It started here:
The GOP Rape Advisory Chart.
It’s received nearly 23,000 visits at Eclectablog.
It quickly went viral via Twitter.
It exploded on Tumblr, thanks to SexGenderBody, garnering over 18,000 Notes/Reblogs.
It showed up on Alternet,
and on the Democratic Underground,
and was posted by Dan Savage as well as
Richard Dawkins and even
Balloon Juice.
From there, the original (and the second and third editions, to a lesser extent) started popping up everywhere:
The Blue Door
NewsVine
SystemWars
Essays & Effluvia
A Piece of My Mind
In A Gist
eWallStreeter
TruthHugger
Topsy
All That I Can’t Leave Unsaid
AZ Central
Democratic Diva
The New Civil Rights Movement
Trees and Flowers and Birds
Daily Kos’ own Rachel Colyer sent it out to all 200,000+ of you guys (I think) as a fundraiser email blast.
Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think that something that I wrote would be reposted by Wil Wheaton and, incredibly, Neil Gaiman.
But wait, there’s more—it’s hit YouTube:
The Young Turks
The David Pakman Show
Mike Malloy
Unknown 1
Unknown 2
And here's the one that just blows my mind
...as well as at least one podcast: The Left Show
Earlier this week, it even made the print (and online) edition of the Pekin Daily Times of Illinois, syndicated to numerous GateHouse Media papers nationwide.
But this one has to take the cake:
The author of this blog site requested permission to translate the entire thing—all 23 entries—into Greek.
Yup, it’s gone international.
Anyway, when the first version started generating interest, my initial reaction was to be kind of squeamish about taking credit for the whole thing—not only did the"terror level" idea originate with someone else, but I didn’t exactly want to achieve fame as"the rape chart guy".
A few days later, however, a (female) friend wrote the following:
"On paper it may sound strange, but as a women who is completely blown away at the disrespectful and demeaning talk coming out of the mouths of Republicans, it's fantastic to have all the single sound bites put together into one in-your-face chart. It's a good thing you did. Own it."
So, I’m owning it.
Here’s the final versions of all 3"volumes", along with two"complete" versions, including a simple"compiled by Brainwrap" note at the bottom (along with citing the source articles for every quote/bill voted on; the original version of the first one didn’t include these):
Volume I
Volume II
Volume III
Volumes I - III (3 Columns)
Volumes I - III (Single Column)
Feel free to repost/reuse them, but I’d just ask you to download the graphics and re-upload them to your own servers to avoid overloading my own with excessive bandwith.
BUT GUESS WHAT?
If I want to, I could easily put together a FOURTH volume.
WALK-IT-OFF RAPE
Every candidate I know, every decent American I know condemns rape. OK, so why can't people like Stephanie Cutter get over it? We all condemn rape."
--Republican former Speaker of the House and Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich, 10/28/12
And on the same day:
THING RAPE
"Incest is so rare, I mean it’s so rare. But the rape thing, you know, I know a woman who was raped and kept the child, gave it up for adoption and doesn’t regret it. In fact, she’s a big pro-life proponent. But, on the rape thing it’s like, how does putting more violence onto a woman’s body and taking the life of an innocent child that’s a consequence of this crime, how does that make it better?"
--Republican Congressional candidate John Koster (WA), 10/28/12
(sigh) Remember, these are the same people who are
unable to utter the word "vagina" without getting the vapors.
Nah, I've had it. I'd die of depression if I tried to keep up with all of this bile.
Fortunately, This website has taken up the slack. It's sort of a live, interactive version of the Charts, inspired by Stephen Colbert.
Thanks to everyone,
—Brainwrap
Update: I've corrected David Pakman's name in the YouTube links above, but more importantly, thanks to mamajo for reminding me of another INCREDIBLY offensive one that I somehow had forgotten about:
APE RAPE
"Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’"
--Republican Senator & Presidential Candidate John McCain, March 1986
(exact wording not confirmed, but original reporter Norma Coile confirmed that it was "Some joke involving a rape and ape was said...and the McCain campaign had a non-denial denial")
(sigh) I might have to issue a 4th volume after all...
Update x2: OK, fuck it, I'm gonna whip up a 4th volume. Be on the lookout...