By Zach Foster
People from various points across the political spectrum have much more in common than they know. This weekend the author had the opportunity to attend a rally and march in West Hollywood. Ordinarily, this is the last place in Southern California the author would ever go, but this event was different. The author had been invited by friends to attend Slutwalk 2011. This particular rally protested the mindset that enables sexual assault and blames the victims rather than the attackers. After all, it’s much easier to advocate “preventative measures” than it is to catch and prosecute attackers.
I disagreed with the name of the event and the way many people there were citing their mission not only to spread awareness and prevent sexual assault, but also to reclaim the word “slut” and restore it to its place of dignity. The problem is that the word never had a place of dignity. The dictionary definition[1] of the word slut: noun – 1) a dirty, slovenly woman. 2) an immoral or dissolute woman; prostitute.
There is nothing honorable about it. I think the event would have been better off if the word “slut” had at least been used only ironically, given many people’s backward attitudes toward rape victims, rather than embraced as a form of identity. Still, it’s a free country… Many thanks to the L.A. County Sheriff's Deputies at the event for protecting our First Amendment rights of free speech, association, and assembly.
I got the wonderful opportunity to talk to different people during the rally and exchange ideas and viewpoints with them. Many people attending the rally were leftists and openly embracive of Marxist ideology. This is fallacious at best, and what many observers can agree with is that the successes proclaimed by many socialist groups are highly overinflated. Many will either proclaim support for a cause or event, or maybe even send two or three members to take part. Then the socialists take credit for the success of the event, claiming that “the workers of the world were organizing just like Marx said they were” or, if more modest, that they vanguarded workers in this cause.[2][3] What liars! Thankfully, the socialists at this event were in the minority and weren’t claiming to be vanguards. Especially since a good portion of the rally attendees were business owners and entrepreneurs, not mere “proletarians.”
What most impressed me was the way in which many people there were receptive to my own ideas and purposes for being there. I had two ideological foundations for protesting sexual assault. First, as an American patriot who believes in the core principles of the Constitution, I strongly believe in everyone’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Sexual assault endangers all three. Rapists put their victims’ life in danger, they violate their victims’ freedom of association, and the psychological trauma greatly impedes victims’ pursuit of happiness. Second, as a believer in God, I firmly believe that our bodies are a gift from God and no one has the right to invade or desecrate them. An individual is the only owner of his or her body.[4]
The people I talked to were incredibly receptive of these ideas, and several outright agreed with me. This is pleasing to me, knowing that Americans are finally taking Constitutional law into consideration, as well as equating the Supreme Being with human dignity rather than oppression. This was where many of us came to the conclusion that we have much in common. In our society there are far too many fringe elements on the far left and on the far right who will either completely hijack or completely eject God and the Constitution as it is convenient to their radical cause. The fringe elements say that they fight for liberty and individual rights and dignity, but the truth is that they really seek to impose their utopian values and agenda on the rest of society.[5][6] They cause division among the elements of society, hoping to divide and conquer. The best remedy against this is for people to know their rights.
[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/slut
[2] Socialists Hijack Mubarak Revolution For Their Cause: ‘A Revolution From Below.’ http://www.theblaze.com/stories/socialists-hijack-mubarak-resignation-for-their-cause-a-revolution-from-below/
[3] Sassoon, Donald. One Hundred Years of Socialism. Chapter 1. The New Press. 1996.
[4] Who Owns Your Body? Constitutional Rights vs. Privileges. http://joanneunleashed.com/1279/who-owns-your-body-constitutional-rights-vs-privileges/
[5] Niose, Dave. Hot to slap Thomas Jefferson in the face. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-humanity-naturally/201105/how-slap-thomas-jefferson-in-the-face
[6] Chodorov, Frank. About Socialism and Socialists. http://mises.org/daily/4932
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