All that’s missing is a white bronco

Oh Goody, another famous athlete is probably going to get away with murdering his wife/girlfriend. We’ve never seen that before.

I am referring to the case of Oscar Pistorius, a track star who has prosthetic limbs, allegedly bludgeoning/shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, to death in yet another fatal case of domestic violence. He’s claiming he thought she was an intruder that he just had to shoot multiple times through a locked bathroom door. Sure. That’s what happened.

Sadly, the exact same asinine defenses of Pistorius and victim-blaming of Steencamp are happening that have happened before in other cases. Pistorius, just because the asshat can run fast, is being showered with the benefit of the doubt:

Pistorius’s longtime coach said he believed the killing was an accident. “I pray that we can all, in time, come through this challenging situation following the accident and I am looking forward to the day I can get my boy back on the track,” Ampie Louw wrote.”I am still in shock following the heartbreaking events that occurred last week and my thoughts and prayers are with both of the families involved.” 

This is the same damn tune that other people who fiscally benefit from the athletes performance have sung, and it hits a sour note every damn time. One example is Nick Cousins, a hot shot hockey player for the Philadelphia Flyers. The gist of the article is that Philadelphia Flyers director of development, a human humanoid named Ian Laperriere, maintained that: “Cousins, who allegedly gang-raped an acquaintance, has “a good heart,” but just needs to grow up and be more careful, and hopefully all these zany rape allegations will all just “go away” so Cousins can get back to the serious business of being good at sports.”

Then there is the case of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shooting his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins. Perkins was only 22 years old when she was gunned down and she left behind a 3 month old baby girl, but the article is clearly focused on Belcher’s “tragic suicide” after he murdered her. To quote:

Chiefs Head Coach Romeo Crennel … tried to dissuade him. “I was trying to get him to understand that life is not over,” Crennel told The Star. “He still has a chance and let’s get this worked out.’’ … Belcher knelt behind a vehicle and made the sign of the cross across his chest before firing a single bullet into his head. Kansas City police believe Belcher killed himself because he was distraught over what he had done to Perkins. “He cared about her,” Sharp said. “I don’t think he could live with himself.”

Oh, poor guy. His life shouldn’t have been over and he really cared about the woman he brutally murdered in cold blood. Yeah, he’s the sympathetic victim here.

It’s not just excusing the athlete that remains constant. There is also the subtle or overt blaming of the girlfriend for her own slaughter. Going back to the original topic of Pistorius’ likely murder of his partner, Steencamp, Pistorius’ coach asserted that the couple seemed “to be very happy in each other’s company.” Yeah, because you can’t be happy and then have your boyfriend murder you. That never happens.

Newsflash to everyone on planet earth! Abusive relationships are complex and during the “honeymoon” periods the couple often are very happy together … until the abuser almost invariably has an episode where he or she has to punish his or her partner again.  This prevailing belief that an abusive relationship is back and white means that people can scoff at the “stupid” victim who returns to her abuser, and blame HER (not him) for being in the relationship rather than blaming HIM for being a manipulative abuser. This is the sneering attitude toward Rihanna currently wafting around the interwebs. Just like with rape, thinking of the victim as a dumb person who somehow brings her misery on herself means that such a horrible thing could never happen to YOU.

I call all the bullshit on that.  You know those “Team Edward” tee-shirts and the Twilight craze? Well, Bella’s relationship with Edward is clearly abusive but that crap is touted as “love”. Millions of girls/women think Edward is so romantic and dreamy when in reality he is abusive and narcissistic. Now, tell me again why a woman would thin an abusive partner really does “love” her even if he “loses it” once and a while? Or gets the idea that he’ll change because “love conquers all”? Could it be *gasp* constant patriarchal messaging, perhaps??

Also in subtle victim blaming, “sexy” pictures of the Steencamp (who was a model) are much in demand. Apparently the public should see the “leggy blonde with a law degree” who was “known for her bikini-clad, vamping photo spreads”. Look at that leggy vamp! Who wouldn’t have to kill her if she got a tweet from an ex-boyfriend conveying the fact he missed her?

Finally, there are the articles focusing on how hard murdering Steencamp has been on Pistorius.  

“allegedly cradled Reeva Steenkamp, who he allegedly shot four times, as he tried to stop her dying, performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation … [he] is said to be on suicide watch due to fears the blade runner might take his own life over charges for the ‘pre-planned’ murder of his model girlfriend … A source said: ‘Oscar is innocent but he feels as though he has descended into hell. He is absolutely devastated and struggling to deal with his emotions. The source told The Sun: ‘He’s been given a cell to himself at the police station but there are criminals in cells around him and he doesn’t belong there. There are police concerns over his mental state.’ … Pistorius stood with head bowed in front of Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair to the hear the murder charge read out, then started weeping, covering his face with his hands. ‘Take it easy,’ Mr Nair told him. ‘Come take a seat.’ “

That poor man. His life has been totally bogged down by the fact he murdered Reeva Steencamp. Sure, his story that he thought she was an intruded doesn’t look good up against the witness who heard them shouting and fighting and bloodied cricket bat he smashed her head in with first, but he is totes suffering y’all.  Since he can run real fast and people make money off him I’ll bet you dollars to little green apples that the cuntmonkey gets away with it, even though his story has more holes than Swiss cheese.  

OJ “Let’s say I committed this crime… Even if I did this, it would have to have been because I loved her very much, right?” Simpson turned out to be a real trendsetter.

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