but…

It is a totally undeniable fact that had Jill Meagher accepted a lift home on that tragic day, she would have avoided the awful, terrible events that have transpired.

It’s completely and utterly unacceptable that there are despicable, violent scumbags on the streets who are deranged enough to have the capacity to commit these atrocities.

It’s completely and utterly unacceptable that some women (and men) don’t feel safe walking their own streets at night.

It’s completely and utterly unacceptable that in some sections of the community there is a culture of ‘victim-blaming’ who feel that some portion of the responsibility for the occurrence of these tragedies lies with the ‘reckless’ or ‘provoking’ actions of the victim.

Everything within our power should be done to ensure that these totally unacceptable situations are to have completely disappeared as soon as possible.

But until that point where these problems have disappeared, surely, in conjunction with all our efforts to stop rapists from raping and stopping murderers from murdering, surely there’s a role to be played in advising people how to best minimise risks.

While there are lowlife degenerate slugs on the streets who commit these crimes, it’s surely worthwhile to keep people informed about best to protect oneself.

There’s a difference between the wrong act of blaming a victim post facto and the reasonable act of providing pragmatic advice based on the realities of current life.

A lot of what I’ve seen around the place in light of the recent tragedy seems to be implying that it’s inappropriate to warn women about possible consequences of their actions and behaviour. If this sort of thing is going to reduce the rates of such crimes, then what is wrong with it? It is by no means a perfect state of affairs, and the dispensation of such advice by no means absolves anyone of working towards the day when such advice need never be given. But in the short term, surely it’s going to help.

Again, I may be a misguided and ignorant white male, but this makes sense to me. If you can tell me where I’m wrong, I would be very happy to be enlightened so don’t hold back.

EDIT: After receiving some feedback, I made this post