Patterico's Pontifications

2/20/2011

In A Completely Isolated Incident, Another Female Reporter was Sexually Assaulted in Egypt on the Same Night as Lara Logan

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 8:51 am



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]

Angella Johnson tells us of her harrowing, albeit more mild, experience.

Gee, it’s almost as if CBS should have reported it when it happened.  And to the Daily Mail, you should have reported this, too.  Your job is to report the news, not decide what we have a right to know.  How many more women were attacked that night, but thought they were the only ones and therefore didn’t report it?

And these last paragraphs are depressing:

Some British and U.S. male commentators have suggested that in some way she was responsible for the attack because she’s petite and attractive.

Others have suggested she has ‘form’ for dressing provocatively.

I find such comment offensive. No one ever says a male journalist asked for it if he gets beaten up.  And I could not have covered up more – apart from wearing a burka.

This is precisely how women are terrorized into wearing outfits such as the burka.

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

44 Responses to “In A Completely Isolated Incident, Another Female Reporter was Sexually Assaulted in Egypt on the Same Night as Lara Logan”

  1. Oh I don’t know about at least one of your points. I pretty much said Robert Fisk was asking for it and had it coming when he was beaten up.
    A fair number of commentators had similar feelings about Anderson Cooper or the FOX reporters who were attacked.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  2. Shouldn’t a guest in another country be familiar with the local customs?

    Arizona Bob (e8af2b)

  3. Because it’s her right to choose whether she should have gotten it or not- or something.

    I wonder what the Venn diagram for who to support on this one looked like. Let’s see woman, liberal, Muslims, “protesting youths”, anti-west, etc, etc… must look like a spirograph…

    Nevyan (871274)

  4. Greetings:

    Then on the other Islamic hand, there’s that little bit about Mohammed (Piss Be Upon Him) promising his followers as many infidel women as their right (non-wiping) hands could possess.
    Somehow, this connection seems yet to be made in the media.

    11B40 (b0633d)

  5. Al Jazeera here radio and TV is off the air – QNA is claiming that Libya is jamming their signals

    EricPWJohnson (862059)

  6. The real story here is that the lamestream has been introducing us to their really cool new friends, the radical islamics and telling us just how fine they are. Meanwhile the incidences of beheadings and assaults and rapes mount up and they try to minimize them.

    Bad enough that they only reluctantly share this with us. The question is, do they even share it with their inner selves? The denial would say no. The meme of multiculturalism is pervasive and overwhelming.

    Polonius to Laertes: This above all, to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

    DaMav (6ab8ce)

  7. Mr. Cooper went to a lot of trouble in Egypt to make revolution glamorous with choice picks from the fall emerging democracy collection worn in a layered look with matching yet functional shoes what spoke to the many layers of nuance inherent in a messy but democratic revolution in a country like Egypt but that doesn’t mean he should get beated up it just means lots of other people were dressed wrong.

    happyfeet (ab5779)

  8. There is another layer to these stories that I mentioned to Aaron. It is becoming all the more fascinating to read about the Lara Logan fallout and the utter and complete resistance to mentioning specifically Muslim misogyny as having any role in the crimes toward female reporters.

    There is a pathology to this that is disturbing and frankly, reinforces a weakness in women in the continual fear in pointing out the criminals in full. We cannot continue to just write if off and say ‘it happens’.

    If women suffering the objectification and abuse in that region of the world are to be given a voice, wouldn’t the best source of that voice be from those free to exist fully – like the reporters and journalists themselves? Could they not be the voice of the daily victims of this vile behavior? And do they have an obligation to do so by virtue of the profession – let alone as women?

    To whitewash it is to allow it to continue to happen. To cave in to fear or political correctness and not name the source of the misogyny only further guarantees its very existence. What does this say about Western women and their push for decent treatment and equality if even from the safety of the West we are too weak to stand up and name names?

    How can women who suffer this degradation be helped or have a voice when even the victims themselves are resistant to naming the real enemy?

    This wasn’t her fault. It was the mob’s fault. This attack also had nothing to do with Islam. Sexual violence has always been a tool of war. Female reporters sometimes are just convenient.

