"accuser" = 'victim'

[Laurence Horn]

On Mar 17, 2013, at 7:23 PM, Neal Whitman wrote:

> Doing a little bit of searching on "survivor accuser victim," I find
> that if anything, the use of "accuser" instead of "victim" is not seen
> as a goodthing, but rather one more obstacle for rape victims to
> overcome. If no one can be called a rape victim until after they have
> accused someone, who has subsequently been convicted, what about all the
> rapes that go unreported, or which don't result in an arrest? See, for
> example, this blog post complaining about a legislator's move to replace
> "victim" with" accuser" in a bill:
>
>
>     http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/no-such-thing-as-a-rape-victim/
>
>
> Having read the earlier message, I was interested to see that the AP
> concluded its story with a similar sentence, which finesses the issue by
> putting "victims" inside a presupposition-blocking "say" complement:"The
> AP also does not generally identify people who say they were victims of
> sex crimes."
>
> Neal

And imagine the consequences if this practice (replacing "victim" by "accuser") were extended to murder.  If no one can be called a murder victim until after they've accused someone of the act, that would certainly do wonders to bring down the murder statistics.

LH
>
> O n 3/17/2013 12:19 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "accuser" = 'victim'
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> "Victim" is passive and therefore "demeaning" - or so I've heard. She's not
>> a victim: she's an "accuser" and a "survivor."
>>
>> I notice that your post even uses the passive voice.  Wake up and smell the
>> Kool-Aid!
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>> Subject:      "accuser" =3D 'victim'
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>> ------
>>> Yahoo! News's top story (of some past instant):
>>>
>>> Judge finds two Ohio teens guilty of raping girl
>>>
>>> [At the end:]
>>>
>>> "Under its policy of keeping the names of
>>> accusers in rape cases confidential, Reuters has not identified the girl.=
>> "
>>> My guess is that, although the accused were
>>> convicted, because the article observes that the
>>> "girl"s story was questioned by the defense, she
>>> can only be described as an "accuser", not as an actual "victim".
>>>
>>> *By*Drew Singer | Reuters =96 24 mins ago
>>> [But]
>>> (*Writing* by James B. Kelleher and David Bailey;
>>> editing by Steve Gorman, Xavier Briand and Bill Trott)
>>> [ Emphasis added.]
>>>
>>> Joel
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --=20
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
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