1. Serious Note
We promise you this section has not been hacked by a certain Editorials editor, but f--k rape culture, man. Obviously rape is a problem and all, but when people talk about rape culture and how awful it is, sometimes it's hard to believe. Part of that probably has to do with the annoying nature of so called "public interest" groups and activists – which make it hard to take the actually positive groups seriously. And probably the other part of this is that all of us at On Fire have never had any first-hand experience with rape and sexual assault.
This Jameis Winston sexual assault case has made the problems of how our society responds to rape allegations painfully clear. Yesterday it was announced that Famous Jameis will not be charged for sexual assault. This is not what we have a problem with. To be honest, we don't believe he did it.
The point at issue is the way it has been handled by both the media and the parties involved with the investigation. The headlines of TMZ, ESPN and other mainstream outlets touted the fact that the woman had consumed five shots of alcohol the night of the incident. Of course the comments on these articles, as well as the articles themselves, gestured at the fact that this was evidence enough he didn't rape her. But why is this making news? That has literally nothing to do with whether or not he raped her. All it proves is that she was drunk, which makes sense considering she was at a party when she met Winston.
People are also pointing to the fact that her testimony is blurry – no s--t. Not only was she drunk, but if her memory was functioning normally, she had to deal with the fact that her allegations would make every single person she knew hate her guts. We think it is absolutely fair to assume that she might waver a bit.
This case also highlighted the over-dominance sports culture can have on a town. The prosecutor stood outside the courthouse yesterday wearing a Florida State tie. As much as we love sports, why are they a factor here? This is a case where a woman is accusing a man of sexual assault. It doesn't matter who either of them are outside of this case.
We're going to end this rant because we know that our On Fire readers come here for how hilarious we are and not serious stuff. Just wanted to air some frustrations.
2. Retraction
In an earlier issue of On Fire, we said that Lady Gaga and R. Kelly's "Do What U Want (With My Body)" was only mediocre. We would like to retract that. It is well above average.
