;>)
Posted on 10/01/2018 7:12:16 PM PDT by dsc
Justice for Dr. Ford
In a healthy democracy, one private unelected individual would not determine the future of the US Supreme Court. The appointment of a justice is a political decision that should be debated rationally and ultimately decided by an up down vote, reflecting the balance of political power. The current US president chose a candidate compatible with his politics.
But the normal process of appointing a new justice has been jolted out of reality and thrust into a virtual time machine.
At the eleventh hour, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accuses Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault… in 1982…when she was 15 and he was 17. And suddenly the 21 members of the Senate Judiciary committee are sucked into a grotesque debate over a hypothetical incident that cannot possibly be retrieved for scrupulous investigation. No matter how hard they peer into the crystal ball of the past, they will never find their way to a home that has no address, on a day that exists on no calendar, in the presence of witnesses that were not there.
The question is not he-said-she-said. The question is the civic duty of a responsible citizen, male or female, tempted to come forth with an accusation that would inevitably destroy the reputation of the accused. Whether true or false, an accusation of sexual assault in the age of MeToo is sure to cause irreparable damage to the accused. No due process there!
Senators, commentators, and tens of millions of viewers are transfixed by the human drama focused on one woman, Dr. Ford, and one man, Judge Kavanaugh. If the woman in question is a victim, it follows that she cannot be guilty of abuse of power. If her tears and quavering lip are convincing, off with the judge’s head.
If her civic duty is to come forth today and innocently destroy his reputation, his life, and his career, what was the civic duty of a young girl in 1982 who narrowly escaped from a sexual assault that, in her words, has left her suffering from PTSD forever after?
We do not now and never will have enough information to judge the veracity of Dr. Ford’s account of an incident that allegedly occurred 36 years ago. Speculations on the details of an uncorroborated incident simply flesh it out and make it seem real. That’s the work of fiction.
As responsible citizens we should avoid the naïve reflex of entering the film and saving the damsel from distress. Our civic duty is to detach ourselves from the accuser and examine the principles underlying the accusation. Is it ethical for one individual to acquire such extraordinary power to influence the future of an entire nation simply by raising her victimhood to epic proportions?
Not so long ago, when a white woman accused a black man of sexual assault, which included a wink or a whistle, the man would be jailed or even lynched. This gave women a power of life and death over black men.
In our free world, where women are not subject to sharia law and will not be “honor killed” for denouncing a man, a young woman who is a victim of sexual assault might well assume the responsibility of telling someone—her parents, a doctor or other trusted adult, and girlfriends that might themselves be victims of the predator (s). Silence, in this case, could be considered dereliction of civic duty.
Is it, then, noble to denounce a man decades after the fact? With full knowledge of the consequences?
Should the alleged assault on one teenager—in the freewheeling early Eighties, when women’s liberation had effectively erased the difference between good girls and bad girls—be extrapolated to represent the full range of sexual abuse in our day and age?
Some women are viciously raped, battered, murdered…by criminals that are deaf to society’s demand for law and order. Some women are assaulted or exploited by men or women that have power over them in the workplace. And some women are victims of their own terrible misunderstanding of sexual dynamics.
They cannot be lumped together in the person of Dr. Ford who must therefore be believed because the others were not heard, who must be trusted because she expressed genuine emotions, who must be cherished because she stands for all female victims everywhere and anywhere. Who must be rescued because the time machine brought us into that hypothetical bedroom to witness that primal scene, bigger than life and more compelling than reality. Saying “I believe Dr. Ford” is not a proof of one’s decency and virtue. It adds nothing to her reliability. Stating the obvious—that it is impossible to verify her claims—does not imply that she is lying.
The appointment of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court will hinge on a slim majority, but the implications of this dismal failure of reality testing will endure and misshape our future.
About the Author
Nidra Poller is an American-born writer who has lived in Paris since 1972. She is author of works of fiction in English and in French, and has published in many venues, including the Wall Street Journal Europe, Family Security Matters, New English Review, Times of Israel (French), Commentary, Midah. She is the author of literary-political books testifying to the Troubled Dawn of the 21st Century (her latest release). The French version, L’Aube obscure du 21e siècle was published in December 2017.
54 sex partners before college, did halt the PGA, then hypnotized herself, the better to really imbed those false memories.
Oh, and she’s a headcase.
Lucky for her this ain’t one.
“The most vile thing a man can do to a woman is to commit rape.”
Not being a woman, I don’t know how many would rather be killed than raped.
“The nation is only slowly finding out that the USSR and the CIA were behind much of that disorder and destruction of family, tradition, morality, norms.”
The USSR, yes. But the CIA?
I do not believe a Word this woman said. She does not deserve anything but a federal cell at a Supermax. She sure does not deserve “understanding” or “patience” or “sympathy” or “respect” of any kind or nature whatsoever.
She is nothing more than a minor player in a still continuing coup against the United States of America led by about 100 odd players at the top echelons of various US agencies and the major media.
“The Stones go so well with this stupid circus LOL!”
Sympathy for the Devil?
The home remodeling story of 2 front doors has already been debunked by records of permits and photos showing work done in 2008 to add a 2d story office and a business showing its address as her property
Thanks. One thing: I have a hard time believing anything Steinem says.
Everything!
Mick lived and sang a teenaged male’s dreamlife. The media want to make that a female’s dream, but it isn’t.
Imagine if ‘Rap music” was examined in this context. Oh my
“You can be on the SCOTUS. Unless there is ONE WOMAN who doesn’t think you should be.”
Just for a moment, I thought, it’s really too bad that Republicans aren’t despicable and hateful and heartless enough to do this to the next DemocRat candidate for the Supreme Court.
I really don’t want to play the game that way, but I sure want to see these pukes pay a price for what they have done.
I do think something happened to Ford, because she is obviously such a train wreck.
But I do NOT think it was one particular incident, especially the one she is claiming. I think it’s a lifetime of abuse, especially in childhood. Her kind of extreme promiscuity indicates that loud and clear.It is beyond the normal girl looking for approval from a male figure that she didn’t get from her father. To me, it indicates early sexual abuse, probably long term.
I am totally convinced that Kavanaugh is innocent. IMO, his reputation has not been destroyed, despite his fears. I still consider him a man of integrity and honor.
Both are terrible but I would rather be raped than beat up tbh. I’m pretty sure there would be more pain involved with the latter.
The CIA is vile. Vile.
oh I would love for her to get her justice....
Justice for Blaisey Ford, dump her in the pig trough of history referenced under false accusers and liars.
“The Stones go so well with this stupid circus LOL!”
They do indeed.
L
I understand that, need to get the Senators to put it in writing and publicly discuss that issue.
Is there a “fact check” from a major daily paper giving her a Pinocchio for it yet?
Picky, picky. This point about her magazine being funded by CIA has been around for a long time, and written about by many people. The other article mentions quite a few of the CIA's other involvements. I'm not going to read it for you.
;>)
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