text: So, here are some cheerful statistics for you: According to RAINN, about 60% of rapes aren’t reported. In those cases, there’s about a 51% chance that the 40% of reported rapes will have an arrest made. There’s an 80% chance of prosecution. And, given various factors including conviction and sentencing, there’s only about a 16.3% chance that someone who commits rape will serve time for that rape. Meaning: If we factor in the rapes that go unreported, only 6% of rapists ever serve time. EVER. 
   
   Gee, it sounds like making sure that rape accusations are taken seriously, and pursued to the full extent of the law, in all cases, is a pretty important issue, for progressives! 
   
   Meanwhile, here are some facts: A man has been accused of rape by two separate women. He fled the country in which he was accused. He is fighting extradition, so that he won’t have to go back to that country and face charges — even though there are spectacularly low rates of conviction for accused rapists, he just doesn’t think that he should have to go through the system, for whatever reason. And you know who’s posting bail for him? 
   
   Fucking progressives. That’s who. Including one man who has, for some years now, served as one of the most prominent and recognizable faces of the American left, filmmaker/rabble-rouser/all-around champion of the Truth and the Little Guy, Michael Moore. He’s put $20,000 hard, cashy dollars on the line, so that Julian Assange, white male left-wing darling, will be able to get out on bail despite posing a substantial and acknowledged flight risk, and despite the fact that he evidently is working to avoid facing the charges of his accusers. And why is that? Well, as per Michael Moore’s lengthy diatribe on the subject, which contains exactly one paragraph about the rape charges, his reasoning is as follows: 
   
   For those of you who think it’s wrong to support Julian Assange because of the sexual assault allegations he’s being held for, all I ask is that you not be naive about how the government works when it decides to go after its prey. Please — never, ever believe the “official story.” And regardless of Assange’s guilt or innocence (see the strange nature of the allegations here), this man has the right to have bail posted and to defend himself. 
   
   In other words: Never, ever believe the women who are accusing Assange of rape. Never, ever believe the allegations that he forcibly held a woman down and raped her, never, ever believe that he raped a woman while she was unconscious. “Regardless of his guilt or innocence” — and it’s clear that Moore has chosen to believe in his “innocence,” despite the fact that Assange’s working to avoid being tried for the crime — help him. Don’t believe anything you hear about the charges, don’t believe the official story, despite the fact that Assange’s people have been caught lying — it turns out there is no such crime as “sex by surprise” in Sweden as Assange’s lawyer Mark Stephens alleged, it is not worth a fine of $715 because it doesn’t exist, and there is also no Swedish law against having sex with a broken condom; what is against the law in Sweden, it turns out, is rape, which is what Assange has been charged with — and a reasonable person might assume that they are the ones it’s unsafe to believe. Don’t believe them. The allegations are “strange.” (They sure did seem that way, when they were being inaccurately reported all over the place, thanks in part to misinformation spread by Assange’s defense.) Believe Michael Moore. 
   
   Believe Michael Moore when he tells you that giving $20,000 in bail is fair, because WikiLeaks is important, because the government keeps secrets, and for a lot of people, “secrets killed them.” 
   
   Sorry, but you brought this upon yourself. No one can hide from the truth now. No one can plot the next Big Lie if they know that they might be exposed. 
   
   Says Michael Moore. But hey, Michael, you know what exposes a Big Lie, a lot of the time? Rape allegations. You know who knows all about big lies? Women who have been raped. Raped, sometimes, by powerful men within our communities; raped by men who were beloved and supported by those communities; raped by our fellow progressives. And we didn’t report, because we knew no-one would believe us; because we knew we’d be shamed and smeared and lied about and harassed until we agreed to go away and let the Big Lie continue to exist. You want to employ the phrase “secrets killed them?” Women who have been raped know all about how secrets can kill people. And how, often, it’s telling the secret that gets you killed. Ask the women who are pressing these charges — their names have been so widely leaked, in one case by your fellow “progressive” media dudebro, Keith Olbermann, that it is possible to find their home addresses, their personal blogs and social media accounts, and to track their activities and personal lives. I’d imagine that they are very much in fear for their lives, due in large part to people like you, Michael Moore, who are insisting that they should not be believed. 
   
