“If You Can’t Prevent Rape Then You Enjoy It”

That’s the quote that hit my Twitter feed today and I clicked madly, MADLY, in an absolute lather that those f’ing Indian authorities were having their own Todd Akin moment again, revealing the reality of just how absolutely little they care at all. The link went to an op/ed with the offending quote and implored me to stand with Indian women against sexual violence.

“Hell yes I will,” I thought. “Just let me find the original article to factcheck this and I’ll sign whatever petition you want!”

And, that’s what I did although I almost didn’t do it. I almost signed the petition and moved along, confident that whoever had said whatever they said was an absolute bastard. Good thing I did because here’s what actually happened:

“If you cannot enforce the ban on betting, it is like saying ‘if you can’t prevent rape, you enjoy it’,” he said.

Wait, what? What does that mean? Why’s he talking about betting?

The head of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Ranjit Sinha, made the remark while speaking on legalizing betting in sports.

Betting? Wait, I still don’t get it. Now it doesn’t sound like he’s pro rape at all. It sounds like he was trying to make a point about the importance of enforcement, possibly even referring to gambling as something that “rapes” the wallets of the poorer classes while the wealthy owners of the casinos “enjoy” their misery. What say you, CBI Head Sinha?

“I gave my opinion that betting should be legalized and that if the laws cannot be enforced that does not mean that laws should not be made,” Sinha said in a statement. “This is as erroneous as saying that if rape is inevitable one should lie back and enjoy it.”

…oh. Well, that’s nothing like what pissed me off in the first place, nothing at all. Actually, it’s somewhat poignantly put. So he’s saying that while he’s for legalized betting for taxation purposes he’s against not trying to enforce current betting laws simply because they’re not always enforceable. In other words, just because not all rapes will be stopped that’s no reason not to even have rape laws. Yeah, I agree with that and he’s reinforced his anti-rape status at the same time.

What followed next was an epic *unfollow*. Lesson re-learned, always read the original reporting. People will lie and get you all spun up for clicks, donations, petitions even when it betrays the very reason their organizations exist, truth. And to deceive me about the crime of rape? Sorry, that’s not progress I can believe in. That’s a lynch mob. That’s propaganda. That’s hurting people who are already hurting.

Thank the gods for my college history professor’s demand that I read ALL the primary sources first. Now go and do likewise.