Tired of the prison rape discussion

May 23, 2002 4:20 PM

The next time someone posts with glee about a criminal being subjected to violent penile colonization, turning the discussion immediately into a referendum on the subject of prison rape (#1 #2), I hope that person has to spend quality pound-in-the-ass time in MetaTalk as rodii's bitch.
posted by rcade to Etiquette/Policy at 4:20 PM (44 comments total)

poor rodii.
posted by rebeccablood at 4:43 PM on May 23, 2002

If the thread began on the penal, you have a point. But if, ab initio, the thread was penile, I don't understand.
posted by ParisParamus at 4:51 PM on May 23, 2002

I don't think "glee" is the correct word for my post. Maybe "a certain grim satisfaction."

Also, once again, for the record: I am against rape.
posted by Ty Webb at 5:07 PM on May 23, 2002

Those who reference it obviously secretly desire it.
posted by crunchland at 5:10 PM on May 23, 2002

I guess it's the easiest way to say "I hope that person understands what it's like to be on the receiving end of some serious non-consensual power trip" but I find all flip rape talk vaguely icky,
posted by jessamyn at 5:35 PM on May 23, 2002

i secretly desire it.

i also secretly desire everyone loosens up. no pun intended.
posted by jcterminal at 5:56 PM on May 23, 2002

If this discussion gets any worse, I'm gonna drag you all into MeTa....

*looks around*

*cries*
posted by jonmc at 5:58 PM on May 23, 2002

Also, once again, for the record: I am against rape.

I can believe that -- I laughed at all 2,000 of Norm MacDonald's prison rape jokes on SNL, but I've found the true-life stories of victimization completely horrifying. I just want you and all future crime linkers to recognize the peril you face when you crack wise about inappropriate prison intimacy. MetaFilter is inhabited by a large and vocal group of people who don't think these jokes are funny any more, and they'll keep making this point again and again until the rest of us stop making the funny or take our macabre prison humor somewhere else.
posted by rcade at 6:22 PM on May 23, 2002

Guess I just don't get the poke at rodii bit; (no pun intended).

jonmc, VIVA LE' WEEP!

*cries*
posted by Wulfgar! at 6:50 PM on May 23, 2002

wait a sec? it's horrible to wish rape on a rapist, but it's ok to wish rape on a person who wishes rape on a rapist?

wtf?
posted by jcterminal at 6:51 PM on May 23, 2002

MetaFilter is inhabited by a large and vocal group of people who don't think these jokes are funny any more,
and they'll keep making this point again and again until the rest of us stop making the funny or take our macabre prison humor somewhere else.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but what point? That jokes about prison rape should be out of bounds? Point taken. But you haven't taken a poll, and we haven't seen an epidemic of prison rape jokes, nor do I think we should expect to. Is it really worth banishing Mefites to Fark over?
posted by Ty Webb at 8:56 PM on May 23, 2002

Who's banishing? I'm admonishing.
posted by rcade at 9:00 PM on May 23, 2002

See, I don't mind jokes. But people have to be funny for a statement to be called a joke. Otherwise they sound sad and spiteful.

"we haven't seen an epidemic of prison rape jokes"

Hell, we haven't seen one prison rape joke because every single mention of it was simply hateful. Sorry, you're just not funny.

“I was young and yes i was weak. My weight was only 120 lbs, the first few months i was raped and beat up many times, i would always Fight back, i wanted my attackers to know i was not a Willing Subject for their evilness. I went to the Guards for help and was told there was nothing that could be done, that i would have to stand up like a Man and Take Care of my own troubles.”
— B.L, Florida, 9/5/96

But, ha-ha, I guess he just deserved because, you know, he was in jail. Guffaw, chortle.
posted by raaka at 9:14 PM on May 23, 2002

I bet Vlad had a million of 'em.
Kaziglu kootchie-koo.
posted by Opus Dark at 9:41 PM on May 23, 2002

Given enough time, something will offend somebody. Metafilter is NerfWorld now? Are Mefi "speech codes" on their way? C'mon.
posted by owillis at 4:51 AM on May 24, 2002

Owillis: I'm not trying to homogenize the place. I just think the approving prison rape remarks are a thread killer, so people might want to steer clear of them for that (and only that) reason.
posted by rcade at 8:19 AM on May 24, 2002

Um. Trying not to flip out here.

