"accuser" = 'victim'

[Jonathan Lighter]

>"The AP also does not generally identify people who say they were victims
of sex crimes."

I believe part of the reason for this sort of sentence is to emphasize the
personhood of victims. Another factor is that not everyone who claims to be
a victim of a "sex crime" is necessarily a victim or - more significantly -
the victim of the accused.

JL

On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 9:31 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "accuser" = 'victim'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
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> truth."
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