GQ Victim-Blames Rand Paul for His Own Vicious Attack

Most Americans are firmly against victim-blaming, but GQ magazine is fine with it as long as the victim in question is a libertarian.

In GQ, writer Jack Moore blames Rand Paul for a recent attack that landed him in the emergency room with 6 broken ribs (including 3 displaced fractures), bruises to his lungs, and a pleural effusion. The Kentucky Senator was mowing his lawn — complete with noise canceling headphones, a detail Moore provides as if to show how noise-canceling headphones are what’s wrong with America — when his neighbor attacked him from behind.  His neighbor pleaded not guilty to a charge of fourth-degree misdemeanor assault.

Immediately, people began to speculate if the attack — which will keep Sen. Paul from Washington, D.C. for the foreseeable future — was politically motivated.  Paul’s bellicose neighbor is a staunch Democrat while Sen. Paul has been described as a conservative/libertarian.  A quick perusal of the neighbor’s social media indicates he was no fan of Republicans.  Of course, if the attack was political, this puts the neighbor into even more hot water.  Instead, his lawyer assures us, this was over stray yard clippings or hedges.

Right.

So how does the GQ writer react to this terrible assault on the Kentucky Senator?  He blames him.

First, Moore points out that Paul lives in a well-to-do neighborhood where he has the gall to grow pumpkins and compost on his own property. As people tried to figure out what the cause of the attack, Moore speculates it was because Paul may have had stray yard clippings, newly planted trees, and unraked leaves.

Then, Moore gets to the real reason for the attack.  “Rand Paul is an asshole neighbor. He bought a house in a neighborhood that has certain rules with regard to lawns, and he decided that he doesn’t need to follow those rules because of his belief in ‘property rights’ that don’t actually exist,” he wrote.  He went on to say that this was a core problem with libertarianism, because they “don’t want to follow the rules that we as a society have agreed upon.”

The whole article is a disgusting piece of victim blaming that should be condemned by the right and left.  Recently, Inside Amy Schumer writer Kurt Metzger went on a Facebook rant about how rape victims don’t come forward frequently and refuse to be questioned about the incidents in question.  This (rightly) caused a firestorm of condemnation.  He has since deleted the posts.

The Atlantic took the moment to explain why victim-blaming occurs and how you can detect (and prevent) more subtle versions of it.  “Victim-blaming comes in many forms, and is oftentimes more subtle, and unconscious… It can apply to cases of rape and sexual assault, but also to more mundane crimes, like a person who gets pickpocketed and is then chided for his decision to carry his wallet in his back pocket. Any time someone defaults to questioning what a victim could have done differently to prevent a crime, he or she is participating, to some degree, in the culture of victim-blaming.”

Well, Moore might need to learn the subtle art of victim-blaming instead of the full onslaught it delivered to Sen. Paul. In fact, this article goes beyond “victim blaming” and actually rationalizes the violence. Moore attempts to dehumanize his perceived political opponent – by labeling him a body part – in order to justify silencing him. In other words, Moore’s basic argument is that Rand Paul is an “asshole,” so – just as surely as the sun rises – someone’s going to crack his ribs.

This is the new normal for leftists. They’ve embraced violence to a degree most believed was impossible in modern society. You can see it clearly in their sometimes successful attempts to thwart the free speech of conservative speakers on college campuses (such as at Berkeley and numerous other universities); in the Occupy Wall Street attitudes toward corporations; in the Black Lives Matter assault against police, and among anti-Zionist movements that try to remove Jews from Left wing parades and attempts to delegitimize Israel.

The left pretends to be tolerant, but their fake concern disappears precisely where political disagreement begins and they allow their anti-American violence to take hold. They need to restrain themselves before more violence occurs. Here’s a thought: GQ magazine could be the first to take a stand against this new leftist appetite for violence by taking down Moore’s disgusting article.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore