Shame on these people:
Lmfao RT @LateNiteSnack Zimmerman is officially back in jail, hope his cellmate has a field day with his booty hole.
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@_Kidd_Jayy
I hope the RAPE ThA Fuck out him everyday of his life.. Fuck Zimmerman.. Bitch Ass Cracker
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@FaceFirst
“@JesseRodriguez:NBC:George Zimmerman has entered the Seminole County Jail in Sanford, FL. He is back in police custody.” Rape Season Starts
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...and who knows how many others. And not just those talking about George Zimmerman either. Anybody who advocates or laughs at male prison rape ought to be ashamed of themselves. We see that all the time though.
Late-night comedians joke about it and the audiences and plenty of people at home have a good chuckle. I've read people from across the political spectrum who haven't just wanted men from the other side to go to jail and be raped, they loudly and proudly relished the thought. At times the hope that some guy, usually a man who has committed some heinous crime, gets raped in prison blurts from the lips of friends, family, and even myself in the past. Why do we so casually, and callously, advocate or joke about something so horrific?
I think some would say because it's horrific. They don't just want the person to do time, they want him to suffer. But if that's the case, would those same people say it's okay to burn him with cigarettes? What about repeated lashes or electrical shocks? I think that if asked most of those people would say that those tortures are not okay(at least I hope so). So if those aren't acceptable, why is the physical and mental trauma of anal rape just fine?
The truth is it isn't for most people, but they tend to look at it from a very detached and impersonal perspective. After all, they aren't criminals, they don't face prison. It's not real to them, just like anything else that happens inside those prison walls. The only time it might become real is if they ponder committing a crime and realize that if they are caught, prison is one scary place. Prisoner advocates say that deterrent factor is one reason governments and even society as a whole are reluctant to address the problem. It's useful in keeping people in line.
I have to concede that last part, but is it worth the real and moral costs? No, it's not.
Statistics are foggy, but I've read that upwards of 70,000 men are sexually abused each year in prisons across America. Some advocates say the number is two or three times that. I don't know. What I do know is the number has to be in the tens of thousands. Yes, they are convicted criminals, but by placing them in our own care we are obligated to treat them properly. Not just for their sake, but our own. I'm not going to get all "it makes us just like them," but for those who can joke about it, do you think you could really watch a man be anally raped and be completely dispassionate at the mental and physical cruelty and suffering? Jesus, do you think you could enjoy it? If the answer is yes to either than that person might want to take the time to do a little moral inventory.
Most prisoners will do their time and get released back into society. As it stands now, a significant number of those sexually abused men will end one sentence and begin another of HIV-positive for life. What are the human and financial costs in making thousands of men HIV-positive and then pushing them back into society? Even those who aren't permanently physically damaged will likely face psychological damage that most of us can't even imagine.
I am by no means a "prisons as Holiday Inns" sort of guy. Prisons are not meant to be pleasant. They're not meant to be hellholes of sexual abuse and anal rape either. If you think about it, it's pretty sick and disgusting how our society as a whole casually jokes about and condones the latter.
It's long past time that we stop and do that thinking.
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