I may be stupid…

…but at least I’m dense.

So last week I ran a piece that hurt a number of my readers (the one about the CBS reporter who was raped, ridiculing the arguments of torture defenders whose excuses for torture also work out to be excuses for rape). A number of women who had endured abuse themselves wrote to complain and I wrote back, attempting to explain why I wrote it. Some people favored the piece, others strongly objected. A nagging voice in the back of my mind told me there was something in the complaints I should heed, but since I am given to scruples anyway, I was also unsure as to whether I should take the piece down or not.

I kept mulling it over, largely focusing on the logic and arguments and not really thinking beyond that. Then something occurred to me.

Would I have written it had my own wife been a survivor of rape? If the discussion has opened old wounds for her, would I have said it? The answer was a very clear, “No.” Nothing was worth making her cry or hurt. Even landing a good punch on real defenders of real evil. In fact, to do so was to fail to see her humanity, which is what defenders of torture do to their victims.

So, I have taken both the initial post and the defense of it down and I will let this stand as my mea culpa to any and all readers offended by what I wrote and I will be getting myself to confession presently.

I am sorry. Please forgive me.