    And along with the resistance to name Islam, is the equally loathsome resistance to being forthright about sexual assault because one might be treated differently by colleagues as a result – but the fact is, female reporters have a vagina, thus are DIFFERENT and by default, more vulnerable – which is the very reason they need to speak out especially on behalf of those that are different. Nothing is going to change the biology, but loud, strong voices can change or at least bring attention to the behaviors toward said difference:

    From my previous experiences in the Arab world, I have accepted that a minor level of sexual harassment comes with the territory, so I brushed it off.

    It never occurred to me to complain to my bosses. I have never wanted to give male colleagues any reason to treat me differently.

    Why some like Amanda Marcotte are going so far as to equate the misogynistic behavior of Islam as happening everywhere – including here.

    It says nothing about Egypt but that they’re a patriarchy that this happened. It says nothing about the claims of the protesters otherwise, and it may not say anything about the future of women. It definitely says nothing about whether or not this people or that people can self-govern. It simply says that when we raise men from the cradle to think of women as the gender that serves and is dominated, rape will become an expression of power and dominance. Gang rapes happen here. They happen pretty much everywhere, because patriarchy is a worldwide injustice. Rapes are about this oldest injustice, and this ugly spot on the stain of all humanity. Crowds of men, struggles over power, women as objects. It’s a formula that leads to this. The leg to kick out from under that to prevent this is not struggles for government control, which are part and parcel of being human. Or people hitting the streets, demanding their rights. The leg to kick out is the worldwide belief that women are second class. Then and only then will rape stop.

    She is disingenuous in her painful avoidance of addressing, specifically, which religion is it that clearly believes women are less than second class citizens and should be treated as such.

    Is there an obligation as free women – and especially journalists – to be truthful and direct and public about the reasons *why* these heinous crimes have occurred and do occur on a regular basis? By ignoring this opportunity and turning away from speaking forthrightly, does that make for a tacit complicity?

    Dana (8ba2fb)

  9. Gee, Aaaron…..looks like your crew here is running in the other direction on this one. They wanna slap some bitch reporter ass in a gantlet. And it seems they hate democracy, too.
    Who woulda thunk?

    Larry Reilly (0e1b2d)

  10. Typically, Larry either fails reading comprehension or is projecting his own leftist neuroses onto this blog.

    JVW (1a2602)

  11. democracy is my favorite and then spending cuts and then illy issimo caffe and then Mitch Daniels and then my turtles

    happyfeet (ab5779)

  12. Dana

    Was Amanda that blogger idiot hired by Edwards?

    EricPWJohnson (862059)

  13. Not only was she hired by him, Eric, but her (political) infatuation with him was so deep that it seemed she would have been happy to trade places with Reile Hunter.

    JVW (1a2602)

  14. Larry

    who is my crew?

    the commenters here?

    Gee, you probably gave kman a chubby at the thought he was in my crew. in case you missed it, we do very little to control what people say here. But by my count there is only one statement here which might even be interpreted to support this assault and that might have been an ironic comment. (Its hard to detect sarcasm on the internet, and i have been accused of taking a person seriously when they are being ironic or sarcastic in the past, i.e. the bearded marxist in deleware).

    Or perhaps you mean the people in Egypt. i will freely admit i have hoped for the best over there. and still do. But this is not about my hopes, but about the right to receive full and accurate information.

    Aaron Worthing (73a7ea)

  15. I thought we were more of a posse crews get t-shirts nobody gave me no t-shirt

    happyfeet (ab5779)

  16. 100’s of thousands of angry muslims (98% men)who blame anything “western” for all their problems rioting in the streets of Cairo…….Hmmm lets send a couple of unarmed, unprotected female jounalists (in western garb)into the center of the madness and see what happens. Lets add several clean shaven white guys with t.v cameras and recording equiptment (also in western garb) see if we can’t provoke a reaction.

    Then lets get all indignant when the inevitable catastrophy happens. Wow! Americans.

    tonynoboloney (6552b4)

  17. DEnial isn’t the only river, over there, Dana, God
    that was painfully wrong, as for Amanda, when has
    this happened in Europe, or even the States, in the course of a story.

    narciso (28df0c)

  18. tony

    sure and those jews in warsaw, in 1939 were just askin’ for it, too.

