Anything that even hints at blaming Lara Logan for her attack, is unconscionable.

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

It’s appalling but not surprising: whenever there’s a horrific tragedy, some people will seize upon it to advance their own agenda or to chime in with cynicism and poor taste.

We saw it happen after the shootings in Tucson and we saw it happen again after the shocking news that CBS reporter Lara Logan had been the victim of a savage beating and sexual assault Friday in Tahrir Square.

To call Logan’s assailants animals would be an insult to animals.

While most of the world expressed outrage and sorrow at the news of the attack and sent their best thoughts and prayers to Logan and her family, others weren’t so kind.

Simone Wilson of L.A. Weekly repeatedly referred to Logan’s attractiveness, referenced Logan’s love life, noted that Logan has used “her Hollywood good looks ... to push a more hard-hitting agenda and saw fit to quote another writer’s recent crack that he “would totally rape her.”

Under the headline “How Muslims Celebrate Victory: Egypt’s ‘Peaceful, Moderate, Democratic Protesters,’ ” the execrable Debbie Schlussel wrote, “So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows. ... This never happened to her or any other mainstream media reporter when Mubarak was allowed to treat his country of savages in the only way they can be controlled.”

After the inevitable uproar from sane people with souls, Schlussel wrote, “The reaction of the left to this article is funny in its predictability. Soooo damn predictable. ... As I’ve noted before, it bothers me not a lick when mainstream media reporters who keep telling us Muslims and Islam are peaceful get a taste of how ‘peaceful’ Muslims and Islam really are. In fact, it kinda warms my heart.”

Predictable reaction time: Lady, you’re soulless. It must be interesting to go through life without a conscience.

Don’t let the facts deter you, Deb

As for Schlussel’s deeply ignorant claim about life in Egypt under Mubarak’s rule, here’s a little something from Araminta Wordsworth of the National Post: “In 2008, the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights (ECWR) released shocking statistics that stated that 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women in Egypt reported exposure to sexual harassment. Out of 1,010 Egyptian women surveyed by the Cairo-based NGO, nearly half reported being subjected to harassment on a daily basis, ranging from lewd comments to molestation. ... Sexual harassment occurs regardless of age, dress or time of day. Women are victims simply because they are women,’ said ECWR chairwoman Nehad Abu Al Komsan.”

Then there was the idiotic Twitter rant from Nir Rosen, an NYU Center on Law and Security fellow who has covered the Iraq War and has written for a number of major publications, including the New York Times, the Atlantic and the New Yorker.

“Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson [Cooper],” Tweeted Rosen, referring to the attack on the CNN star in Egypt. “And yes, it’s wrong what happened to her. Of course. I don’t support that. But it would have been funny if it happened to Anderson too.”

But Rosen wasn’t finished: “Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified, we should at least remember her role as a major war monger.”

Rosen has since resigned from his post at NYU and offered apologies to Logan and her family.

Gee, I don’t know why Rosen quit. After all, he went on the record as not supporting a sickening mass attack on a woman.

What a guy.

Comments from cowards

And of course there were more than a few anonymous, cowardly commenters who posted blame-the-victim rants, crude jokes and worse under news stories about the attack on Logan. For these people, the worst retribution already has been doled out — they have small, hateful, sad lives. What other explanation can there possibly be for people who spew out these hateful diatribes behind the shield of anonymity?

There’s a legitimate debate to be had about sending correspondents into dangerous situations. There’s nothing wrong with questioning CBS for keeping the story quiet and only going public after other news organizations started making inquiries. (Would they have done the same if the victim had been a well-known reporter for another news organization?)

But anything that even hints at blaming the victim, anything that mocks the victim, anything that places the responsibility for this attack on anyone other than the monsters that committed the crime, is unconscionable.