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Victim Shaming, Yasmin Seweid, and the Critical Need for Skepticism in a Volatile Time
BREAKING: Police now say Yasmin made the whole thing up. Everyone who wrote hate mail to me and posted hateful things on my Twitter and Facebook can apologize now.
UPDATE: On December 9, Yasmin’s parent’s reported her missing. No additional details of her alleged attackers have been released since the original story, and no details of her missing status have been released.UPDATE: Yasmin has been found safe. No details have been released.
Did you hear? A female Trump supporter was assaulted. They called her a facist b*tch, ripped the strap off her Sarah Palin bag, threatened her — “You saw what we did to the Nazis last war.” Three-on-one against the 18-year-old, they tried but failed to tear the Make America Great Hat off her head. She was on the subway here in New York. She was paralyzed by fear, stating she screamed at her attackers and tried to use her phone, but the battery was dead.
She stayed on the subway for three full stops worth of this before getting off the train and reporting it. Nobody — not one person — on the train pulled the emergency cord, called 911 or intervened in any way. Even new people who got on the train at each stop did nothing to intervene. The subways cars are long enough that you could easily call 911 or hit the emergency call from one end away from the attack. None of this made it to any surveillance or even cell phone video. Unfortunately, she couldn’t provide a description of her attackers beyond they were Black and drunk. Despite extensive media coverage and anonymous reporting hotlines in NY, not a single witness has come forward to date. The only “witness” was the woman attacked.Victim Shamer
Admit it. You have some reservations. You have some questions. Maybe in some dark place you even think she deserved it, some payback to the racist haters who support Trump.
You are a victim shamer. Or, if you have no doubt, you have stopped thinking and just accept whatever you read online as the whole truth because it matches your own preconceived notions.
Yasmin Seweid
Which brings us to the story of Yasmin Seweid. She has written about her situation on her Facebook page, with her photo and other personal details and left comments open, so I am not “outing” anyone.
Yasmin claimed while on the subway platform in New York three drunk white men (she provided no other description according to the media) yelled “Donald Trump” and made comments about her being a Muslim terrorist, and then boarded the same subway car. On the car they pulled her bag hard enough to break the strap. They continued the verbal assault, and tried but failed to pull off her headscarf. She did not say how many others were on the train (I use the same 6 line, and at 10pm on weeknight it is typically reasonably peopled with late commuters.)
Yasmin stated not a single person on the train intervened, pulled the emergency alarm, videoed the incident, tried 911 or otherwise assisted her. “It breaks my heart that so many individuals chose to be bystanders while watching me get harassed verbally and physically by these disgusting pigs,” wrote Yasmin on Facebook.
Yasmin stayed on the train for three more stops. Those stops were in midtown stations in “safe” areas and generally have a reasonable number of people on the platforms. All stations have employees present and live video monitors. At the third stop she got off the train and reported the incident to the police. They had her review surveillance video of people entering her departure station and she did not identify her attackers. Platforms and some trains in NYC have surveillance cameras. No information on any of those recordings.
Wrote a commenter on Facebook: “Everyone of you who claims this is fake news is in denial of the hate that has been incited. It is clear that you’re probably a Trump supporter. Perhaps someone will come forward with a video or at least verify her story.”
So far, no one has.
You See Where I’m Going
The Internet and media reacted as you would expect them to react. A hate crime. Society is breaking down. The worst of us are now cut loose to do terrible things. Anyone questioning what happens is either a hate criminal too, or blaming the victim. Claiming this is a hoax is deplorable. Only a man, a white man, would question a victim.
I was not there and neither were any of the others commenting. So the questions raised are just that, questions, but they are questions currently without answers. I think they need to be answered, because there are hate crimes, and there are hoaxes and exaggerated acts, and in volatile times those need to be sorted out.
By putting her story on Facebook, and using potentially explosive language herself there about what she calls “Trump’s America,” Yasmin made this a national political statement, and that opens the door to talking about it as a national political issue. The media is certainly treating it as such.