    Aaron Worthing (73a7ea)

  19. Are we sure it was rape-rape?

    torabora (62bf01)

  20. narcisco, your link confirms: Women can become non-entities – shrouded head-to-toe, faces too, and still be regularly molested in the public square. Thus, the problem is not with women being provocative or *asking for it*; the problem is with the males who have the misogynistic teachings of their faith embedded in their psyches.

    Ultimately, it would seem there is no protection for women – not in their discreet, restrained behavior, not in their shrouded, shapeless forms that deny their feminine curves, not in the hiding of their unique faces which are the expression and validation of their own individuality, because nothing will stand against the prevailing teaching that puts them always at the mercy of their faith’s inherent misogyny.

    Dana (8ba2fb)

  21. …and natch, teh Won and his Sec. of State are on the side of the rabble, opposing the only democracy with the much vaunted “equal rights” for females. Yes, I mean Israel, home of the evil jooooooooooos©. Women are the equal of men in all respects – except using the loo. And I am certain that Amanda would revise that if possible.

    I think teh Won has wrongly chosen sides again. Can the Unions defeat the will of the people? Lets hope not. Can the Mooooooslims defeat the evil jooooooooooos©? Maybe, but it will be bloody and ugly. And the mooooooooooslims are pushing to see how far they can go to provoke.

    Not looking forward to this deployment – even less than the last ones. But since most of the libs who know everything are just a life support system for a mouth, they don’t have the sac to stand up for what they believe. So someone has to go for them.

    Maybe Amanda and all those who say we are doing the wrong thing should move on over to Cairo or Benghazi or Beruit or even Rabat and expound their philosophies for the few minutes of life they would have over there…….

    If you don’t want to be an American and live the dream, the door is that way —->!!! And don’t let it hit ya where the good Lord split ya on the way out.

    Come again when you are ready to participate like an adult. Not a whinyass kid who didn’t get cake and ice cream for dinner.

    kbob in Katy (c75c54)

  22. What do those oracles of libtard wisdom/obama fellating asslcowns Chrissie Matthews, Olberdouche and Patterico-bashing Charles Johnson think of the way these women were treated by the muslim mob? A quick glance at LGF was too much to ascertain anything other than charlie the wad supports the teachers/students in the current Wisconsin demonization of a Repuplican governor who won an election that apparently is NOT supposed to have consequences. Oh, LGF manages to bash Pamela Geller for being mean to muslims yet once again. I suppose I’ll just see what NY Times and LA Times think and know the opposite opinion is the right one.

    calypso louie farrakhan (798aba)

  23. Aaron, I really enjoy this blog but rarely comment for exactly this reason. This is a stupid argument. Absolutely no one should be wading into mobs anywhere in the world. That terrible, horrific things happen when men riot in the streets is a given. This story could best be covered from a respectful distance, I feel the same way about war correspondence, maybe I’m wrong.

    To compare what happened to a CBS reporters misadventure in journalism to the jews in Warsaw circa 1939 is a stupid, stupid argument.

    tonynoboloney (6552b4)

  24. Yet, if one made that judgement before hand, it would be considered prejudicial, now ‘a Rough Beast is slouching toward Jerusalem’ as it did more than thirty years ago, in Tehran;

    http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDlkN2VlZjM5MjAxZDRlMjc0NDUyOWQ2Nzk4Zjg1MmU=

    narciso (28df0c)

  25. Aaron, Nevada used to deny compensation to rape victims if their behavior contributed to the rape:

    http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/17/rape-still-crime-where-victim-can-share-blame/

    Jim (ad29d8)

  26. I wonder what provocative act or dress resulted in the beating by Palestinians in Gaza of Steve Centanni, and his cameraman, of FoxNews?

    I can sympathize with Amanpour (ABC), Couric (CBS), and Cooper (CNN), on their run-ins with the crowds, since they believed that their anonymity (we’ve all seen your ratings) would protect them.

    AD-RtR/OS! (08307a)

  27. happyfeet, your “Eye Heart Sarahcuda” shirt is in the mail.

    Icy Texan (1fb326)

  28. Mawy’s non sequitur hate-spew machine is running at full tilt.

    Icy Texan (1fb326)

  29. I actually think that most of the news people come to believe in some kind of force field that envelops them in protection from the outside world. However, Ms. Logan has proven from her past reportage that she’s well aware of that bubble being a figment.

