the bed intruder

If you haven't seen it already, go to youtube and watch the video of a young man who's sister was almost raped, until he came into the bedroom and chased the intruder out. This video has gone viral, and not only that, people have used it to do songs and comedy routines. The man in this video is from what looks to be a housing development in Hunstville, AL. He is black, and is not shall we say, well spoken. What he is, in my mind is someone who is emotionally charged after doing a good deed, some may call a hero. But what I think gets lost in all this, is the reason he was on the news in the first place, a woman was almost raped. That is not funny.

I find it even more interesting that the number of opportunities I have had to watch this video on FB comes from men's pages. On each one, I have taken the opportunity to write my take on this video. One of the men who posted it, put at the top of his, "you have to see this, it is funny". I watched (just the news bite, not the resulting songs etc) and became ENRAGED. Why would anyone think that rape was funny? Most of the responses on these postings agree, and come from all women. One woman said she thought that it was just about creativity and there is too much seriousness in this world, and we need to lighted up, and realize it was just humor. I still fail to find the humor in this situation.

Another person who posted the video, also posted the response from NPR which reports that this young man who was in the video has turned this into a power moment for himself. The authors of this article agree, that if you took this same situation, put it on SNL and used actors, would it be funny? They think not, they think there would be public outcry to as they put it "excoriate" it from tv land. I agree. They also interviewed some people who pointed out that while this young man was maybe not the best public speaker, and some feel was exploited by the news station, his impassioned statement was done without swear words, and other stereotypical "urban" discourse. The comments posted to this article were great. Most agreed that maybe the news station deciding to broadcast this, or the resulting viral web videos, and parodies, brought out something unintended, it allowed this young man, and his sister to give voice to a social condition, that many of us turn our head to. No matter what position you take on this, whether it be from a social/racial/economical viewpoint, it brought it into the light of day.

My response on both of the FB pages, who were posted by men, was to thank them. Yes, I thought the video was horrible in that it was supposed to be funny, but at least it gave us an opportunity to do some old fashion consciousness raising. Back when I was the director of a rape crisis center, we always said that men where the only ones who could truly help to stop rape. We invited them to start their own programs to help men help other men in an attempt to stop this horrible power abusive act. In the video, the young man says and I am paraphrasing "snatch up your sisters, daughters, wives, mother, and husbands, cuz everyone is getting raped out in here"....it is true, it affects everyone. Not only can men be raped, but if they ever love a woman who was raped, they are affected.

I still can not see how the offshoots of this video can be seen as creative. I will admit, I haven't watched them. I read that there is one that is done well, and with taste and shows the heartfelt plea of the young man, to find the "bed intruder", but to think any of it can be funny, still breaks my heart. I have said here many times, I love to laugh. I find humor in almost anything...but not this. Human suffering can be looked at through a humor lens, comedians do it all the time. Sometimes, not in very good taste, sometimes in a thought provoking way...but this....no, just not funny. I think, or at least I hope, the majority agrees with me on this one.