If everything Yasmin said is 100% accurate, we are in very deep sh*t — no one helped during an egregious assault in plain view in America’s most diverse city, a city that voted 58% Clinton, on a “safe” subway line? The line, as in NYC itself, would have very likely had people riding of color, men and women, perhaps including LGBTQ and Muslim people. Yasmin is 18, barely an adult, a woman riding alone. On the whole, New Yorkers are not shy people. And nobody did anything?
If her story is not 100% accurate, people will scream hoax (here’s a list of post-election hoaxes) and use it as a dangerous example for every other hate crime that happens. That is very, very bad and can cause direct harm to other women.
In a world of fake news and exaggerations, believing what we want to believe because it matches our politics, means the media drives the agenda. Skepticism expressed places a burden on them to source, to verify their stories, and perhaps ask themselves how to handle a story responsibly. The media many of us depend on, from the New York Times to progressive blogs, failed us. For the next four years, they must do us better. If they fear hard questions, what they write will often be crap.
A Different Story
It is not “evidence,” but an example. I have not been able to find any reports related to hate crimes where random, unconnected, New Yorkers as a group have stood by watching it happen and did nothing.
I did find a story where NYC subway riders stood up for a pair of Muslim women after they were harassed by a man who called them “terrorist foreigners.”
The news stated “Everyone on the train ‘erupted in anger.’ …Several people, including a man who said he was a Romanian immigrant, a black man and a gay man, challenged the man’s stances. Eventually, another straphanger got the man to stop his rant by saying, ‘This is New York City. The most diverse place in the world. And in New York, we protect our own and we don’t give a f*ck what anyone looks like or who they love, or any of those things. It’s time for you to leave these women alone, Sir.'”
The one felony-level crime I have seen on the subway in the last three years was a fight among a handful of young men who, by the things they were shouting at each other, appeared to know each other. Someone pushed the emergency call button and several people had their cameras out to record what happened. Cops were waiting at the next station.
There are always explanation, plausible and outside the box for why things happen/not happen. But for all of this story about Yasmin to be true it seems like we need a lot of answers to a lot of questions to all add up about the same way. So let’s hear some answers. The media who are blasting the original story around the world should follow-up.
So What Happened?
I know and am sympathetic about victim shaming/blaming, but it does us no good to assume the opposite, either, that every accusation must be true. That option faded when this morphed into a political event, by the victim’s choosing. She asked to be viewed as an example of what is happening in America. Asking tough questions are necessary because these are very important issues that sadly extend beyond what happened to an individual.
As I write this, the story as stated by Yasmin is proliferating across the web. I have not been able to find any follow-up reporting other than a boilerplate NYPD statement that no arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing.
So what happened to Yasmin? What is happening in America?
UPDATE: Since all of the above, as of December 6, two other violent anti-Muslim incidents occurred. A quick arrest was made in one case, a passerby intervened in the other. There have been no updates and no physical descriptions of the alleged attackers in Yasmin’s case, though the media continue to bundle her story into the other two.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
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chuck said...
1The U.S. Media (state) is a Terrorist organization. TY Peter. Have a nice day.
12/5/16 11:19 AM | Comment Link
chuck said...
2I love the USA (is sarcasm allowed on this site?)
12/5/16 11:27 AM | Comment Link
Helen Marshall said...
3Beyond comment. appreciate your willingness to raise these questions in public.
One Day At A Time.
12/5/16 11:46 AM | Comment Link
wemeantwell said...
4I hope I am wrong and that this is in no way a hoax or exaggeration. But I am also saddened that it is very, very hard to have these conversations in America.
12/5/16 3:11 PM | Comment Link
Helen Marshall said...
5Just saw that Tom Dispatch has published the NY Daily News account put up by Yasmin, without question.
12/5/16 12:14 PM | Comment Link
wemeantwell said...
6I saw that. Sent Tom a note asking he read my blog today.
12/5/16 3:10 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
7Ty Helen.
