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Via The Daily Beast:
More than 120 criminal complaints have been filed by women in Cologne who say they were subjected to public sexual assault or robbery, including at least two alleged street rapes, all in one night. The 400 men accused of being behind this mass attack formed coordinated rings around the women. They have been universally described as being of North African and Arab appearance. Police are examining Internet forums and chat groups on the working assumption that it is unlikely 400 men just met by accident.
Though this all occurred on New Year’s Eve, the absolute scandal is that we only found out about it five days later. Amid accusations that it deliberately covered the incident up in order not to spark panic, the public broadcaster ZDF was forced to issue an apology for failing to include the assaults in its main evening news broadcast. It appears that, as the authorities and the media were choosing between stirring up racial tension and these women’s rights, we were faced with a conspiracy of silence.
I recommend reading the whole article, because this is a pretty big deal – not least because certain politicians and media pundits ate going to use this story (if they haven’t already – I haven't bothered to Google it) to exploit fear, racism and xenophobia to whip up support for Draconian immigration policies, especially regarding Syrian refugees, Muslims in general and probably Mexicans.
Which is likely why the German media avoided the story initially (according to the article), and why more left-leaning politicians and pundits are trying not to make a big deal about it, despite being the political faction that usually takes a stand for rape victims.
It’s easy to see why: no one wants Donald Trump to be right about anything, let alone something like this.
But I don't think this story "proves" his claim about immigrants being dangerous rapists or whatever. My response to Trump fans or any anti-immigrant Islamophobic faction making hay of this is pretty simple: “If you get to say this proves that all Syrian refugees are dangerous and should be turned away, then I get to say that Robert Dear represents all gun owners and Christians, and we should treat them as dangerous lunatics.”
There are any number of variations on that, but it all comes down to this: it’s easy to blame an entire group for the actions of a few. People do this all the time. That doesn’t make it accurate. Or right. But what happened in Cologne has to be addressed openly and honestly. Because I can guarantee you that whether the Left says anything about it or not, the Right will twist this story for maximum impact and political points (to include the fact that the Left is saying nothing about it).
NOTE: My info may be outdated. I haven't Googled anything about this since I saw it a few days ago, so maybe the Left has its act together on this. But I thought the article was worth passing on.
If you see something say something,
This is dF
More than 120 criminal complaints have been filed by women in Cologne who say they were subjected to public sexual assault or robbery, including at least two alleged street rapes, all in one night. The 400 men accused of being behind this mass attack formed coordinated rings around the women. They have been universally described as being of North African and Arab appearance. Police are examining Internet forums and chat groups on the working assumption that it is unlikely 400 men just met by accident.
Though this all occurred on New Year’s Eve, the absolute scandal is that we only found out about it five days later. Amid accusations that it deliberately covered the incident up in order not to spark panic, the public broadcaster ZDF was forced to issue an apology for failing to include the assaults in its main evening news broadcast. It appears that, as the authorities and the media were choosing between stirring up racial tension and these women’s rights, we were faced with a conspiracy of silence.
I recommend reading the whole article, because this is a pretty big deal – not least because certain politicians and media pundits ate going to use this story (if they haven’t already – I haven't bothered to Google it) to exploit fear, racism and xenophobia to whip up support for Draconian immigration policies, especially regarding Syrian refugees, Muslims in general and probably Mexicans.
Which is likely why the German media avoided the story initially (according to the article), and why more left-leaning politicians and pundits are trying not to make a big deal about it, despite being the political faction that usually takes a stand for rape victims.
It’s easy to see why: no one wants Donald Trump to be right about anything, let alone something like this.
But I don't think this story "proves" his claim about immigrants being dangerous rapists or whatever. My response to Trump fans or any anti-immigrant Islamophobic faction making hay of this is pretty simple: “If you get to say this proves that all Syrian refugees are dangerous and should be turned away, then I get to say that Robert Dear represents all gun owners and Christians, and we should treat them as dangerous lunatics.”
There are any number of variations on that, but it all comes down to this: it’s easy to blame an entire group for the actions of a few. People do this all the time. That doesn’t make it accurate. Or right. But what happened in Cologne has to be addressed openly and honestly. Because I can guarantee you that whether the Left says anything about it or not, the Right will twist this story for maximum impact and political points (to include the fact that the Left is saying nothing about it).
NOTE: My info may be outdated. I haven't Googled anything about this since I saw it a few days ago, so maybe the Left has its act together on this. But I thought the article was worth passing on.
If you see something say something,
This is dF