    Dmac (c50897)

  30. thanks! We’ll have to coordinate what day to wear them. That’ll be cool!

    happyfeet (ab5779)

  31. And I wonder if she had reported the rape in Egypt if they would have stoned her like they do their own rape victims?

    Azygos (0db0e0)

  32. Oh, LGF manages to bash Pamela Geller for being mean to muslims yet once again.

    If irony was sulphuric acid, CJ would have burned up from the inside a long time ago.

    Another Chris (67858a)

  33. _____________________________________________

    Why some like Amanda Marcotte are going so far as to equate the misogynistic behavior of Islam as happening everywhere – including here.

    Moral — and socio-political — relativism, which the left is a big fan of.

    The variety of liberals in the Western World and the strange breed of ultra-right reactionaries in the Middle East make for a very peculiar, interesting and, ultimately, pathetic set of odd bedfellows. Then again, they’re ideal for one another.

    As for which of the two will play (or are playing) the role of the “useful idiots” to the other? Only time will tell.

    Mark (411533)

  34. .Hmmm lets send a couple of unarmed, unprotected female jounalists (in western garb)into the center of the madness and see what happens. Lets add several clean shaven white guys with t.v cameras and recording equiptment (also in western garb) see if we can’t provoke a reaction.

    I wasn’t there, so I don’t know if they were reckless or not. I also suspect they were. Even if they were, it’s not the fault of a sexual assault victim that beasts attack them for their reasons, whatever they are.

    I’d not say they should send in ugly women. I’m disgusted at the idea she should have dressed more modestly. I do think a man would have been the better tool for this job, but someone has to push back against the immoral reality of Egypt by being a woman acting as though women have every right to do whatever they want, or I don’t see how their society will ever progress.

    So I think it’s a matter of deciding if the huge risk to women in this atmosphere is justified by the hope of improving the world with information or even some kind of disobedience of the backwards rules of this male dominated hellhole. And that’s not a decision I get to make for female reporters. It is one producers should ask frankly, and be willing to accept either answer to.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  35. Aaron Worthing at 15 (10:53 am) – If it was my comment at 2 that you were refering to as ironic, I was only disagreeing wiht your quoted statement that no one ever said that about male reporters.

    “No one ever says a male journalist asked for it if he gets beaten up.”

    And my only real reason for saying that is that many people obviously do. I personally had no sympathy for Robert Fisk. I only wish the beating had managed to knock some sense into him. Unfortunately some on the right (and some of those who are so far the other way they consider him a right-wing hatemonger) seemed to take glee in the attack on Cooper.

    Those on the right at least were chastened when Greg Palkot and his cameraman were attacked. Cooper’s description of the attack on him seemed to indicate the assault was limited to some punching and shoving, scary but not immediately life threatening. Palkot and Oleg (forgot his last name) could easily have been killed just with the injuries they sustained. Several persons took full contact shots at their heads with sections of rebar. Easy to kill someone that way even if you do not intend to. And still some on the left seemed to feel the need to use the incident to make a point about FOX rather than the attack.

    As AD brings up, when Steve Centanni was attacked in Gaza there was quite a bit of celebrating and mirth in certain circles about a FOX employee being put in the hospital.

    And as to the general misogyny, I remember seeing several years ago stories from France indicating that French youths were deliberately emulating their Muslim neighbors in their wilding type attacks. Will have to see if I can find those.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  36. Now lets think this through for a moment, Centanni and Palkot were attacked with a firebomb that forced them out into the street, now it’s not inconceivable that those involved didn’t know of the former’s experience in Gaza, similarly Logan was detained, probably by Central Security, but released, and then subsequently was assaulted by a mob,similarly her stance on Afghanistan or Iraqwas likely known, I know no one watches CBS, but consider that both were very intentional acts

    narciso (28df0c)

  37. “100′s of thousands of angry muslims (98% men)who blame anything “western” for all their problems rioting in the streets of Cairo…….Hmmm lets send a couple of unarmed, unprotected female jounalists (in western garb)into the center of the madness and see what happens.”

    Exactly.