12/5/16 12:22 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
8Wow! This just in…Happening Now…Breaking News… The Fake News sheeple are reporting o Fake News! I love Amerika. The silver snake beat the black snake for the moment. If A does not work, or has problems, Plan B is in effect. Happening now…
12/5/16 12:38 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
9Trump just tweeted about it: 26,000 unreported sexual assults in the subway-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?
12/5/16 2:01 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
10So,
At the risk of being labeled, and attacked….
I have enough proof to the Prove the opposite…
The rules used to be… There had to be a verified assault, attack, etc…
In this case…. As presented….. She’s lying. For the purpose of making a political statement.
Now….. In the enviroment we have in this nation, its like “micro- aggressions”… And sexual harassment….
True or false…. Lie, or honesty…
Once its said…. the “perpetrator” is…. They are done.
No proof necessary. No trial by peers, no burden of proof….. A news media hanging….
And made worse by the social “media”….
M
12/5/16 2:40 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
11So…. As we are being critical of the “media”…
How many here think that someone in the “media” is trying to get this guy killed?
It reads like a road map to find him, and his wife and kids.
Irresponsible bullshit.
Yes, the man’s statements are bullshit…. But the ‘Here is his full name, This is where his wife is from’..
Its just CRAP!
http://topstories.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=17224&content=118529018&pageNum=-1
M
12/5/16 2:51 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
12Pitch- where are you with some Biblical metaphors? American is Babylon! The ancient term morphed into babble. That is what the USA is today- lots of babble. Everyone is talking at the same time. The Bible predicted such an event as a precursor to the second coming. I’m not buying that but I enjoy Biblical pondering for amusement.
12/5/16 5:50 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
13Must be nice to get do over’s .
“As the Mess continues”
A new day time soap opera… Full of everything a failing country needs. Intrigue, murders, security leaks, and corruption….
Now…. In Texas of all places….. Electors changing their votes… And resigning rather than keep their written promises.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/05/texas-republican-elector-says-wont-cast-vote-for-trump.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29
M
12/5/16 6:59 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
14Question… Actual serious question….for those with state Department experience….
How in the hell can this happen????
Am I missing something????
http://topstories.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=17224&content=118529998&pageNum=-1
M
12/5/16 7:05 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
15John Poole said…
“The Bible predicted such an event as a precursor to the second coming. I’m not buying that but I enjoy Biblical pondering for amusement.”
Says one who’s never lived through a period of time that he would get down on his knee’s, in stark recognition of the only thing he had left to base the last place of human hope. I have.
12/5/16 7:58 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
16On a side note…
You know, it’s not often one is a witness to complete failure of human cognizance of their momentary responsibility to fucking PAYING ATTENTION to what the fuck is going on around them. Today…i was a witness. Made me sick. An automobile accident. Dumbfucks behind the wheel cause death and forevermore pain and suffering to people at the crux of the consequences of these fuckface morons who DO NOT PAY ATTENTION.
On the other hand.. victims of stupidity are another thing…
To wit….
http://ktla.com/2016/12/05/oakland-fire-death-toll-at-33-likely-to-climb-as-investigation-continues/
fuck.
12/5/16 8:25 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
17These American boys were just following the tweets of birdbrain General jack d ripper Flynn in voicing their outrage for her obvious disrespect for American values in wearing that offensive head covering. USA USA USA MUSLIMS IS GONNA PAY
12/5/16 8:26 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
18Ok, it’s time I addressed Peter’s subject at hand..
All I can suggest is.. If I were in peoples shoes who are subject to this level of violence towards their existence.. I’d get some training in weapons, get a permit..and CARRY it.
12/5/16 8:32 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
19How come the media doesn’t report how many illegal Muslims voted for the democrat? Got to be at least five million. Sure Clinton got 66,000,000 votes to 63,000,000 for our dark lord and savior, but subtract the illegal vote and he won in a landslide, just like our dark lord and savior said. No wonder those boys were mad. Our fearless leader sure is mad.
