I have not been following this case, because . . . well, stuff like this is simply sensationalist crap - there's often better things to get upset about. But I wasn't aware that some women in media were celebrating the fact that a woman took a knife to a man's penis and cut if off.
In case you, like me, boycott media stories about dumbass people, here's the scoop, via the L.A. Times (this story is an udpate about her mental evaluation):
A law enforcement source said told The Times that a dispute over an "inappropriate relationship" may have been the motive in the case.He may be an ass, he may have cheated on her, he may have even been emotionally abusive, but celebrating and laughing about that kind of revenge is sick . . . as sick as Catherine Becker's actions. I cannot imagine how outraged those same women would be if a man caught his wife cheating on him and cut out her clitoris. They would be demanding his head on a stake.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing, said the couple had argued earlier in the day and that the wife was angry at the husband over a relationship. Police said that when they confronted the woman, she said her husband "deserved it."
Orange County prosecutors charged the wife with two felony counts for allegedly cutting off her husband's penis and throwing it in a garbage disposal after drugging him and tying him to a bed.
The following was posted at a site called No, Seriously, What About teh Menz?
CBS, We Are Not Amused
Trigger warning for violence and sexual mutilation.
This is a short and simple call to action. CBS Television recently aired an episode of The Talk about the Catherine Kieu Becker case, previously discussed here (trigger warning for the same topics). On this episode, the hosts glorified the event, mocking the victim and delighting in his torture, fantasizing about what he might have done to deserve it, and generally behaving in an incredibly repugnant and morally bankrupt manner. Sharon Osborne even went so far as to call it “quite fabulous,” and mouthed “I love it!” while dancing and making a “garbage disposal motion” with her hands.
We’re asking you to write to CBS and let them know what you think. If you need to kickstart your Sunday Social Justice, this is the perfect way to do it.
- At CBS’s website comment form, select “Complaint,” and then “The Talk” from the dropdown menu. Let them know exactly how you feel.
- Write CBS on Twitter.
- Write CBS on Facebook.
- Email CBS Investor Relations or call them at 877-227-0787. You might inform them that you will be contacting their advertisers to tell them what they implicitly supported, and considering boycotting the same. If you have any investments in CBS properties (directly or through retirement accounts, etc.), you should tell them you will be reconsidering those investments.
- File a complaint with the FCC.
To see the segment in question, look below the fold. (This is the actual segment - the video on the site was an MRA rant.)
20 comments:
This reminds me of my ongoing campaign against the book "Go the F*ck to Sleep," in that there is this dark, dark 'humor' that gets exposed. We should all be repelled. And I am repelled, but I do understand why they are laughing, because it is outrageous. And outrageous is rare and extreme and touches a part of us that is personal. And sick. There is also this part of us that likes to be naughty like a child and repudiate the snooty. But The Talk panel does 'recover' a bit at the end, noticing that this would not be funny if a man cut off a woman's boob.
Thank you for bringing this (the ability to lodge a formal complaint to CBS) to my attention, Bill. I am going to contact CBS and I am going to attempt to persuade as many people as I can to do likewise.
Bill,
I want to ask your permission to to copy the section of your post here that addresses all the various ways to file a formal complaint. Thanks.
Hi Sage,
Yes, feel free to copy that portion, but please give attribution to http://noseriouslywhatabouttehmenz.wordpress.com/ which the site that originally posted it.
And thanks!
I hear ya, Tom - they did sort of come to their sense at the end, but if the story were reversed, that kind of behavior would never have happened. But because it was a man who suffered castration, somehow it was funny to them before they could see the bigger picture. Maybe they just wanted ratings and they knew it was wrong, or maybe they were ignorant, either way, they need to apologize on air for thinking it funny that a mentally unhinged woman castrated her estranged husband.
Hi Bill,
Yes, I will make that attribution.
BTW, I didn't really see any *real* "recovery" in this clip. What I saw was one co-host (Sara Gilbert) attempt to inject some rationality into an otherwise completely bankrupt conversation. She made her point. There was a moment...moment of sanity and then they returned to their silly banter in a slightly more subdued way. But even Sara Gilbert was smiling and laughing just seconds after she made her brief appeal to sanity. I saw no recovery. I saw one women inject sanity. No one chimed in. And seconds later they were all laughing again...
Also, the Asian American co-host Julie Chen, is married to the president of CBS, the network that produces this show. So sadly, all complains, unless they go completely viral, will likely fall on deaf ears...
Addign this to my list on my blog. I contacted a couple news outlets who said they might run a story on this today.
