Honest, I was…

…but then I came across an article on the CA’s blog that summed up my feelings very well and also reassured me that I’m not the only person that finds it fucking annoying. I’ll just quote Ms. Turner of the CA and save myself the time of writing the same thing, except with more profanity.

If you’ve been following the story of the so-called “big-bellied” rapist (I have some serious issues with that moniker that I’ll discuss in a bit), you’ll definitely want to check out my girl Newscoma‘s posts on the matter. She’s been on a roll: Social media’s role in the story, community reaction, and being pissed. Check out what she’s got to say.

As for the moniker, we’re currently involved in newsroom discussions about the appropriateness of continuing to use “big-bellied” as a descriptor. There’s been a pretty robust discussion, which is good. I fall on the side of retiring the nickname or, at most, referencing it and explaining that authorities dubbed this man that way, but not perpetuating it as the main way to describe this person. There are a lot of semantic implications of using that nickname that don’t sit well with me (and many others in the newsroom). Taken in context, describing this man this way makes a mockery of his (alleged) crimes (“haw haw haw, a fat rapist?!”) and is, at the same time, blatantly anti-fat (“he’s fat, let’s point and laugh!!!”). I’m not necessarily worried about hurting this particular guy’s feelings if, in fact, he did was he is accused of. I’m more concerned with the fat part stealing the show when we’re talking about some sick, sick crimes here. Let’s focus on the rape part and leave the silly fat-bashing out of it. That’s my two cents.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. First and foremost, it’s just fucking stupid sounding, and makes me want to kick a puppy. Also, it does seem to detract from the gravity of the crimes. Kill the stupid nickname.