Eurydice Dixon was an Australian comedian who was raped and murdered as she walked home one night. The site where her body was found was spontaneously turned into a memorial, with people leaving flowers. She was only 22.
The makeshift memorial to Eurydice Dixon in Princes Park was vandalised overnight. Graffiti has now been removed. Photo by Simon Schluter this morning at 7am after firefighters left #reclaimprincespark pic.twitter.com/ABgRpDMZyl
— The Age Photography (@theage_photo) June 17, 2018
And then someone scrawled giant penises all over the football field where she was found.
The vandal was caught — he claims he wanted to be caught — and he was just making a statement. He was sending a message to feminists…and about vaccinations?
I was upset, and I want to make this clear, this was not a personal attack at all…this was purely an attack on feminism, on mainstream media for hijacking a vaccine-causing issue and turning it into a men are bad, women’s rights issue.
Y’all remember Lewis’ Law: Comments on any article about feminism justify feminism. Apparently a woman can be raped and murdered and some toxic asshole will find a way to comment on it, and thereby justify feminism.
The logic behind the vandal’s action was remarkably twisted: the lawyer for the accused murderer says his client was autistic; the vandal interprets that to mean autism caused the killing; the killer was therefore not to blame; but we should blame vaccines for it instead. And somehow, feminists.
I don’t think any individuals on the autistic spectrum actually want this guy’s support. I’m kinda feeling, as a man, I’d rather not have this scumbag sharing a sex with me, either. He’s all alone on this one.
As an Australian, as a woman and as a person on the autism spectrum, I do NOT want this bloody nincompoop in my corner, and I sincerely hope the judge comes down on him like a ton of bricks.
Apparently he thought the best way to refocus the blame for this horrible crime to vaccines was to disrespect the victim of the crime.
Also, you know what’s even more of a feminist issue than a woman being raped and murdered? Some jackass anti-feminist vandalizing that same woman’s memorial. Congratulations memorial-defiling jackass, you just scored a massive own goal.
For all his supposed reasoning, he skipped over why, exactly, a depiction of a penis was the right image to protest vaccinations and feminism. He can talk all he likes, but his choice of “art” proves it all a lie.
As a dad to 3 wonderful kids on with autism, I’m appalled at the suggestion that autism is once again suggested as a cause for callous behaviour and continuously mentioned in the reporting, as it if it were somehow relevant. It reinforced the popularly held myth that people on the spectrum lack affective empathy, like psychopaths. The reality cannot be farther from that! Autistic people are completely opposite to psychopaths and I tend to distrust diagnoses like these.
And now this moron adds throws even more fuel on the fire. *sigh*
Yeah and the ‘not all men’ bullshit that’s been trotted out on the media lately.
I wonder who most influenced the thinking of this ghastly little oik? Anti vaxxers need their heads donging together.
The man in question describes himself as…a “comedian.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-05/andy-nolch-vandalised-eurydice-dixon-memorial-over-vaccines/9942784
Dixon herself was a comedian, his response to one better at his craft than he dying seems to be “but vaxdickfeminism” with a side helping of “freeze peach.”
I am still puzzled and shocked by the blatant (I dare say it) misogyny that is now openly shown by so many (mostly young) men. The hatred of what they call “feminism” is disturbing.
What came most of a shock to me is that many see themselves as atheists. I have to admit that I was a bit naive, thinking that most atheists rejected not only the existence of a god, but also the cruel hierarchies and anti-women stance of religion. I still hope that is the case, but I am disillusioned. Some atheists are not so “bright” after all!
An integral part of Jordan Peterson`s (who is a Catholic) “philosophy” and his “cult” is about hierarchies. He often talks about gender/gender roles and is justifying “patriarchy” as the “natural” and therefore good state of human civilisation. Using words like “nature” and “biology” makes him into a “scientist”, who uses logic and reason to make his claims. And too many newspapers and other media outlets take that for face value. Long live the freedom of speech! The media lacks depth and insight to put him even into perspective, to give him (for instance) historical context.
Reactionary thoughts lead us backwards – and historically women were second class citizens at best. But where is the outrage and protest when people like Jordan Peterson chip away on the idea of “feminism”? Where is the protest when misogyny is on the rise?
I am glad that people take notice of the horrible rape and murder of that poor woman in Australia. But the reaction of some men (including that “street artist”) shows an undercurrent that cannot be ignored. Fascism is rising and a “traditional” view of women is part of it.
Add to that a US Supreme Court with a “Conservative” majority who will vote against female reproductive rights (I loathe to call it the term of their choosing, “pro life”, which is pure propaganda)…
Someone told me recently that “feminism is a humpty-dumpty word”. Well, let us at least save the concept! We have to stand up for female rights, because they are one of the first that the “New Right” is attacking!
