Is the word RAPIST too strong a word??
by thislife on 21 December 2000 @ 09:33 PM
Our responsibility to ourselves and the world that we live in, takes many shapes and forms. Whether we admitt to this or not, WE are all participants in this show called earth. Some of us continue to play an active part whilst others merely sit in the audience. And just because 'THEY' sit in the audience, does not mean that they are not contributing to the current state of affairs. They have just as much responsibility to the situation, but they continue to deny and remain in denial. I call these people 'rapists', for they continue to rape, pillage, and plunder against our planets wishes. These are the people that need help and education. But just how do you get through to them? The education should be concentrating on the younger generation (ages 6+) as they have yet to formulate an opinion - they can yet help save this planet. But to the older generations, who believe that as they are going to die anyway, so why not have as much fun as possible on the way with the least amount of responsibility, I say this to you: Whilst you may indeed die and not have to suffer what lies ahead, your children and their children will. Do you really want your children to suffer too??
The Fine Print: Comments and articles posted on this website
are owned by the person who posted them and do not necessarily represent
the views of Greenpeace.
I understand your abhorrence at the apathy and careless destructiveness of human beings, but I have a suggestion - keep the word rape for rape; i.e. the serious sexual assault of women/girls and less often, men and boys. Why? Because rape is very common and yet largely ignored and taken for granted - an everyday act - yes, like environmental destruction, BUT, I have yet to see a mass movement against rape; I have yet to see marches and organisations with the mass support of men as well as women against rape. So you see the word rape means a particular form of violence, which on the huge scale at which it exists, (one in three women),is a form of destruction, opression and control of the lives and psyches of women. As such, it is on the same continuum as our destruction of the Earth part of the same sickness, but it is ignored when it urgently needs to be stopped - and who takes responsibility for that? The perpretators of the crime. What am I saying? Lets use the word rape for what it is because we need to stop it, heal it; for both women and men. Please, if you want to stop rapists, join a march against rape - rape is too important and has too much of an effect on our world to be used as a metaphor for something else when rape itself is ignored.
As well I also understand your abborance of rape (in the sexual sense) but lets get it right from the start. To rape something is to rob something or someone of something that is very special to them whether it be sexual, physical and yes even enviromental. Just because we fight for the life of trees and animals dosen't mean that we don't fight for the lives of human beings. As far as the marches and protests are concerned Have you never been to a Take Back the Night Rally or a candlelight vigil or even a march on Parliament for stronger and more worthwhile prison sentences. I think your anger is a little misdirected. We fight against the rape ( and yes this is a technical term not a metaphor) of the natural world because this is something that all of us strongly believe in. But like I said before we all fight for many things at one time.If you look at history Rape has always exsisted and in the present we teach or female children that they should dress a certain way to be chaste, Or that a women must have asked for it. Why not spend your energy constructively by confronting educational programs that don't teach our young male children that Rape is not okay, or the media for displaying women as sexual objects and possessions. These things would help more then deconstructing the words that other people may use (in the correct form or not).Food for thought.
Thanks for your reply Lochlyn, food for thought indeed.I'm not angry about this as such, more passionate that we do think about language. I agree with you entirely that we need to protest and think about these issues in a connected way, I'm not sure that we do this automatically though; it was my point that we need to consider as many angles as possible - especially with issues as important as the way we treat our world and rape. So deconstructing and changing the language we use would I'm sure be part of this connected thinking and of educational programmes that teach us about racism, sexism and other forms of oppression and as such is a small but integral part of change.I have been on marches and i know men who would join me so that generalisation was too strong.I don't however agree with your definition of rape, there are a thousand other words we could use for environmental destruction, which would describe it more accurately, rape is one specific type of act.I would also dispute that rape has always existed - war has not always existed, perhaps they're both symptoms of our relatively recent so called civilisation - even if it had always existed that would be no reason for us not to change our behaviour now!My reply to the original posting was not meant to be a personal attack on one person's use of language, but a plea for us all to think about it more; life is lived in tiny cellular moments - words, phrases, images, - as well as in larger acts; language filters in and flows across us shaping us like water over rocks.All the best - thanks for the food for thought!
No. I do not think the use of the word rape is out of context. To rape is to take away something sacred and to take away innocence. Certainly, when I think of the word rape I think of it in a sexual sense but if you really think about it, it can be used in an envioronmental context also. That is what is happening when trees are ripped from the ground, flowers and grass are paved over and living creatues are left without a home or worse yet. When they are slaughtered. That is too a form of rape. To take the innocence and sacredness of the land and turn it into skyscrapper or a highway. What innocence is there in progress? There is nothing innocent about it. It is driven by the all mighty dollor. That is, I believe, a rape of the land. Listen to Tracy Chapman's song, Rape Of The World. Listen with open hearts and minds
hi thislife...i like your message...its something i have been thinking about a lot lately...re passive behaviour...in terms of saving our planet and all its creatures from the money men and the 'rapists'...passive behaviour has well and truly run its course...we don't have the time to dither about it anymore...there is too much sobbing and wringing of the hands by the sidelines...i am thinking of that famous line by whoever ( it slips my mind)...evil is allowed to happen when good men do nothing ...or something like that...pardon my hazy memory about this...but ya know what i mean...anyway...the governments of the world are not going to do anything about the japanese and tawainese illegal whaling and drift netting activities...and that has got to stop now!!!as it is the oceans are nearly devoid of life...likewise the destruction of the rainforests... (there someone ...Captain Paul Watson...check out his website...www://seashepherd.org/who is actively doing something about it) he was one of the co founders of greenpeace but left years ago to form the seashepherd society aka ocean warrior...
...i do believe that genuinly concerned conscientious people will eventually have to resort to vigilante action to stop this madness...
re the word rapist...this is a word i do associate with sexual violation...it has been adopted by enironmentalists (i suppose) because there is no other word strong enough to describe what is happening to our amazing planet
I can appreciate and understand completely if a woman objects to the word 'rapist'. It is a very strong word and has always been associated with a sexual act against that person's wishes. I can also understand that the 'environmental arena' has adopted this word (or at least I have) to express the utter disbelief at what has been allowed and what is continuing to be allowed.
Passive action is no longer a real option. Greenpeace has shown the way for many years now, but still people continue to talk rather than take action. I'm afraid that the world cannot wait any longer to see if passive action will win the day. But this is where the problem lies. For the destruction to end, first and foremost, we as a human race must first heal ourselves. When we have healed ourselves then WE will march against those that rape (in a sexual way) and WE will also stop the rapist (in a planetary way).
thislife...yes humans have a lot of healing to do...its a continual process...some are healed and pass on to brighter feilds...others needing healing take their place...and so on...
Hi Nyssa, Rape(sexual)is a very cruel and disgusting CRIME and what they do to our nature with those wonderfull creatures, forests, oceans is just a rape for me too and a CRIME as well. We have to stop those people with no respect for all that beauty. Rob (Antwerp-Belgium).
Just refer to it as 'land-rape' (land-rapist) instead. Its a nice metaphor and leaves the word 'rape' with the specificity of its commonly acknowledged meaning. Thats my solution, anyways :)
The Fine Print: Comments and articles posted on this website
are owned by the person who posted them and do not necessarily represent
the views of Greenpeace.
