True enough, but I think we can both agree that one is far less likely to land a lunker throwing a bare hook into a mud puddle in front of one’s home than a juicy fly into a hatchery pond. It’s not blaming the victim to say the victim acted with little regard to her own safety in this case. And let’s not forget that Moore’s rapist/killer had a female accomplice in raping and murdering his victim.

It’s hard to disagree with the charge that O’Reilly is a self-important gasbag, but there is kernel of truth in what he’s saying.In a perfect world, nothing would have happened to this poor lass other than perhaps a gallant fellow giving her a ride home. But we live in a fallen world, not utopia, and must show some prudence.

Okay Mr. East, but here’s the problem with that: Being a perfect lady showing proper “prudence” ain’t never stopped a rapist or harasser. Many sober and properly dressed women have been assaulted by strange men, sometimes in broad daylight. Let’s not even get into the subject of men who rape women they know or are related to.

And no, dear Mr. East—we don’t live in a fallen world: We live in a world where assholes with privilege bully people who don’t have privilege. And as long as there’s a such thing as heteromale privilege, women and queer folks will continue to be targets of rape and battering by straight men.

Also, nothing, NOTHING justifies Watters tailing Amanda Terkel on vacation and treating her the way she was treated.

Dear Mr. Watters,

While Anonymous appreciates that many people would like to get into the business of trolling we feel that it is important for you to understand that it is a serious business. Your attempts to troll Ms Terkel were sorely lacking in lulz and seemed more suited to a school yard bully than a professional journalist. As you failed to produce either meaningful information or good entertainment we would like to respectfully request that you stop harassing Ms. Terkel (or, as the kids at the far left website Ebaumsworld.com would say, GTFO). Further, we fail to see why you would volunteer to be Mr. O’Reilly’s personal army. Perhaps the incident would have been more entertaining had he shown up in person to attempt to troll Ms. Terkel, but his absence suggests that he feared that his performance might, as he famously said at his previous job, “fucking suck.” I would like to remind you that Mr. O’Reilly has previously proven to be a rich source of lulz despite his procurement of dogs and a curtain, and that his continued unlulzy behavior reminds us of Hal Turner.

Sincerely,
The internet hate machine.

Well, yes, that is different from stalking a woman for daring to disagree with your views on proper female behavior.

It’s always hard to know whether someone is being an asshole on purpose or in the service of some dearly-held assholish principle. However, the abusive handling of the confrontation, the refusal on Bill’s part to accept any responsibility for his rape apology, and his categorical unwillingness to understand that one or two rape victims hear that crap pretty much continuously after the assault…all of these things plus his general personality make me very skeptical about his concern for the Alexa family.

I think that women have every right to complain about sexist victim-blaming, especially under the pretence of victim-advocacy, and I don’t think Terkel is responsible for the language used by some commenters.