I'm not reading or commenting in MeTa or MeFi for a while, maybe forever, who knows, because I'm not comfortable with the person I've become here. But someone pointed me to this thread, and...why me? Why am I the poster boy for whatever this is about? This is puzzling and dispiriting. Am I that much of an asshole? If so, I apologize to everyone.
posted by rodii at 11:18 AM on May 24, 2002

Am I that much of an asshole? If so, I apologize to everyone.

Apparently labelling people as "whatever" is an easy way to deal with their comments. I'm a whiny bitch, Mother MetaFilter, and an idiot (Did I miss anything folks?). The majority of members don't feel that your an ass, (in fact, I don't think rcade was even referring to that) as I'd hope they didn't think that I was one or all of the above. It just seems that the loudest (and typically most obnoxious) posters are the only ones being heard. I still love you man (in a heterosexual, pounding on the chest sort of way).
posted by BlueTrain at 11:34 AM on May 24, 2002

i don't think so, rodii. (though i don't read every thread.) probably the best thing to do is dial back a bit, suggest rather than argue, and let your actions demonstrate the person you would rather be known as here. and if people insist on holding you in a different regard, well, that is their fault to have.
posted by moz at 11:36 AM on May 24, 2002

I don't know what the fuck rcade was thinking, but it didn't seem (to me) to be intended as a personal reflection on you, rodii, so much as his cooption of your name because it is widely respected and recognizable here. That said, I could be wrong.

Either way, though, rcade, that was a really crappy thing to do.
posted by mattpfeff at 1:25 PM on May 24, 2002

I just think the approving prison rape remarks are a thread killer, so people might want to steer clear of them for that (and only that) reason.

Wait, now prison rape humor should be avoided only because it's a thread killer? Both (1, 2) of the threads in question disprove that theory; the comments on prison rape make up only a small minority, and the majority of those comments were people complaining about earlier prison rape remarks.

If you want to be offended, fine. No need to come up with bogus justifications, though.
posted by Ty Webb at 2:03 PM on May 24, 2002

Apparently labelling people as "whatever" is an easy way to deal with their comments. I'm a whiny bitch, Mother MetaFilter, and an idiot (Did I miss anything folks?)...It just seems that the loudest (and typically most obnoxious) posters are the only ones being heard.

~laugh...too much~

Hmmm...I'm not sure about the "whiny bitch, Mother Metafilter, and an idiot" part, but in the interest of completeness...

Depending on your own individual text-editor (I recommend EMACS, naturally), do try this: perform a "find and replace" operation of "whatever" in your italicized comment above with "troll posting", and then let us know if any other self-descriptive adjective pops into your head.

If that's way too abstract, think of an adjective to describe a post that decries labeling people "whatever" as an easy way to deal with their comments, then two sentences later deals with some posters' comments by labeling them "obnoxious".

~wink~
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 2:13 PM on May 24, 2002

~wipes shit off of clothing~

Think of your ideals, fold.

The problem here is that every single one of your posts presents your ideal, covered with manure. I love eating deep-dish pizza, but if the food were presented on a trashcan lid, I wouldn't touch it. I wouldn't understand the joy of eating the deep-dish pizza because my mind would be focusing on the filthy plate.

You have some nice ideas; I occasionally agree and sometimes disagree. Disagreement isn't the issue. It never was. You presentation is absolutely horrendous. You've been told this before. I'm wasting my breathe here; I have no doubt about that. But as moz said above, suggest instead of arguing. I'm tired. I've dropped myself to your level for the last time. You want to be a troll, go for it. But know that you will never be challenged with intellectual debate because your presentation is juvenile.

