Social media in a strange way is casting a light on an element of culture that I, as a man had remained blissfully unaware of. Namely rape culture and just how awful people can be.
Background. A young lady goes to a party, has a couple of drinks, wakes up with a huge gap in her memory and naked with evidence that she'd been sexually assaulted. At least one of her attackers posted a picture of her naked. Then it went viral as people began mocking her by taking pictures of themselves posed like her with the hash tag #jadapose.
Now the first thing that comes to mind for me is, that this one of a now growing list of incidents where a woman has been victimized then mocked, harassed and belittled in social media for it.
My second thought is what sort of sub conscious group thing have we as a society developed that makes it seem okay to trash someone who is quite clearly the victim? Are there so many people in our world who are so insecure in themselves, so blindly hateful of others or uncaring that the notion of someone defenseless and damaged is a matter of amusement?
Maybe I had the meanness gene in my mind bullied out of me early but I can't quite fathom how it is people can see a person in that position and not feel for them. It baffles even more to consider that a lot of jadaposers were girls and women. Who could all find themselves victims of the very same crime and harassment.
It would be interesting to sit down and have a word with the ones I think of jadaposeurs, and ask them what made it funny? Do you simply enjoy the suffering of others or are you so afraid of seeming weak to the rest of the herd that you point to someone weaker than yourself to make the predators not notice you.
Do you follow in the wake of social predators picking up scraps left over like a remora attached to a shark, and when will you notice that it's simply a matter of time before the rest of the herd you have gathered under this banner would happily turn on you for their enjoyment.
I don't know how to convince others that part of becoming a mature rational person is moving away from acts like this. Or how doing things like this simply makes the rest of us look at the one who does it as if they are simply a small child occupying a body that's grown large. A tiny soul in an adult body, best avoided and passed over and left in their own little world where someday they too will be the victims of crimes they perpetuate.
I do my best to see the most incredible things in people. Their creativity generosity and good natures when they have them. Sadly Jadaposeurs and their ilk remind us that we as a people have a long way to go before we can declare ourselves mature as a species.
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