, and he did go back all the way through my blog looking for something on which he could call me out.

Fine, out I have been called and I will say once again, that I should not have advocated future violence against Doron Braunshtein, aka Apollo Braun. I will say again that the person who assaulted Tim was wrong. But, make no mistake, Tim is also wrong because even after I made the statements above, he saw fit to threaten me.

While my first instinct is to tell Tim to bring it the fuck on, I will not do so because I don't want to advocate future violence, nor give the so-called Men's Rights movement (the anti-feminist assholes who take whatever they can find and use it against feminists) more fodder. I will merely point out that I was threatened publically, and any escallation in threats will be reported to police. And my dad.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Tim would do well to remember that while getting your balls kicked may hurt, women face the threat of (male) violence against them daily.

I think you have every right to say Apollo Braun deserves a kick in the balls. First of all, he's a racist asshole, and second it's just a phrase! It's not like you were advocating stalking him and cutting his limbs off with a chainsaw.

Funny that Tim got all up in arms about this.

Renegade Evolution said...

Tim's obviously never given birth, or been kicked in the cunt...both VERY painful. Or set on fire. Or had an emergency surgery...

I could go on all day about pain.

Also, did he literally think you were doing to go out and find this guy and kick him in the balls?

Humans.

Tim. Avoid my blog. The threats of violence against everyone run rampant, but don't take them all PERSONALLY.