Have fun pissing on us, and this site. But mark my words: this comment will be the last time I address you until your ideas are worth listening to.

~chuckle~

And I find your little jabs, like ~wink~ and ~laugh~ to be laughable. You are simply making funny faces.
posted by BlueTrain at 2:37 PM on May 24, 2002

rodii
Rebecca pretty much summed it: "Poor rodii".
Struggling to free himself from one of MeFi's miracle-gro dendritic tangles...

I know you don't wanna be MeFi's designated scold. As far as I'm concerned, you're not. Relax. Consider this your unofficial emancipation: I declare this Rodii-Just-Wants-To-Be-A-Plain-Old-Poopyhead-Like-The-Rest-Of-Us Day.

Rest assured that most of us have known this all along - it practically screams from between your lines. Resume your previous posture, lanky and free, unencumbered by an unbidden mantle.
posted by Opus Dark at 3:00 PM on May 24, 2002

i [heart] rodii.
posted by pikachulolita at 5:18 PM on May 24, 2002

i [heart] rodii.

That makes two of us. MeFi without rodii is just wrong.

Since Mr BaliHai bailed, we now have only one tech-expert, rock and roll obsessive genius here, with the added bonus of being a linguistics whiz.

Besides, if you take off, who's gonna take me to school when I mess up recalling some piece of music history?

All kidding aside, do not let them drive you out, man.
posted by jonmc at 6:41 PM on May 24, 2002

Well, I made my feelings on prison rape known a long time ago... Otherwise, what jessamyn said.

I thought rcade's remark, at the the tag end of a comment I otherwise endorsed, about someone being rodii's bitch would hit rodii the way it did.

This is the thing for me--that people tend turn each other into cartoons here the way families do, "Oh, there's old Uncle Bob doing that thing again..." I get that crap from my relations and it's like they don't give a goddamn for what I'm thinking or hear a word I say.

Which is the penalty of familiarity: that people who know each other well treat each other with far less respect and consideration than they would show a rank stranger. Sei Shonagon listed under the title Rare Things,

A man and a woman who have known each other a long time but still act with reserve towards one another.

That hit me the first time I read it... And I see it here--we become jokes to each other so fast and yet so rarely we meet in real life as real people and get that, you know, empathy thing going on..

I like rodii, too, and don't want to be him absent from here but this I heart rodii stuff and the sycophancy ala jonmc, however well meant, is not the ticket for someone who wants to be left alone, un-reified, de-mythologized, to be more a face in the crowd and not up on stage, larger than life--I hope he sticks around.

But I understand and share the feelings therein expressed. And I do miss Mr. Bali Hai, too. I wish he were still here.
posted by y2karl at 10:56 PM on May 24, 2002

y2karl- I'm a lot of things, but I'm nobody's sychophant.

The [heart] stuff from me and PLo was just meant to lighten the mood and to let rodii know that whatever he may be thinking, he is respected around here, that's all.

No offense by the way, but I couldn't let that stand.
posted by jonmc at 11:13 PM on May 24, 2002

Well, you spend a lot of time describing fellow mefi'ers in detail, then, which tends to reify them, in my opinion.
posted by y2karl at 11:33 PM on May 24, 2002

Had to look up "reify", I'm embarrassed to say, and I see your point. Usually I'm just trying to indicate that I'm paying attention and/or make an attempt at understanding what there about. I can see how it might backfire, though.
posted by jonmc at 11:41 PM on May 24, 2002

rodii: Why am I the poster boy for whatever this is about?

Because you're one of the people who best dispenses a beating in MetaTalk (it was intended as a compliment). I didn't realize that you had left us with your head in shame, which seems wildly inappropriate given the positive contribution you've made to the place.

Besides, if you have something to be ashamed about, how should I feel about my contribution?
posted by rcade at 1:21 AM on May 25, 2002

If you want to be offended, fine. No need to come up with bogus justifications, though.