   And you’re the face of the Left. You have the platform, you have the power, you have the cash and the fame and the name and face recognition: You claim to speak for us. And when you speak, you don’t stand against rape. 
   
   So, who remembers the climactic scene of Roger and Me? Everybody, right? Poor little guy Michael Moore, standing up against The Man, standing outside the office of The Man, in fact, just because Roger has done something that has immeasurably harmed his community, and he wants to talk to the guy. He wants to hold him accountable. He wants Roger to look him in the face and tell him why he’s hurt all of these people. 
   
   You know what immeasurably harms the progressive community, though, is rape and rape apologism. Is victim-blaming; is accuser-smearing; is the unwillingness of men in positions of power to consider rape a crucial issue that must be taken seriously. And the person who’s hurting our community, and refusing to take responsibility for that, right now, is Michael Moore. 
   
   So thank God he’s on Twitter. He is @MMFlint, in fact! And here’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to use the #Mooreandme hashtag to tell him why what he has done and said is wrong. We’re going to talk to the man. We’re going to stand outside his window with a megaphone until he comes down and talks to us. And what we’re going to say — what I hope you’re going to say — is this: 
   
   We are the progressive community. We are the left wing. We are women and men, we are from every sector of this community, and we believe that every rape accusation must be taken seriously, regardless of the accused rapist’s connections, power, influence, status, fame, or politics. We believe that rape is a crucial and central issue which affects us all, women disproportionately, and we are sick of being told that you should “never, ever believe” us. We believe that accuser-shaming, accuser-harassment, victim-blaming, and the suppression of rape cases all serve one distinct purpose, which is: TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR PEOPLE TO RAPE US AND GET AWAY WITH IT. To make us scared to report our rapes, even to the people we know. And we will not stand for it any more. We require — not ask, not prefer, absolutely require — progressive media and public figures to stand against rape in every case. Again, this is not negotiable. This is mandatory. This is a requirement: If you don’t stand against rape, and make that stand a crucial and central part of your platform, we do not accept you either as a real “progressive” or as someone who is in any way qualified for authority or a leadership position. We will not buy your merchandise; we will not support you; we will speak out against you. Because a progressive movement that doesn’t stand against rape isn’t a progressive movement. It’s just The Man, it’s just the oppressor, it’s just oppression, in a baseball hat, holding a camcorder. 
   
   Please tweet @MMFlint, using the hashtag #Mooreandme, until we have an explanation from Michael Moore, and preferably an apology, and preferably $20,000, donated to an anti-sexual-assault organization of his choice. 
   
   You told us the little guy had to stand up, Mr. Moore. You told us the authority had to be held accountable for harming communities. You told us that the Big Lies were worth exposing. But you’re promoting the Big Lie, you’re harming our community, and this time around, the little guy is us. 
   
   We can be loud. We can be persistent. I hope you’re prepared. ||||| iStockphoto/jaroon/Salon 
   
   Oh no, Keith Olbermann has quit Twitter. Or "suspended his account," or something. He quit the Internet in a huff, which is never a good idea, especially when you're a prominent public figure, like Mr. Olbermann, who has a TV show. It's just not a good look! You come off as, you know, thin-skinned. Incapable of taking criticism. What was the "frenzy" about, exactly? Well, the term "rape apologist" was thrown about. 
   
   First, there was this segment, from "Countdown," in which Michael Moore explained why he posted bail for WikiLeaks founder and accused rapist Julian Assange: 
   
   Moore called Assange's arrest "hooey" and claimed that Assange was arrested solely because a condom broke during sex. Sigh. 
   