PS Sorry, here is the link to my post. I have already added another 4 links this morning alone!
http://www.thereformedbuddhist.com/2011/07/watch-your-penis-and-then-laughing.html
BTW, the one co-host (Julie Chen) is married to the CEO and President of CBS Corporation. This has me believing unless a complaint campaign doesn't become absolutely viral, it will not really have any impact. That however, will not stop me from filing as many complaints as I can...
Bill,
I can't figure out how to cut and paste this video. Obviously I don't want to use the one that was on the referring page. Any suggestions?
Sage, if you are html savvy, you can select the video (include a word on either side, top and bottom), right click on the selection, and click on view selection source, then copy the html for the video (this is in Firefox)
if not, then do what I did and go to the CBS website, search for "The Talk", then scroll the "segments" (not whole episodes) until you find the one for this video, which is in the first page or three of videos
let me know if you still have problems and I will send you the html
Got it. I took the luddite option.
Also, here is my first complaint letter which was sent via the complaint/feedback tool on the CBS website:
With all of the violent, racist, mean-spirited and downright insane things on television, it has been over 30 years since I have felt strongly enough to complain directly to a network for something people were subjected to on a network television program.
That over 30 year streak of silence has now been shattered. It has been shattered by the Thursday July 14th broadcast of "The Talk." On this program the hosts of the show took it upon themselves to mock, belittle and make fun of an actual living person's misfortune that took place in the form of the physical mutilation he suffered at the hands of his obviously mentally unstable wife. The hosts viewed this apparently as something that should be made fun of. I don't agree. Sharon Osbourne's performance was particularly egregious. She should lose her job on the show immediately. That is the least that should happen here.
For my part, I am going to organize a boycott of all CBS programming and I'm going to start a letter writing campaign targeting all the sponsors and advertisers of that days "The Talk" program. I am filing a complaint with the FCC and I will also be contacting CBS Investor Relations. I will be inviting all my friends and contacts to do the same. I believe the producers and hosts of this segment of "The Talk" should also be held accountable for their actions in this matter.
Sincerely
Raven Mahosadha
Explore for me, please, what you believe the damage is from The Talk segment having aired. It is THAT that rouses my concern [to put it mildly] and not a desire to suppress programming and extract apologies.
I would hope that objection to the talk in The Talk would serve as a learning experience and one of the great good of empathizing with others. But to promote empathy, we must, too, be empathetic with the foibles of being all-too-human.
One of my 'arguments' re to my objection the the book "Go the F*ck to Sleep" that is, I think, apt here in that I would want the ladies of The Talk to consider:
This from a new book, The Science of Evil [ http://www.amazon.com/Science-Evil-Empathy-Origins-Cruelty/dp/0465023533/ ]: “When our empathy is switched off, we are solely in the “I” mode. In such a state we relate only to things or to people as if they were just things. Most of us are capable of doing this occasionally. We might be quite capable of focusing on our work without sparing a thought for the homeless person outside our office. But whether we are in this state transiently or permanently, there is no ‘thou’ visible – at least, not a thou with different thoughts and feelings. Treating other people as if they were just objects is one of the worst things you can do to another human being, to ignore their subjectivity, their thoughts and feelings.”
I just heard the audio podcast of Bill Maher's show of last week ~7/20 where one of his jokes was roughly this, which panel and audience robustly laughed at: "Stop getting up the ass of the kid who killed his parents with a hammer. I mean, c'mon, you gotta fight for your right to party." Real great tragedy is a source of black humor. People are like that. Going on jihad against the women of The Talk is, unfortunately perhaps, out of place. I don't think for men to play victim, demanding apologies and punishment for the human foible of laughter at black humor, is honorable or helpful. We ought to learn from all this, not cry crocodile tears.
Tom,
if it were only black humor, I might not be bothered by it - but it's not - it was a real sentiment that the man must have deserved it, and I saw the same thing on some feminist blogs before it came out that she is mentally ill
I'm not cutting them any slack - any more than I would if they laughed at a lynching and assumed the black person must have deserved it
"I have not been following this case, because . . . well, stuff like this is simply sensationalist crap - there's often better things to get upset about."
How snootily "above the fray" you sound.
Are you seriously not aware of the political import of this?
Bill,
Maher's joke was very equivalent to your lynching comment. Are you going to go ape about Maher's joke? Or, is there a reason that that escapes your radar?
sponsorsofthetalk.webs.com
Please go to this website if you want to view or contact the sponsors of The Talk. I will be expanding it shortly. I created it for those that want to take action and let the sponsors know how outraged you are that these women are still hosts of the show. Thank you and I hope you email them.
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