Silence is Complicity
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Posted by Keely Savoie April 26th, 2007 |
They’re at it again: A week since the SCOTUS began dismembering Roe anti-choice lunatics are terrorizing women’s clinics, as reported by the Associated Press in a very brief piece headlined, “Explosive found at Austin women’s clinic.”
The “they” in question, however, is not the domestic terrorists responsible. It is the media that systematically ignores these stories, as Jennifer Pozner has pointed out in the past. This particular story — in which “A package left at a women’s clinic that performs abortions contained an explosive device capable of inflicting serious injury or death” took place in Austin, TX yesterday. I wouldn’t have known myself unless I had a friend down there, where it was covered with all the fanfare of a traffic accident.
The national press? Aside from 97 words from the AP and a brief mention from CNN — nothing (according to a Nexis search at 5:15 pm today). In that lone CNN mention, we’re told that “Officials from the Homeland Defense Team, which includes police officers, also other Austin officers, the Department of Emergency Ordnance Disposal unit and the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives” were on the scene. Yet still, not a peep from the national press. Now, imagine if this clinic had been a bank, or a high school, or a sports arena. I bet we would have heard something about it then.
The media’s silence surrounding issues of violence against women is not only emblematic of a fundamentally dismissive attitude, it ultimately harms all feminist causes, and lends to the perception that feminists are all just knee-jerk alarmists railing against imaginary enemies. It’s easier to dismiss the need to constitutionally protect women from violence and discrimination if you erase all evidence that such things exist.
UPDATE o4/27/07: ABC News, MSNBC and Reuters have now covered the story, but wider coverage is still notably lacking.
April 26th, 2007 17:17
[…] Posted by Rachel on April 26th, 2007 An explosive device was planted at an Austin women’s health clinic that provides abortion services. “It was configured in such a way to cause serious bodily injury or death.apable of inflicting serious injury or death,” say Austin police. WIMN’s Voices points out the lack of national media coverage for this attempted act of domestic terrorism. […]
April 27th, 2007 06:41
[…] Progressive Women’s Blog Ring Join | List | Previous | Next | Random | Previous 5 | Next 5 | Skip Previous | Skip Next Powered by RingSurf Violence Against Abortion Clinics Up; Media Attention Still Nonexistent Friday April 27th 2007, 9:40 am Filed under: wingnuttery, reproductive justice, civil rights, education, media, politics, news Via WIMN’s Voices: […]
April 27th, 2007 08:27
Well, to be fair, the bomber is most likely white and Christian, so, uh…
April 27th, 2007 08:44
Pay No Attention To That Terrorist Behind The Clinic
It’s okay, it was just a frat prank or something I’m sure, so don’t you ladies worry your pretty little heads about a thing (via WIMN):A package left at a women’s clinic that performs abortions contained an explosive device capable
April 27th, 2007 10:33
[…] Just got done glancing at Memeorandum and saw this rant written by “WIMN’s Voices” (”Women’s Voices”) writer Keely Savoie complaining about media coverage of the explosive found behind a women’s clinic (that’s code for: abortion clinic) in Austin. In a post titled, “Silence is Complicity,” Savoie writes: They’re at it again: A week since the SCOTUS began dismembering Roe anti-choice lunatics are terrorizing women’s clinics, as reported by the Associated Press in a very brief piece headlined, “Explosive found at Austin women’s clinic.” […]
April 27th, 2007 12:25
[…] Viene esto a cuento de una historia que trae cabreadas a varias blogueras americanas. Resulta que ha habido un atentado (es cosa bastante común) en una clínica abortiva americana, en Austin, perpetrado por uno de esos grupúsculos pro-vida (como HazteOir, pero con más dinero). Y lo que cabrea, además -lógicamente- del atentado en sí, es la forma que los medios tienen de contarlo. Así cuenta lo sucedido el Houston Chronicle: Un paquete dejado en una clínica femenina que realiza abortos contenía un dispositivo explosivo capaz de infligir lesiones serias o la muerte, según los investigadores. […]
April 27th, 2007 13:16
[…] Feministe, while noting an incredibly brief AP article on an attempted bombing of an Austin clinic that performs abortions: Why is it that the media and the government never calls the “pro-life” groups who plant bombs at women’s clinics what they are: terrorists? … […]
April 30th, 2007 10:53
[…] So you’d figure - rightly - that a blog called “Feministe” would provide a rich vein of fisking material. Someone planted a bomb at an Austin, TX abortion mill “female health clinic”. Had that bomb been found outside a post office or a school, the headlines would have been hysterically running on about ZOMG TERRORISM TERRORISM IS AL QAEDA INVOLVED? […]
May 4th, 2007 07:21
[…] salty femme. i’m sure lot’s wife had her reasons. i’m also sure she had a name. « probably not the easiest place to come out as trans salty sunday » connecting the abortion dots April 27th, 2007 WIMN’s Voices and Pandagon both have posts about an explosive device found yesterday at a women’s clinic in Austin, TX. If the actual story wasn’t infuriating enough, both posts are ranting about the paltry news coverage that this story received. (a 97-word AP story is about all there was). Keely Savoie at WIMN only knew about the story because a friend in Austin, “where it was covered with all the fanfare of a traffic accident,” passed on the news to her. […]
May 10th, 2007 22:15
As long man have dicks, woman are nothing!
As long there are no equal rights woman are nothing.
We just have to keep the fight for womans rights going!
August 21st, 2007 12:06
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September 21st, 2007 11:53
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