As I've said, I'm not offended at the joke. I brought it up for two reasons: to keep it from derailing future discussions and to offend rodii.

Kidding on the last one. I just tried to send him an e-mail but his profile says "not now thanks." It's really a sad day when the people with whom you have shared nothing but pleasant and complimentary e-mail believe you have turned on them. Fold and all other enemies at our borders will be happy; the stress of our long war against etiquette violators has caused us to turn on one another.
posted by rcade at 1:28 AM on May 25, 2002

" Fold and all other enemies at our borders will be happy; "

i thought fold_and was one of us good guys.
posted by jcterminal at 10:18 PM on May 25, 2002

I wouldn't understand the joy of eating the deep-dish pizza because my mind would be focusing on the filthy plate.
when it's all said and done, when earth is earth and dust is dust, bluetrain is going to have missed out on all the best pizza.
posted by quonsar at 12:44 AM on May 26, 2002

the stress of our long war against etiquette violators has caused us to turn on one another.
bwahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. [farts in rcades general direction].
posted by quonsar at 12:52 AM on May 26, 2002

Three days late, but: I wuv rodii.
posted by lia at 4:48 AM on May 26, 2002

Hi, me again. Sorry to have made this thread about me. That wasn't the intention of my little blurt of despair above. For the record:

1. I am not leaving this place because of anything anyone said about me in this thread or any other; rather, it's because, as I said above, I don't like the person *I* had become--the angry scold I seem to be here isn't who I really am, I hope, so I'm giving that persona an indefinite leave of absence.
2. My anger at the prison rape thing is a good example. It does make me angry, and so do jokes about it, but my response, as people have pointed out here, was out of line and did nothing to make things better. I think this kind of hair-trigger reaction to things that offend me is all too common here, but I apologize for my part in it.
3. I have no beef with Rogers. He and I are friends here--inasmuch as "friends" is something one can really be on the web. I am ashamed that I am someone whose most salient characteristic is the aplomb with which I "dispense a beating"--but I'm not angry that Rogers sees me that way. It's my fault, not his.
4. I never wanted to be a "MeFi cop," and I still think that that's an unfair accusation, but if the label sticks, it sticks--and it has, unpleasantly. And anyway, if I "won" a few battles that way, a perusal of the front page tells me I lost the war, so...I fold (though not mutilate).
5. I thank everyone for the support and warm words (even the ones with a little edge to them), but really, they're not necessary. I'm doing fine, and I would just as soon, as y2karl surmises, just be a face in the crowd, or not in the crowd, as the case may be. (Anyway, I'll keep posting, just using my "Skot" account.*) Peace. *joke

posted by rodii at 5:50 PM on May 26, 2002

Ah, crap.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:36 PM on May 26, 2002

In case it is misinterpreted - I just realized it could be - I meant that ejaculation in the sense of weariness and deep disappointment.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:38 PM on May 26, 2002

<inappropriate>

That's interesting, I didn't know there was any other sense of it.

</inappropriate>
posted by DaShiv at 9:49 PM on May 26, 2002

you meant that ... what?

perhaps you morphed interjection with exclamation ...?
posted by mdn at 10:18 AM on May 27, 2002

e·jac·u·la·tion (-jky-lshn)
n.

The act of ejaculating.
An abrupt discharge of fluid.
The expulsion of seminal fluid from the urethra of the penis during orgasm.
A sudden short exclamation, especially a brief pious utterance or prayer.


QED.

posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:21 PM on May 27, 2002

"with glee"? How could you sense any emotion from internet text?

I've also defended myself time after time on this subject, and I'm not going to repeat it here.
posted by Kevin Sanders at 4:50 AM on May 28, 2002

(Anyway, I'll keep posting, just using my "Skot" account.*)

I shall lace up my horrorshow kickboots and then we will go for a midnight drive and run over odd squealing things.
posted by Skot at 8:14 AM on May 28, 2002