Comments on: Support Vivian Stringer’s Book

By: BananaDanna

BananaDanna — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:52:01 +0000

But what does it mean, exactly, to “act like a victim”? I imagine there’s as many ways to deal with victimization as there are people who’ve been victimized…. *scratches head*

By: RonF

RonF — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:11:47 +0000

Well, I actually paid attention to that whole thing. There were numerous people who tried to gain some kind of political advantage out of it. But people directly involed with the team (members, coaches, etc.) didn’t whine and didn’t engage people like the Rev. Al Sharpton (my poster child for the term “poverty pimp”, I have no respect for the man at all) to speak for them. And they didn’t run around talking about how they’d been victimized by Don Imus or how this shows how racist American society is; they didn’t act like victims at all. They also certainly didn’t laugh it off; they concentrated on how despicable and low class Don Imus had acted. They made it clear through both public statements and their example that Don Imus had not damaged their dignity or image, he had damaged his own.

By: BananaDanna

BananaDanna — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:52:29 +0000

It’s funny that you think that, RonF. During the whole Imus debacle, a lot of folks did see the Rutgers team and Stringer as “oversensitive whiners who can’t take a joke and who choose to wallow in victimology”. After the Virginia Tech incident, people were saying things like “See, Rutgers girls, THIS is a big deal!”

Here’s a quote from Imus’s wife, who seems like a very sweet woman, for the record.

“I want to say the hate mail being sent to them must stop,” Deirdre said. “If any one has hate mail, send it to my husband. … You’re doing the wrong thing here.”

So, if a target of something like the Don Imus slam does anything short of laughing it off, they will be accused of playing “the victim card” and demonized by a substantial amount of people.

By: Ampersand

Ampersand — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:01:36 +0000

“Playing the victim card” and “poverty pimps” are terms white people use to say “anyone who has been hurt by racism or poverty should shut up and stop whining.” Those are certainly not terms used by anyone who wants to have a reasonable discussion with anyone outside of right-wing circles. I’m surprised at you.

That said, I agree that Stringer provided strong and astute leadership to her team. Thanks for these links, Rachel.

By: RonF

RonF — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:33:08 +0000

I thought that the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team took exactly the right approach with regards to Don Imus’ remarks. Instead of playing the victim card and running around with the poverty pimps, they acted with self-possession and dignity and inner strength and showed him up for the punk he is. Now we see that it was no accident; the young women involved had a good role model.