Oh Boy, Dr. Phil

Oh Boy, Dr. Phil

Oh, girl. For those of you who somehow aren’t on Twitter almost always and, when you’re not, you go back and try to research the thing you missed that everyone seems to be talking about: Last night, Twitter went #nuts when Dr. Phil tweeted, and promptly deleted, a question about whether or not it is cool to rape somebody. Hahahah. DR. PHIL! Put that in a poll somewhere on you website where fewer people who know that shit like that is fucked up will find it, you dummy! While — and this is giving the show the benefit of the doubt, but I do think it is a pretty safe benefit of the doubt — it was probably going to be used as shocking evidence about how many people do think that it is okay to have sex with a girl while she is drunk (right?) (RIGHT, DR. PHIL?), uh, maybe don’t tweet it in a way that makes it seem like you think there could be an argument on either side? MAYBE DON’T TWEET IT EVER? Maybe don’t tweet. No one tweet. No one tweet unless you are Joyce Carol Oates or FeministTaylorSwift — then you are allowed to tweet. A spokesperson for Dr. Phil responded to a question from BuzzFeed about the tweet, saying:

“This tweet was intended to evoke discussion leading into a very serious show topic. It was not intended to be taken lightly,” the spokesperson said. “It’s based upon a recent news story, hence the #teensaccused label.”

But still, what discussion? Why not say, EVEN IF THIS WEREN’T THE ACTUAL INTENTION, BUT JUST TO COVER YOUR SHIT BETTER: “This tweet was intended to expose how many god damn dumb-dumbs think shit like this is okay, even though it obviously is not okay. We wanted to find out who they were, and how many of them there were, in order to fuck their shit up on TV. We’re working on a really solid episode about rape ignorance and slut-shaming. I know you’re like, ‘Uh, but it’s Dr. Phil?’ and you’re totally right, but just trust us on this one. It’s based upon a recent news story, hence the #teensaccused label.” Something like that?! Oh and then also, “Hahah. You know, now that we look at it again, obviously that was a silly — and, in a less funny way, irresponsible — thing to tweet. Taking it out of the context of the show’s Twitter account, it just looks like Dr. Phil is asking if it’s okay to have sex with a girl who is drunk. Hahaaahahahah. LOL. That’s funny. Our bad, though, for real. We should’ve listened to our intern.”

But, so, what do you think? If the Internet is a garbage dump, is it okay to light it on fire and never look back? Reply yes or no to @exhaustedwithallofit #burntheinternet.

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