12/5/16 8:38 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
20Rich Bauer said…
“These American boys were just following the tweets of birdbrain General jack d ripper Flynn…”
And this weeks award for Great Moments in Cognizance of Reality… goes to….Rich Bauer!! Give it up baby!
fuck. If certifiable psychopathic behavior was measured in degrees of weather anomaly.. Flynn would measure a 6.1 on the hurricane scale. Let’s just hope it doesn’t destroy humanity.
12/5/16 8:42 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
21Rich Bauer said:
“How come the media doesn’t report how many illegal Muslims voted for the democrat? Got to be at least five million. Sure Clinton got 66,000,000 votes to 63,000,000 for our dark lord and savior, but subtract the illegal vote and he won in a landslide, just like our dark lord and savior said. No wonder those boys were mad. Our fearless leader sure is mad.”
Rich..Rich… is this satire?
12/5/16 8:47 PM | Comment Link
Liz said...
22Well said.
I thought the account to be a little odd when she stated that no one said anything. Try bring this up, and I’d be called a crazy racist, etc. etc.
12/5/16 10:48 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
23Pitchfork said…
” On a side note…
You know, it’s not often one is a witness to complete failure of human cognizance of their momentary responsibility to fucking PAYING ATTENTION to what the fuck is going on around them. Today…i was a witness. Made me sick. An automobile accident. Dumbfucks behind the wheel cause death and forevermore pain and suffering to people at the crux of the consequences of these fuckface morons who DO NOT PAY ATTENTION. ”
Pitchfork, you hanging in there ?
Been where your at more than a few times.
M
12/6/16 5:50 AM | Comment Link
Gisele said...
24Thank you for this courageous and necessary perspective. We have to be constantly reminded not to go with the flow. Critical thinking is hard work.
12/6/16 6:09 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
25So, as long as we are on the woes of the “media”..
Woman goes jogging…. Woman gets abducted…. Held for weeks…. Beaten… Branded (WTF???). ….
Woman gets released…… Chained neck and waist to a tree …. Naked….. In winter….
Law enforcement flat out says the woman is telling the truth.
Media camps out on her lawn.. 24/7…. Everyday during the abduction… And since….
And now…. The media says she and her family have “skipped” town….
As if she is the criminal.
Law enforcement knows where she is…. And apparently helped her and her family pack…
But…. She “skipped town”…..
WTF??????
http://topstories.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=17224&external=3836290.proteus.fma
M
12/6/16 8:43 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
26Pitch, satire lets you be the judge. In deference to peter, the time for skepticism is over. When history writes How come we didn’t see It coming, the truth is we have been swallowing shit for so long, we lost the ability to tell the difference. That this dumbass country would let general jack d ripper Flynn anywhere near the White House is a testament to the diseased mindset of millions of Americans who are blinded by hate and don’t notice Flynn would lead them to their deaths. Watching Joe Scarborough biitch about Flynn ain’t gonna change anything. People need to protest in D.C. In such numbers the corporate fake news media can’t ignore it. Shut the place down and get regime change where it is needed.
12/6/16 8:56 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
27Bauer- would you rather have Trump in the WH who wants to work with Putin (another nuke carrying macho guy) OR Hillary who has vowed to become czarina? I’ll support the one who isn’t talking hostile confrontations with nukes. So if Trump is bumped it will be your gal Hillary who gets her chance to flare this tiny wonderful orb in her crazed lesbian death wish.
12/6/16 10:26 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
28John Poole,
Your missing Rich’s ‘perspective’.
Some people just want to watch the world burn.
Some people feel answering a question makes them ‘weak’.
Some people only want destruction.
M
12/6/16 11:42 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
29Sonofabitch….
An “elected ” official … Merkel… Pulled her head out and realized… Some things are dangerous.
http://foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=22995&external=3836587.proteus.fma
M
12/6/16 11:47 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
30Back in high school…. I remember “baiting” a guy who did something like this…. He did not kill the 12 year old victim…. Just so he would throw a punch….. And “justified”… My beating his ass…..
