Objectifying women

[Eilonnwy]

Oh and since the people here have constantly backed up their assertions with "common sense" why don't we discuss it.

Common sense is basically certain judgement calls that we make based on what common (note: most people) agree upon is good. Now what do we call it when your argue from what the majority, or shall we say common people in this case, agree on something and assert it in an argument? That's right, the argument from popularity fallacy. Hmm.

Read this article on 5 ways common sense screws us up for a really great explanation on why common sense is basically a mixture of varying logical fallacies that lead us to make terrible judgement calls. Your common sense is shit, it has no place when dealing with the fact of rape crimes and what the statistics show.

You know, let's pretend for a second I agreed with you. Woman should not walk home at night alone. Let's say everyone agrees with this premise. Will they? Will every single woman everywhere who has a job, has a life, needs to support her kids, get to work, go to a party, go food shopping, always be able to drive, get a ride, take a cab home after 9pm? You all know that is absolutely not true. I've been denied ride homes, sometimes I can't get them. People are poor, working a shitty McDonald's job, they can barely make ends meet how can they possibly afford a taxi? Or god forbid, they want the fucking freedom a man has to walk home alone late at night without worrying about being raped.

Now take this scenario to where woman are constantly trying to get their rides, take a taxi, but inevitably some woman just can't. They get raped. Well since "everyone" knows you're a woman so you should get a ride home, you obviously should have known better. It's the woman's fault. She didn't follow the procedure that everyone knows would have saved her. You've just victim blamed. It doesn't matter that the someone decided to rape her, she didn't take measures to avoid that situation.

Now, look at Saudi Arabia, a real world example where woman are not allowed to walk alone, they have to cover themselves in Burkas to protect them from rape. Women are still raped, and when they are raped, they are blamed for it. There is no justice for them over there. The men constantly get away with it and women are stoned to death for it because they didn't cover themselves or stay with their man. These people take drastic measures to "protect" their women from rape, so drastic they completely stifle and oppress those same woman. And you know what, they still get raped, because rapists still exist and if a man has made a decision to rape, they will find someone.

I know none of you here agree with the scenario in Saudi Arabia, but what you argue for with your common sense is what happens when it's put to practice, and it even happens here in our "civilized" culture with every rape that goes unreported due to victim shaming and blaming.

Everyone here knows that things which seem impractical and feel impractical can still be true. How many times have we laughed at argued with a theist who says, "I believe in God because it's common sense that a creation must have a creator". How many times have we talked about how wrong the big bang can seem, but science really shows it's right? And yet here you are, arguing for common sense, when the atheists who argue here constantly should know damn well common sense does not equal logic or fact.