A blog post by Cards Against Humanity co-creator, Max Temkin, circulated the internet last weekend, addressing and defending a rape allegation made against him. This post gained significant traction shortly after publication, and soon a multitude of other blogs and websites picked up the story. One in particular is video gaming website Kotaku – with author Patricia Hernandez writing the story. Since the opinion piece went live on Tuesday, fans of the site have almost unanimously cried out in anger, with many calling for Kotaku to fire the author.
The article, which you can read here, focuses and expands on a small portion of Temkin’s response, concerning rape culture and the idea of consent. I can’t in good conscience summarize the article myself, because that would inadvertently inject my own bias onto the situation; suffice to say Patricia offers up a discussion of Temkin’s post by zeroing in on that particular – self-described as ‘untouched’ – portion of general ‘rape discussion’.
The entire situation is horrible for all parties involved – Temkin’s accuser claims the incident occurred approximately a decade earlier, so finding evidence in favor of either party will be rough. The horror turned on Patricia, however, when her readers interpreted her article as condemning the man without evidence and trial, accusing her of denying his right to defend himself.
Annoyance slowly boiled into outrage as the article’s comment section grew. The very first comment embodies a large number of responses in just a few succinct sentences: “If he didn’t rape someone, he should absolutely defend himself. People are raped and it’s horrible, but people are also falsely accused and that’s also an injustice.”
Unfortunately for her, Patricia’s responses failed to smooth the channels of communication:
Patricia Hernandez: “Like I said, we can’t know. He can’t prove that. Neither can she. But statistically, 1-8% of accusations turn out to be false.”
Dude Guru: “So are you saying, statistically, he’s guilty?”
Patricia Hernandez: “No. But it’s worth considering.”
An update issued by Kotaku’s editor did nothing to stem the flow of anger, especially on Kotaku’s Facebook page. Comments crying ‘feminist’ and ‘bad journalist’ ran aplenty, and still flow as I write this. Needless to say, those part of Kotaku’s Facebook page had plenty to say on the topic – most of it one-sided. Some examples of these comments:
“I still don’t understand how someone can write something like this and keep their job. It’s disgraceful.”
“Ofc it’s written by Patricia Hernandez. When are you going to fire her for writing garbage?”
“I’m a fan and follower of Kotaku. I really appreciate the various viewpoints from the journalists on your site.
That being said, this was the biggest clickbait shit article I’ve seen in recent history. Really dumb stuff, Patricia and the entire site should be ashamed.”“OF COURSE it is a Patricia article! How much down the drain does she have to carry you to understand she does nothing but destroy any credibility you have as a website with her sensational, nonsense, sometimes offensive articles?”
“I don’t read Patricia articles.”
“Shouldn’t have said he was too focused on defending himself. When you get accused of rape, that’s all someone should focus on. No one should view their own rape accusation as an “opportunity” for discussion. This is your life we are talking about here.”
“Good update. Important to call attention to that aspect of the discussion. The emergence of waaaaaaaaambulancers calling for writers’ dismissals is sad and mistaken as usual.”
“Without even touching on my view of the article in question, I have to say I’m already disgusted by the responses. Thank you gaming community for once again making me want to shoot myself in the head.”
“dear Kotaku editor: 2 words: Fire Patricia Hernandez. or is that 3?”
“I can’t agree more. Hernandez puts up terrible articles, and this was the creme de la creme.”
The general consensus is that the piece was poorly conceived and defended, and embodies a lot of fans’ views on Patricia’s writing standard. In my opinion, this type of behavior, especially one where a massive number of people hate on one particular person – calling their work a disgrace and demanding she be fired – is unacceptable, no matter how much you agree or disagree with her content. That being said, you don’t touch that many nerves simultaneously without something being amiss, especially on such a sensitive topic.
What’s your opinion on Patricia’s article and the ensuing backlash? Do you agree/disagree with some of the responses? Let us know in the comments below.
To disagree, drop a line to, or just have a chat with the author, follow him on Twitter at ‘@alexconnellan‘.