Thursday, March 31, 2011

Words.


A friend of mine overheard a customer at McDonalds ordering a McGangRape. The fast food worker never missed a beat and filled the man's order. According to Urban Dictionary.com the "McGangRape" is a sandwich from McDonalds similar to the McGangBang (Double Cheeseburger split with a McChicken inside) only you add an apple pie. The subtle difference, the site explains, being that "you know the apple pie doesn't want to be there."

The site even adds context clues for the uninitiated:

"Hey Mike did you get the McGangbang for lunch today?"
"Nah, I upgraded to the McGangRape!
"

(This is different than the "McGangRape" that occurs "
when someone or a pair of people do some serious killing online while playing any type of online game, preferably COD [Call Of Duty]." And again in context, "Dude we just did a real McGangRape on them mother f@*%ers." )

McGangRape the sandwich on the other hand, is a double cheeseburger from McDonalds with a 4 piece McNugget in between the two patties and Sweet &Sour sauce drizzled on top of the Chicken nuggets. Again, similar to the McGangBang minus the extra bun, lettuce, and mayo.


The McGangBang

Recently COH interviewed Actress Shannon Ivey about the brutalization of an eleven year old girl in Clevland, Texas. Last November 18 men gang-raped the child, filmed and posted the footage online.

Gang-rape is a vicious, hate-filled, unconscionable crime. NOT a fast food sandwich!!!!

Every year, around the world, as part of their conditioning, trafficked children are gang-raped by their pimps to break the child's will.

Gang-rape is twisted, demonic, sexual dehumanization. NOT an especially rousing round of video gaming!!!!

When words like gang-rape are emptied of their true meaning. When they are divorced from reality, or re-appropriated for some other use, they cease to be able to affect, to shock, to facilitate change. When words like slavery are used to refer to our jobs, when our bosses become slave-masters, when our spouses our ball and chains, those words are emasculated, sanitized, and become completely useless.

As people with a conscience, as modern abolitionists, we must take these words back. We must re-connect them to the horrific reality they denote.

30 million people are enslaved today in the world. Some in very real chains, daily terrified by their very real slave-masters. To lesson the impact of those words is to dilute the tears of the victims, to marginalize their suffering and to make mockery of their pain.



A terrified child enslaved. Picture by Amnesty International.


We must ask ourselves, if our
girlfriend was gang-raped, if our child was enslaved, would we be so cavalier about using those words so carelessly? Would the bitter sting of those words ever leave us? No. Every time we heard them they would sucker-punch us with shock and make us sick with sorrow.

Just like they should now.



4 comments:

  1. Take the words back! Right on. Words change over tme and have a tendency to make things confusing. We live in a time and place where we have an amazing ability to market, communicate and network. It makes it all the more important that our words and messages are clear. You make a crystal clear point concerning what issues must not become watered down. De-sensitized people are the result of diluted words. The dilution comes from the truth not being spread enough. Keep enlightening, keep spreading the word. Thanks.

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  2. It seems that Adam took the exact words out of my mouth, so I ditto his comment.
    Though I try and stay up to date with lingo and stories, I.HAD.NO.IDEA. those words could be used to order food! Sickening that such a devastingly violent act could be said with such flippancy and disregard.
    I'll be reposting this on my blog.

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  3. Thank you Jennifer. Sickening is right. There are so many other words we need to take back.

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