All the trigger warnings for sexual assault, rape, and rape culture.
There’s currently a court case in France that’s not only shocking them, but quite a lot of the world. Over ten years, Dominique Pelicot drugged his wife and offered her to other men to rape. He was found out when he was taking upskirt photos and in a subsequent search, police found thousands of images and videos. His victim, Gisèle Pelicot, is currently redefining what bravery means, by waiving her rights to anonymity and insisting that the trial be public, rightly claiming that she has nothing to be ashamed of, those men have and they don’t get to hide.
You’d think that this would make people, especially those claiming to be left of the middle, come together in solidarity and empathy with a victim of horrific decade long rape. But sadly, you’d be wrong. Everybody’s favourite satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo decided to use this woman’s martyrdom to score some cheap points against the government. In a caricature, they depicted a scene where Gisèle is lying unconscious, being raped by a man looking like the new prime minister (I think, my French is lacking), with a lot of naked ministers and government officials standing in line to rape her as well, while Macron as the husband films the rape. If you want to see for yourself, here’s a link to a different French newspaper condemning it. I didn’t actually want to see, but I had to google it to verify what I read on Instagram.
Oh, I’m sure the defenders of that monstrosity will have the usual excuses. See, they’re showing her as the victim, as France being raped by the government, like she said she has no shame, yadda yadda. I’m just asking: how can anybody? What a sick, devoid of empathy kind of bastard do you have to be to use the 10 years martyrdom of one woman in order to take a jab at the government. Well, we do know: You’ve got to be a self-important white man who thinks he’s above all reproach because “he steps on all toes equally”. I hope the former contributors of this network who so love that magazine are proud of themselves.
nobody but a hopped-up medieval scumbag would want to brutally murder somebody for having a disgustingly broken sense of humor and humanity like that magazine, but since some hopped-up medieval scumbags have already done exactly that, i guess the survivors would feel ideologically committed to keeping up the bad work now. je n’ai jamais été charlie, but i’m usually quiet about it because of the background of the shituation.
Thank you, Giliell.
I appreciate the hell out of this, given what was said here during the Je Suis Charlie period. Devoid of empathy definitely nails it.
Charlie Hebdo still exists?
I was never all that fond of that lot because all of their cartoons I saw were just plain badly drawn and just too ugly to be at all funny. I also suspect their “humor” was always aimed at a particular target audience that wasn’t us, and maybe, just maybe if I wanted to be charitable toward them, French people got the jokes because they knew about the events and people in question more than outsiders did. (Maybe it’s the recently resurgent fascists they’re accusing of raping France or French women or whoever?) I’ve certainly never heard any hint that anyone at CH has felt any need to explain their “sense” of “humor” to non-French people, even the ones who were rallying to CH’s defense against Islamofascist mobs.
And I’m guessing CH would make an excuse that since Gisèle Pelicot had already opted for a public trial, then all those lurid charges and incidents were fair game for the kind of lurid caricature they’ve always been known for. I guess we’ll soon see whether their regular audience buy this or whatever other excuse they offer (or if they even demand one)…
as a trained artist i have to say they were ugly art reflecting an ugly mind, but they were skillful. technically not bad art. (speaking about the old ones because i’m done looking at that shit and not checking out the new.)
the joke now as then follows the same format: “right wingers think like this. isn’t it outrageous?” i piece this together from reading they are an ostensibly left publication, or were.
anyway, as many people have said about other things in the intervening years, satire ain’t satire if it’s indistinguishable from that which it satirizes. hedbo comics have been repeatedly used by literal nazis without modification.
bust my ass if i draw anything that vile.
Great American Satan
I don’t give a fuck about the drawing style. It wouldn’t be my style if I agreed with it, but otoh, I greatly like somebody whose work is just stick figures. But yeah, it’s the disgusting content. It wouldn’t be good if it was drawn by Leonardo da Vinci
I do not remember what exactly I said and wrote during the attack a few years ago. However, this is definitively reprehensible and to say it is in bad taste is a serious understatement. Using rape victims in general is rarely appropriate to make a point, but using a specific rape victim to make “satire” about politics is disgusting and never, ever justified.
I vaguely remember the argument about the racist French publication. I still don’t condone firebombing their office but I can see why people find them offensive enough to merit incineration.
What kind of disgusting swine think drawing a gang rape is a form of caricature? Putting an actual rape victim in their filthy cartoon is actually illegal in the US. I hope she sues these pigs into bankruptcy. This is why women prefer being lost in the woods with a bear versus a man. The bear isn’t an entitled sexist douchebag or rapist, and probably won’t bother you at all.
Yes, I hope those who thought who thought it was bad to murder people for depicting Muhammad, notice that years later the same magazine that suffered a massacre for depicting Muhammad condemned rape, while in doing so, depicting rape. Clearly monsters who should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves despite never having condoned depicting rape.
(Well, I say “the same magazine” but obviously that’s not true since the staff on the earlier magazine are all fucking dead.)
silentbob
I think the sentences ran away with you, I have no idea what you want to say
Giliell #10
Here is another example of Silentbob
https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2024/09/13/the-puzzling-allure-of-extreme-diets/#comment-5375938
I expect no one can parse that.
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