On rape culture discussions...

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. We arguably have a gun culture.

Stores sell out of ammo, guns sell out quickly. NRA conventions and gun shows are big celebrity draws. Guns are advertised to young children. We have 88 guns per 100 people in the US. So yeah, I think we have a gun culture.

We arguably have a consumer culture. Companies spent $170 billion last year to persuade you to buy their stuff. The best advertisements go viral. People discuss, share, and obsess over the advertisements. The apple trademark triggers activity in the same regions in the brain as religous ephiphanies. So yeah, I think we have a consumer culture.

We have a judeo-christian culture. Christian values permeate our laws and even our holidays. I would say we have a judeo-christian culture, if not a judeo-christian government.

A rape culture?

I think I speak for just about everyone when I say that one rape is too many. This generally-accepted ethical framework is responsible for an 85% decrease in rape victimization since 1980, and rapists (when caught) are punished. No crime other than homicide is punished more severely, where guards turn a deaf ear as "the rapos" get special treatment by the other inmates.

Sensitivity to the victimization you experienced should not require blind acceptance of hyperbole.

I don't think rape culture exists, and to the extent that people react with disbelief instead of celebration upon learning that victimization has declined 85% since 1980, I do think there's "an exaggeration of some sort going on".