Felt bad for him afterwards…. Not!!!
http://topstories.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=17224&external=3836656.proteus.fma
M
12/6/16 11:53 AM | Comment Link
chuck said...
31Biden/Kilary 2o36
12/6/16 1:30 PM | Comment Link
teri said...
32Pitch,
Hey. screw politics for a minute. Here’s for you and your gal:
“O Holy Night”, Josh Groben:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zh-yR0pbmU
And “Happy Christmas (war is over)”, John Lennon and Yoko Ono (this was their dream, that there would be no more wars. Warning; the video with this is pretty graphic and shows scenes from several different war zones):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4Uu0OlmTg
Both make me cry, but for different reasons.
12/6/16 4:21 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
33Oh, I get it. This is just a mind game. See, in Trumpland there are no such things as facts. Even if she was assaulted, that is just her opinion. Way to go, Peter.
12/6/16 6:36 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
34Mitch- Bauer seems like he would enjoy seeing the USA implode. It looks like it will but I will not be laughing. I have children and grandchildren. Does Bauer have people he cares about?
12/6/16 9:25 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
35John,
He will never answer that question.
And, I do believe your right. And I don’t see a single thing to stop that from happening.
And paid protesters don’t help.
M
12/7/16 1:24 AM | Comment Link
Deselby said...
36I spent 15 years as a public defender, I am no longer surprised at the propensity of people to make up false charges, out of revenge, mental illness, attention seeking, or to make their point.
12/7/16 4:24 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
37General jack d ripper and the other sick fucks who want to destroy the world are the dicks you should worry what they are thinking. Amazing you two think alike. One would think you were the same person, nichtwahr?
12/7/16 7:13 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
38Deselby,
Damn, ok. You get it.
Hi. Welcome to the thinking.
Smile.
M
12/7/16 6:05 PM | Comment Link
Richard Dorrough said...
39CBSNews FB reposted today….after doing a search I found on the 3rd page the following. All other news orgs told the same story word per word.
A New York teenager who went missing after she said she was harassed on a train last week has been found.
Yasmin Seweid, 18, was found in the early hours of Saturday morning, officials from the Nassau County Police Department’s Missing Persons Squad said. The teen was seen being taken from her Long Island home on a stretcher Saturday afternoon. THe Police won
‘t say where she was found, no word on suspects..
12/11/16 1:01 AM | Comment Link
AO said...
40“If her story is not 100% accurate, people will scream hoax (here’s a list of post-election hoaxes) and use it as a dangerous example for every other hate crime that happens. That is very, very bad and can cause direct harm to other women.”
And, as it turns out, her story was 0% accurate – like most (though obviously not all) of these high profile “hate crime” stories.
This is very, very bad and should cause admissions of gullibility and/or bias from those pushing it, followed by a lengthy period of introspection.
If something sounds too good (for one’s worldview) to be true, it probably isn’t. Reality has a nasty way of slapping around the delusions we often live under.
12/14/16 5:26 PM | Comment Link
Yasmin Soweird said...
41We saw quite a few examples of liberal “victims” who concocted stories of abuse. Remember the gay guy who claimed that a bakery wrote an insulting remark on his cake and it turned out he did it himself? Dumb libs.
12/14/16 7:04 PM | Comment Link
Dave said...
42Story is total hoax – blame the drunk white Trump supporter.
Dave
Society for the prevention of cruelty to Drunk White Guys (SPOCDWG)
12/14/16 7:20 PM | Comment Link
Mike said...
43Why no mention of the fact that she’s beautiful? Persians are the most attractive race on the planet.
12/14/16 8:41 PM | Comment Link
wemeantwell said...
44Her parents are Egyptian.
12/14/16 9:58 PM | Comment Link
TA said...
45More fake news from the left. Like Russia.
12/14/16 9:01 PM | Comment Link
Rob said...
46She made it up. Why don’t you update that?
12/15/16 1:05 PM | Comment Link