Saturday, June 23, 2018

Good Kids

I’m obsessed
With following trials

And it’s a morbid obsession
But also a really frustrating one
Because usually I’m let down
Pretty much all the time
But I can’t stop myself
I keep watching

I think it’s because
I never pursued any kind of
Legal action
Against my attacker
So I get some kind of satisfaction
Out of seeing those smug assholes
Sitting in a courtroom
Being forced to answer
For what they did
Right before the case gets dismissed
And they get to go be
Whatever corporate lawyer
They’re going to turn out to be

Do you care if I smoke?

Okay, great
Thanks

I keep saying I’m going to quit
And then it’s summer
And nobody quits smoking
In the summer

Why would you do that?

So anyway—

I was really fascinated
With the Brock Turner trial
And when the mom—

When his mom
Wrote that fucking letter
Talking all about how—

I call it ‘The Good Kid’ letter

Because that happens a lot
Believe it or not

The parent—

Usually the mom—

Writing a letter
All about how her son
Is a good kid

And I guess they have the mom write it
Because it’s like—

Hey everybody
Here’s a woman who doesn’t have a problem with the fact
That her son is a rapist
So who are we to judge?

It’s sickening

If my son ever rapes a girl
They won’t need to have a trial
I will handle that shit
Myself

Although who knows
Maybe Brock Turner’s mother
Said the same thing

But the letter
Always says the guy
Is a good kid
And so why ruin his life
Over this?

And forget that
The girl’s life
Is already ruined

Maybe they’re saying
Why ruin two lives?

It’s infuriating

For so many reasons

And the one that I find really interesting
Is this idea that
Good kids can’t be rapists

Like, that’ll take you down a whole path of—

Don’t they know
Good people do bad shit
All the time?

Good people
Rape people

Good people
Steal

Good people
Murder other people

You can be a good person
Your whole life
And make one mistake
And it can be a big mistake
And at that point
Maybe you’re still a good person
But you’re also a rapist

Perpetuating that guy in an alley
With a trenchoat idea
Of what a rapist is
Is part of why we still have fucking rape happening

And on these college campuses
Where you’re talking about nineteen-year-old boys
Who nowadays look twelve
Because of the preservatives
In the food they’re eating or something

Of course these girls feel totally safe with them
At parties
Getting drunk
Or just being alone with them
And never stop to think about
Their own security

Because these guys—
These boys
Seem like good people

What we need to start saying is—

Men do bad shit

All men

And not to bash men
But to save women

And don’t get me wrong
I am a big proponent of
Women doing whatever they want to
Without needing to fear being raped
But until we get something done
We just need to be honest with girls and say—

Beware of men, ladies

Beware of men
Beware of boys
Beware of anybody
Because this is the world

You are living in the world
And the world is not your friend

Boys who look like twelve-year-olds
Are raping girls
Sometimes it’s their best friend

And they’re doing it
At parties
Behind dumpsters
While they’re unconscious

And after they’re done
And they get caught
Their mothers are writing
Letters of recommendation
For them

To keep them
From having their lives ruined

It is infuriating

But we have to change the language

We have to be honest and say—

There are no good kids

There are just young men
Who haven’t made a mistake yet
And you don’t want to be the person
They make it with

You don’t want to be the mistake
Because that’s how they’ll treat you

Like a mistake

Like something that just—

Got in the way
Of this good kid
And his bright future

So you better stay vigilant

We better be telling all girls
To keep
Their eyes open

That’s it

That’s it

That’s the only thing
We can do

And you know I…

I wish somebody had told me all this

I didn’t need to hear a lot of things
Because ultimately
Most of it?

Didn’t help me

But ‘Watch out for those fuckers?’

Just somebody saying that?

That I could have used

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