   That led to this post by the formidable blogger Sady Doyle, in which she urged people to tweet their displeasure directly to Moore and Olbermann. 
   
   Moore has not yet responded. Olbermann, though, most certainly did respond, and it did not reflect well on him, at all. 
   
   He bickered with Mediaite's Tommy Christopher, continued to demonstrate that he didn't know what Assange was accused of, and though he did finally apologize, it wasn't the sort of apology that involved an admission of wrongdoing. (And Olbermann did say some complete nonsense, like this, that he ought to think about "retracting.") 
   
   The horribleness of this entire public conversation is nicely described here by Jezebel's Anna North. 
   
   To be fair, poor reporting led quite a lot of people to believe that Assange had been charged with some silly-sounding crime called "sex by surprise" -- that's where the whole "he's under arrest because a condom broke!" nonsense came from -- when in fact he is accused of, in Whoopi Goldberg's regrettable formulation, "rape-rape." (But to be fairer, the whole "the condom broke" thing means consent was withdrawn, which means that, yes, that's rape.) 
   
   So, for the record, here is what Julian Assange is accused of, as per the Guardian, a newspaper that both Keith Olbermann and Michael Moore are most likely familiar with: 
   
   Gemma Lindfield, representing the Swedish authorities, told the court he was wanted in connection with four allegations. The first complainant, a Miss A, said she was the victim of "unlawful coercion" on the night of 14 August in Stockholm. The court heard Assange was alleged to have "forcefully" held her arms and used his bodyweight to hold her down. The second charge alleged he "sexually molested" her by having sex without using a condom, when it was her "express wish" that one should be used. A third charge claimed Assange "deliberately molested" Miss A on 18 August. A fourth charge, relating to a Miss W, alleged that on 17 August, he "improperly exploited" the fact she was asleep to have sex with her without a condom. 
   
   Obviously Assange should be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and it's also fair to say that Interpol never would've pursued this if it weren't for the fact that governments are cranky about WikiLeaks, and it's even fair to help him pay his bail, because everyone has the right to have someone pay their bail -- but his alleged victims should definitely not be presumed to be CIA spies or unreliable crazy feminazis, and no one with an interest in the story can credibly claim to be confused by the "strange" accusations against him. Not anymore. Assange was arrested on an extradition warrant connected to charges of committing rape. 
   
   Olbermann's been accused -- on grounds both specious and not -- of misogyny before. He's made awful comments about women, but he also has mentored and championed fine female journalists. People are complicated! They contain multitudes. Olbermann himself seems to understand this: "I would suggest that the likelihood Assange is an asshole is about 157%," he wrote, long after that sort of comment would've been helpful. 
   
   But instead of conflating people with legitimate criticisms of his statements/non-statements with people yelling at him for things he didn't actually say or do (it's Twitter, Keith, you can just ignore those people), and then dramatically suspending his Twitter account in a huff because of the "frenzy," Olbermann should probably just admit that he said some stupid stuff and apologize for real. 
   
   This story has been corrected since publication to reflect that Assange has not been charged with a crime.
target: – Keith Olbermann stormed off Twitter in a huff yesterday, after finding himself the recipient of a barrage of tweets condemning him and Michael Moore for defending Julian Assange. Olbermann had Moore on his show Tuesday to talk about the WikiLeaks founder, and nodded in sympathy as Moore declared the rape allegations against Assange “hooey.” That enraged readers at the blog Tiger Beatdown, who barraged the pair with tweets accusing them of being “rape apologists.” Moore hasn’t responded, but Olbermann did—and it didn’t go well. The host bickered with seemingly every critic (see Salon for details), eventually issuing an if-I-offended-anyone apology. Then he began blocking offending tweeters, and finally, when he could stand it no more, he tweeted, “I'll thus unblock all blocks, wish you all a Merry Christmas and I'll suspend this account until/if this frenzy is stopped.” Since then he’s posted one tweet—an innocuous congratulations to Larry King.