I didn't watch the interview with the alleged rapist who refused to take the stand (and be questioned under oath) at his own rape trial. This was not an interview; Seven provided a platform for this man to threaten his alleged victim. #BruceLehrmann#ThisIsNotJournalism
Q: What’s the name of the disorder given to someone who refuses their right to speak at a criminal trial, then complains they’re a victim, that they didn’t get a say & it’s all unfair?
(survivors will know the answer)
#BruceLehrmann#spotlight
The depraved lie in the screenshot below is just one example of the shitfucked harm Australia’s press is inflicting on us all right now.
In this tweet, we’ll explain a big part of why they’re doing it when we (and they) know it’s outrageous bullshit.
The vast majority of Australia’s media have a huge vested interest in damaging Brittany Higgins. And as we’re getting confused DMs from people wondering why Kerry Stokes so strongly supports Ben Roberts-Smith, Lehrmann and (possibly) Porter - even to what looks like Stokes’ own detriment - we need to spell this out.
There are reasons to do with male (and media) control, but a crucial component is wealthy white men are now terrified of what they see as the growing influence of feminism and other anti-oppression movements.
Specifically, what’s happened to Brittany has caused many women (perhaps thousands) to re-think their own reporting of sexual harassment, assault and rape. Because the hatred of Brittany in some circles now, the lies being told about her and the public attacks she’s gone through would be unbearable for many, perhaps most, women.
Many of us have been sexually assaulted, and many of us have also been disbelieved by family, friends or co-workers, in ways that hurt us more than the attacks themselves. And many of us have refrained from trying to prosecute our rapists precisely because of this lack of support and compassion.
So ultimately, many of us don’t report, which means rapists go free to commit such crimes again.
In last night’s broadcast, Brittany is heard saying she wanted to go public about her alleged assault because if she didn’t, a predator might go free. This is bravery beyond belief, and it’s an action many women can’t contemplate on top of the initial harm caused.
And this is just what people like Stokes want (ditto Murdoch, and probably Costello). If they can scare women back into submission and silence, it protects their overall dominance.
It also (happily for them) protects them from revelations of sexual crime even within their own organisations. How many men in power in big media orgs have left because of harassment and worse of their female colleagues and staff? (Answer: a not insignificant number.)
Do you believe these media oligarchs can stomach more of the trouble and cost of dealing with men such as Roger Ailes? Or Mark Forbes? In actuality, they’ll do anything within their power to avoid it.
There’s unlikely to be another case like this one for a long time, precisely because of what Brittany has been put through and other women clearly see and shudder at.
From Parliament House Ministers and staff to the AFP to the court system to the media, she’s been failed over and over and over again. In some ways, Lehrmann has been failed too, in that he didn’t (as he said himself) get the chance to have a fair trial and result. As much as he may be a perpetrator, he’s also partly a victim of the fucked-up system, too.
Because both the people at the centre of this horrific case were (and still are) pawns inside a far bigger system firmly weighted against individuals, and against any reasonable justice or truth.
And much of this is because men like Stokes want it all to be just this way.
The media in this country must be reformed and repaired. And while this same media controls public opinion in the way it does, such reform will not come via RCs or government action.
Instead, it’s up to us.
All of us who care about what will occur if we relax our hard work, vigilance, and boycott action.
Get involved. Don’t look away. And reserve a lot (perhaps most) of your disgust and vitriol for Kerry Stokes and his oligarch mates, puppet-masters extraordinaire.
Damage their power, and we start to take some back for women and all who care about destroying media hatred and lies.
[We deleted and re-posted this tweet because of a couple of factual errors in the first copy.]
#MFWBoycott
#StinkySeven
#NewsCorpse
Steve is just wrong. There is no evidence of decreased productivity with WFH. In fact, many people find it difficult to get work done at work- especially in open plan workplaces because of noise and distractions #theprojecttv
So is anyone ever going to address the fact there is video of Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann going into Parliament late at night; then Bruce leaving alone; and Brittany being found later unclothed and confused in Reynolds office? #theprojecttv
The fact it was originally incorrectly referred to as the Brittany Higgins trial says a lot. The focus seems to have been on her, rather than on him, despite his protests #theprojecttv