Alcohol isn't a very good excuse
Last Thursday, a woman in NY hailed a Yellow Cab at 51st and 2nd Avenue to get her home to Queens. It is a pretty common occurrence throughout the city on a Thursday evening after drinks, hell, I've done it numerous times. It is the way of NYers: go out, get tipsy or fall-down drunk, hail a cab, get home. Well, last week, something happened after hailing a cab and before getting home: she was sexually assaulted. The cabbie stopped near her home, got in the backseat and sodomized the 24-year-old. It's put the fright in every woman in NY to think that heading home after a night out could lead to that. Cabs are the safe haven, the way to get home, especially if you live in the outer boroughs. And now with the increase in fares from $2 surcharge and 30¢ per fifth of a mile to $2.50 surcharge and 40¢ per fifth of a mile, people may want to reconsider whether it is feasible to take a taxi. Many cabs in other cities that do have higher rates accept credit and debit cards--not so here in NY.
This leads up to my story of catching a cab at 49th and 2nd Avenue after picking up cupcakes yesterday at 6:45pm to meet Shenan for dinner and a movie. The cabbie strikes up a conversation with me about how I didn't want to wait for a bus (really, I was running late--I like taking the bus). Then he starts up about how the fare increase is such a good thing because he's gotta eat (hey, so do I, and I haven't had a raise in years and have to freelance on occasion to supplement my income!). I express how yes, it is probably a good thing since San Francisco cabs, few and far between compared to the 1,300 Yellow Cabs in NY, are way expensive. Then I say how it wouldn't be such a burden to pay if cabs took credit and debit cards to which he showed obvious resistance. I explained, while many city cabs cost more, they accept plastic. He mumbled something. Then I told the story about the girl that got assaulted by her cabbie. He was surprised--apparently his wage doesn't afford him a newspaper to have heard about this a few days ago. I explained the details about where she got picked up and what happened to her. His response: "Was she drunk?" I was like, um, what does that have to do with her being raped? "I don't know, probably, but it doesn't matter," I say. He asks me again and I give him the same answer, rather appalled that he wants imply that she was drunk and so deserved it maybe or was asking for it. After he asks me a third time, I am a bit more forceful in saying, "It doesn't matter if she was drunk. He raped her, clear and simple. She could've been 10 sheets to the wind, that doesn't mean he can assault her." I paid the fare and got out, annoyed at this guy. He's got the gall to insinuate that she was asking for it because she was drunk while women from his part of the world are gang raped because their brother was seen with a woman in a higher cast system, or in Iraq where women live in fear from being kidnapped and raped by groups of men just because they feel like it.
Today, I read a quote from Ireland Online made by Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, in response to the recent torture photos of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers: "People will be extremely angry…sexual abuse is the worst thing in that part of the world. It is shocking to all Muslims." While I think the soldiers who so idiotically documented their crimes should get 100 years in Leavenworth, this guy is totally out of touch with the crime in his own country against his own people, perpetrated by his own people. How about the more than 400 women in Iraq who are already victims and the countless others who are afraid to leave their homes because of the roaming misanthropes who want to sexually assault them? Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot. He should have modified his statement to say "sexual abuse against men is the worst thing in that part of the world." Unless it is a crime against a man, it isn't a crime apparently. A man can drink until he's pickled and if he's assaulted, he wasn't asking for it. Marie Claire and Glamour both produced articles in their March issues about women being raped and tortured and killed and the Iraqi police not giving a rat's ass. Yeah, real nice folks there; real humanists.
And now, for something completely different: I had two red velvet cupcakes from Buttercup Bake Shop. I highly recommend it--the cupcakes are better than Magnolia Bakery's as they are more moist. Yum.
This leads up to my story of catching a cab at 49th and 2nd Avenue after picking up cupcakes yesterday at 6:45pm to meet Shenan for dinner and a movie. The cabbie strikes up a conversation with me about how I didn't want to wait for a bus (really, I was running late--I like taking the bus). Then he starts up about how the fare increase is such a good thing because he's gotta eat (hey, so do I, and I haven't had a raise in years and have to freelance on occasion to supplement my income!). I express how yes, it is probably a good thing since San Francisco cabs, few and far between compared to the 1,300 Yellow Cabs in NY, are way expensive. Then I say how it wouldn't be such a burden to pay if cabs took credit and debit cards to which he showed obvious resistance. I explained, while many city cabs cost more, they accept plastic. He mumbled something. Then I told the story about the girl that got assaulted by her cabbie. He was surprised--apparently his wage doesn't afford him a newspaper to have heard about this a few days ago. I explained the details about where she got picked up and what happened to her. His response: "Was she drunk?" I was like, um, what does that have to do with her being raped? "I don't know, probably, but it doesn't matter," I say. He asks me again and I give him the same answer, rather appalled that he wants imply that she was drunk and so deserved it maybe or was asking for it. After he asks me a third time, I am a bit more forceful in saying, "It doesn't matter if she was drunk. He raped her, clear and simple. She could've been 10 sheets to the wind, that doesn't mean he can assault her." I paid the fare and got out, annoyed at this guy. He's got the gall to insinuate that she was asking for it because she was drunk while women from his part of the world are gang raped because their brother was seen with a woman in a higher cast system, or in Iraq where women live in fear from being kidnapped and raped by groups of men just because they feel like it.
Today, I read a quote from Ireland Online made by Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, in response to the recent torture photos of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers: "People will be extremely angry…sexual abuse is the worst thing in that part of the world. It is shocking to all Muslims." While I think the soldiers who so idiotically documented their crimes should get 100 years in Leavenworth, this guy is totally out of touch with the crime in his own country against his own people, perpetrated by his own people. How about the more than 400 women in Iraq who are already victims and the countless others who are afraid to leave their homes because of the roaming misanthropes who want to sexually assault them? Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot. He should have modified his statement to say "sexual abuse against men is the worst thing in that part of the world." Unless it is a crime against a man, it isn't a crime apparently. A man can drink until he's pickled and if he's assaulted, he wasn't asking for it. Marie Claire and Glamour both produced articles in their March issues about women being raped and tortured and killed and the Iraqi police not giving a rat's ass. Yeah, real nice folks there; real humanists.
And now, for something completely different: I had two red velvet cupcakes from Buttercup Bake Shop. I highly recommend it--the cupcakes are better than Magnolia Bakery's as they are more moist. Yum.
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