    And, if you really want to piss the Muzzies off, be sure to send in a woman reporter who was once a swimsuit model and is now a serial adultress whose serial adulterous affairs were splashed all over the media a while back. When they find that out, they’ll really love ya, and I’m sure they’ll welcome said adultress with open arms. Because, there’s nothing the average ultra-conservative Muslim Egyptian loves more than a western news reporter who screwed someone else’s husband.

    Dave Surls (736363)

  38. If you read the article you’d find why I immensely respect this woman’s dedication to her profession. She went in knowing there were potential serious problems. She accepted it and did her job. Then she told the world about it, that being the most important part.

    Facing the risk and reporting about it accurately is what journalism should be about.

    Going in uninformed is foolish. Not reporting clearly what happened when you yourself became “the news” is not journalism, indeed it would be an affront to a journalist’s profession and calling. Hiding what happened for ideological reasons is even worse. I hope this is not happening.

    Angella Johnson has my complete respect.

    {^_^}

    jdow (98e9d7)

  39. Your job is to report the news, not decide what we have a right to know.

    And what flight of massively fantastical thinking led you to make THIS statement, Kemosabe…?

    I think it’s rather self-evidently clear that, since at least the time of the Vietnam War — and yes, probably for substantially longer — it has, indeed, been perceived by Those In Charge at the various newspapers, that it is Very Much Their Job to tell us exactly what we’re Supposed To Know — no more, no less.

    IgotBupkis, President, United Anarchist Society (c9dcd8)

  40. ================================================================================

    This wasn’t her fault. It was the mob’s fault. This attack also had nothing to do with Islam. Sexual violence
    has always been a tool of war. Female reporters sometimes are just convenient.


    Why, yes, this DOES explain the substantially increased (and little reported) incidence of sexual harassment
    and generalized assaults of women in Scandinavia, the Low Countries, and France, particularly in those areas
    with a high concentration of Islamic males:

    Europe is -at war- with Islam… … … **Right** ?!?

    ================================================================================

    IgotBupkis, President, United Anarchist Society (c9dcd8)

  41. I think the classical term, barbarian, fits here;

    ttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358944/Lara-Logan-attack-Stripped-punched-whipped-flag-poles.html#ixzz1EYpqDikg

    narciso (28df0c)

  42. allah approved misogyny is one of many severe problems with islam which is dangerous no matter how it is packaged…

    the twin fogs of political correctness & ignorance must be dispersed before western society better understands this menace. even a brief review of islamic theology & history quickly exposes the deadly roots of this evil ideology.

    see the links in the pdf version below for more accurate info about islam
    ==========

    islam is a horrible ideology for human rights

    5 key things about islam

    1. mythical beliefs – all religions have these (faith) because its part of being a religion: having beliefs without proof until after the believer dies. the problem is people will believe almost anything.

    2. totalitarianism – islam has no seperation of church and state: sharia law governs all. there is no free will in islam: only submission to the will of allah as conveniently determined by the imams who spew vapors to feather their own nests. there are no moderate muslims: they all support sharia law.

    3. violence – islam leads the pack of all religions in violent tenets for their ideology & history: having eternal canonical imperatives for supremacy at all costs and calling for violence & intimidation as basic tools to achieve these goals.

    4. dishonesty – only islam has dishonesty as a fundamental tenet: this stems from allah speaking to mohamhead & abrogation in the koran which is used to explain how mo’s peaceful early life was superseded by his warlord role later.

    5. misogyny – present day islam is still rooted in 8th century social ethics: treating females as property of men good only for children, severely limiting their activities, dressing them in shower curtains and worse.

    conclusions ??

    there really are NO redeeming qualities for this muddled pile of propaganda.

    islam is just another fascist totalitarian ideology used by power hungry fanatics on yet another quest for worldwide domination and includes all the usual human rights abuses & suppression of freedoms.

    graphics version
    http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5792/dangero.jpg

    1 page pdf version – do file/download 6kb viewer doesn’t show fonts well, has better fonts header footer links, great for emailing printing etc
    http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_UyNP-72AVKYWNiNTFlYTEtMTA1ZC00YjhiLTljMDUtMDhhNDE0NDMzNmYz

    ecks why (571405)


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