There is a very personal account by Australian journalist Amy Remeikis in the Guardian today, titled: “A man raped me, another tried to. They were not animals. They were men. – What happened to me had nothing to do with where I walked or what I wore, and everything to do with the actions of two men.”
Women are 50% of the world`s population. It is frightening how little we still care about their plight. Instead, misogyny is on the rise! “Feminism” (or as I would like to see it, equality) cannot be a “humpty-dumpty” concept. Even on the left the idea of “feminism” is much maligned for instance as “a white girls concept for white girls problems “!!
Sad to admit but very many men (not all) lack empathy for women`s issues. We may not be able to change that 100%, but a fair society has to be equal, not only in terms of “race” but also gender. Otherwise our society is morally bankrupt.
Thank you, PZ Myers, for standing up for women in your blogs!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/05/a-man-raped-me-another-tried-to-they-were-not-animals-they-were-men
+alixmo @8
Actually, if you search Youtube for videos about Peterson, you’ll find both outrage and more clinical dissections of his bullshit – and also fans, of course.
@Aliximo And we also have libertarian wingnut David Leyonhjelm, who refuses to apologize to for telling a Greens senator to “stop shagging men” and doubled down on the misogyny on skynews. Then he offers a tepid defense saying that abuse is natural in Australia (he may have a point there), abused female TV show panelist on Twitter and whinged about misandry.
But then he’s been shown to have incredibly thin skin when coping criticism. See below.
@Khms, yes I know and appreciate the youtube videos which take a critical look at Jordan P. What I see lacking is a critical stance and analysis in the “mainstream media”. Newspapers and TV are still important, lots of middle age and older people still use and trust them more than “alternatives” in the internet. The more prestige a newspaper has, the better the reputation, the more responsibility it has for “doing a good job”. At the moment, the New York Times (for instance) is failing in that respect (irony detected).
In mainstream articles Peterson comes off to good and his “ideas” are not seen for what they are – which borders on insanity, since he is not hiding anything!
I read a great article about the New York Times handling Hitler, from 1922 on. It is titled: “How horrific things come to seem normal – Coverage of Hitler`s rise gives moral lessons for our time…” Here just one quote:
*And while you don’t need to be a socialist to see threats in the making, you do need to have a clear moral understanding of the world, and a willingness to label things what they are, rather than feigning objectivity and declining to use divisive and alienating language for fear you will look biased.
We are not in a time resembling 1920s Germany just yet. Hopefully, we will never be again. But if we ever are, a “never again” mentality means understanding how atrocities can be normalized, how moral blind spots can cause us to overlook terrible suffering, and how real objectivity does not just require a sense of superficial balance, but a deep understanding of what matters.*
Jordan Peterson is no Hitler, granted. But his dangerous “ideas” have to be exposed nevertheless – in the mainstream media.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/07/how-horrific-things-come-to-seem-normal
@gijoel,fun post! Thanks. Yes that libertarian whatshisname seems like a precious little “snowflake” (to use a term that he would surely appreciate)! Guys like him really just are what they profess to hate – whiny little “SJW” who promote “identity politics” for themselves and can`t take a joke. I think we should all demand “safe spaces” for those poor victims. Preferably far away from government.
Somewhat OT but for those who would like to read a excellent, and highly amusing, take-down of Jordan Peterson, I highly recommend Thermidor I and Therimidor II at The Angry Chef http://angry-chef.com/blog.
Le chef was not impressed by Dr. Peterson and his lobster example hence the titles of the posts. He does manage to show Peterson as the complete conceited twit that he is. The posts are probably a bit too sophisticated (and ranting) for the popular media but handy for individuals who might be interested in Peterson.
alixmo @12
Not surprising to me. The “mainstream media” are, on the whole, supportive of the status quo and the extant power structures. They are run by the privileged, by those who, on the whole, benefit from the way things are. They are not run by the oppressed or disenfranchised. This is why when a black person is murdered by the enforcers of the the status quo (the police), they leap to find excuses as to why the black person deserved it. Or why a woman deserved to be raped. Or why a rapist who happens to be a Stanford athlete is a nice guy whose life doesn’t deserved to be ruined by a foolish mistake. Or why gay people and trans people are mentally ill (and if they commit suicide, it can be dismissed as proving they were crazy to begin with.)
The beliefs of Jordan Peterson, and Milo Yiannopoulos, and Trump and his Trumpkins are quite mainstream in the US (and Canada? and elsewhere?), but most people would rather not be confronted with the fact that their actions (if not their words) are informed by the same prejudices and bigotries. They remind me of the white “moderates” during the Civil Rights era in the US: they were happy to support a system that oppressed and murdered black people, as long as they weren’t forced to see the brutality of the system they benefited from.
That’s some Insane Troll Logic, right there.
Hoping both the killer and the vandal get the harshest possible penalties available.
@alixmo
“We are not in a time resembling 1920s Germany just yet.”
Mmm, yeah, Holocaust survivors say differently, and they should know.