Speaking of GOP activist James O’Keefe’s stupid self-hating stunts, according to his (current) Wikipedia page (emphasis mine)
O’Keefe has described himself as an “investigative journalist without formal training” who follows Saul Alinsky’s rule of making “the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” He has been called a “guerrilla documentarian” and a “daredevil videographer”, and usually confronts subjects undercover and caricatures their social values by carrying them to outlandish extremes.
So. Looking at his alleged attempt to make a sex tape of himself with CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau in this light you sort of have to ask which “book of rules” O’Keefe thought he was using, and exactly who’s set of “social values” he imagined he was carrying to outlandish extremes?
Without needing to know anything about the reporter herself (who obviously had no, zero, none role in the planning or attempted execution of the scheme) we can say that like roughly 90-94% of adult women she leans comfortably heterosexual.
In which case there’s probably no rule in her book saying
#1 It’s simultaneously inconceivable and intolerable for a woman to express sexual desire.
or that
#2: It’s simultaneously inconceivable and intolerable for a man to be sexually desired.
Yet without those Two Rules of Desire it’s hard to see how O’Keefe could achieve his intention of mortally embarrassing Boudrea by seducing her.
Abbie Boudreau
Photo from CNNFurthermore, do you suppose it would be Boudreau’s book of rules that says if a conservative activist (or anyone else) decides a woman is a “bubble-headed-bleach-blonde” then he has an automatic go-ahead to contrive to seduce her by means of falsehoods and insincerity?
And finally, do you think there’s a rule in her book that says that should the conservative activist successfully have consensual sex with an independent, autonomous adult woman that it would reveal anything more about her than a possible preference for weak-chinned men with a vague resemblance to Zachary Quinto’s “Sylar” character?
Don’t think so?
No. I didn’t think so either.
That book of rules would appear to be 100% O’Keefe’s. Which, again, explains much about O’Keefe.
Near as I can tell, this
Submitted by Nightfall (not verified) on Thu, 2010-09-30 22:19.Near as I can tell, this wasn't about Abbie Boudreau at all, but about CNN. His "logic" was that CNN was using attractive blondes to "seduce" new viewers, so he made it a mission to turn the tables on them by "seducing" an attractive blonde under their employment. This is apparently what happens in a world run by CNN's "values", ha ha ha ha ha meh whatever.
While there might
Submitted by chingona on Thu, 2010-09-30 22:44.While there might theoretically be nothing wrong with an adult woman having consensual sex with a conservative activist, there’s a lot wrong with a journalist having sex with a source. If it were consensual sex, she would be fired and her career might very well be over.
Lastly, I need only the slightest excuse to trot out one of my favorite lines from “Thank You for Smoking”: “I thought anything I said while I was inside you was off the record.”
Absolutely agree that it'd be
Submitted by colorlessblue (not verified) on Fri, 2010-10-01 03:31.Absolutely agree that it'd be unprofessional for a journalist to have sex with a source, but reading the "plan", it sounds like they weren't thinking of that. It sounds like they thought she'd be discredited for having sex while being a woman, or even that being in a room decorated with sex props would be enough humilliation.
Agreed in that I’m not sure
Submitted by chingona on Fri, 2010-10-01 10:50.Agreed in that I’m not sure they understand journalistic ethics enough and I suspect their world view is warped enough that her femaleness and attractiveness would be the main things discrediting her. But if he had “succeeded” (and I’m not convinced he wouldn’t have simply raped her if it had come to that, then selectively edited the video to make it not look like rape), she would be discredited both in the twisted world view that shames women for being sexual and discredited in the more legitimate world view that expects journalists to be at some remove from their subjects.