March 19, 2004

• This has been going on for a couple of years now. If he isn't going to say anything about it though, there isn't really anything that can be done. (Which obviously doesn't make it all right to beat him up.)
• I'm having a Baby Jane moment. Will someone hold my hand?
• *holds i feel unusual's hand* Feel better? One wonders why such an intelligent man is refusing to tell who is doing this to him. There must be some compelling reason.
• Probably because he has developed a strong psychological dependence and attachement on whoever it is. A cognitive dissonance that refuses to resolve.
• People who are abused often protect their abusers because they've been confinced that they deserve the abuse.
• This is troubling and very sad. It is surprising to me that someone would have the nerve to do this to him given that he is in the spotlight and these types of injuries cannot be hidden. I would think that it would be fairly easy to figure out who is doing this. Obviously whoever it is must feel that he won't say anything.
• The awful awful truth
• (Ahem) via Spoonpro.com
• This is the first I've heard of the alleged abuse, and the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. If it's true, and he is being hurt... it's so unbearably ignoble. I can't believe that a man with his intellectual presence could be so emotionally incapacitated as to cover for his abuser. Worse still is that he can't travel 5 feet anywhere on earth without coming upon someone who is his friend, and still nothing has been done? UGH.
• A frightening thought just occured: What if he wanted these injuries inflicted on himself? His wife and children have suspected abuse for a while now, and yet are not pointing a finger at anyone. He can't hurt himself, but what if he asked someone else to do it to him? *shudder*
• Hawking's seeming permanence despite everything makes it that much scarier to be reminded how vulnerable he is. I hope things get better.
• Okay, this thought occurred to me a couple of times while reading this link.....What if he's just into kinky sex or something and is too embarrassed to admit it. Weak, I know, it just makes me feel better about the whole thing.
• Maybe his current wife actually has remote control of his voice-box (it was her first husband who made the thing for him, I believe) and he's really lying there all the time thinking "Save me!".
• I thought I read something a few months ago, probably from Fark, about Hawking getting injuries from kinky sex. Something about strippers, too.
• I hope it's the kinky sex and strippers. Not great or anything, but far better than the other option. Sad that anybody'd let someone hurt them and not do something about it.
• I'm afraid I don't think it is anything kinky. Former nurses have alleged that his current wife (a former nurse herself) regularly abuses him: left him out in the sun till his burns were so bad he had to be taken to hospital; lets him slip in the bath until the water enters the hole in his throat, and so on. If it were true, that wouldn't sound like sex to me: more like someone who can barely control her desire to murder the bloke. If it were true. Some moralistic people, I believe, take the attitude that if he hadn't dumped his first wife and family as soon as he got rich and run off(!) with the wife of the man who invented his voice box for him, he wouldn't be in this position now. But that is surely a deplorable and inaccurate way of looking at it.
• They're just injuries sustained from his other job as vigilante superhero contained within a robotic battlesuit. Otherwise: that's just awful. It's impossible to imagine how you could do such things to such a man.
• if it is his wife, or nurses for that matter, what would their motivation be? is he worth tons of money dead?
• Their motivation would be sheer frustration, probably. There have been alot of cases where caretakers of invalids abuse their wards because they're simply sick of having to take care of that person all day, every day.
• if it is his wife, or nurses for that matter, what would their motivation be? is he worth tons of money dead? The motivation is probably nothing. Its just abuse of power, I expect. I doubt they want him dead, no more than an abusive husband wants his wife dead.
• I'm with Alnedra on this. Probably is frustration. That would explain also Hawking silence, understanding and taking pity of his wife's frustration.
• Some moralistic people, I believe, take the attitude that if he hadn't dumped his first wife and family as soon as he got rich and run off(!) with the wife of the man who invented his voice box for him, he wouldn't be in this position now. But that is surely a deplorable and inaccurate way of looking at it. Deplorable, perhaps. I don't see how you can call it inaccurate. Or do you think if he'd stayed with his first wife this would still be happening?
• Best Hawkings Flash Ever
• languagehat, you bring up a very good question re the first wife. when I saw this post the first thing I thought about was Hawkings leaving his wife of how ever many years, for his nurse. what alnedra said re the abusive dynamic between caregivers & those they "care" for is often true, tragically. we may never know what sort of dynamics occurred beneath the surface in Hawkings relationship with his nurse/new wife...but my money's on her.
• I suppose, languagehat, it was the bit about "dumped his first wife as soon as he got rich" that I thought was inaccurate - or an uncharitable interpretation, anyway. But I can't argue with your logic.
• I wonder how many people would be searching for justification or excuses for the (alleged) abuse if the genders of those involved were reversed?
• I doubt that a woman would have been taken half as seriously as Hawking was, even if she came up with the exact same theories. So, it's pretty much a moot point. Also, I think usually police and the media are less likely to believe a grown man has suffered abuse, than a woman or a minor. How often do you get news of men being abused by their wives, as compared to vice versa?
• wife questioned by police. fwiw.
• No charges over Hawking abuse claims Detectives investigating allegations that disabled scientist Stephen Hawking had been abused said they could find no evidence to substantiate the claims.
• Haven't spouted enough sophomoric, snarky comments yet today? This should help.