Monday, November 20, 2017

This is where I came in


It really is all about the eye of the beholder

NPR this morning interviewed Sherrod Brown about the GOP tax plan because Orrin Hatch pitched a hissy fit (I don't know how else to characterize it) about the Democrat being so mean about the soak-the-middle-class-spare-the-rich tax "reform" being considered.  And then Steve Inskeep had to ask about the allegations against Al Franken.  Which is kind of interesting because apparently that lie is still circling the globe while the truth is getting its boots on:


Was there any tongue in that kiss?  Inquiring minds want to know.


Did this leave Ms. Tweeden traumatized and shaken?
And is Steve Inskeep going to report on this?
The problem with accepting every story that comes out as "true" is the problem of Russian trolls on the internet.  When John Podesta's e-mails were stolen and then released, it was reported that a common KGB tactic was to include manufactured information with the true, the better to sway opinions (and do I think only the KGB knows that trick?  No, I do not.).  But the idea that some of those Podesta e-mails, and which ones?, were false was ignored in the outrage (which runs the internet to this day) they produced.  So while we are busy "believing the women" because to not do so is rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, as well as "victimizes them again," we're feeding the trolls.

I have no doubt sexual assault is a traumatizing experience, and sexual harassment can have long term consequences.  But that doesn't mean every man is a predator and every woman is as fragile as rice paper; or that human beings never tells lies, unless it's to deny an accusation against them.  As I write, the breaking news is another woman accusing Sen. Franken of inappropriate contact, when he grabbed her butt while her husband took a picture of them at the Minnesota State Fair.  It "felt gross," she reports; but it didn't leave her traumatized, apparently.*  I suppose we're going to hear a lot of these stories, although so far this is only two for Sen. Franken, and neither amounts to being banned from the mall in Alabama, or bragging about grabbing women because they can't stop you, you're a celebrity (and those are not the worst accusations made against Moore and Trump).  Let me put it this way:  what Al Franken allegedly did in grabbing that woman's ass while her husband took a picture is not a violation of Minnesota criminal statutes.  What Roy Moore did by making a 14 year old touch his penis in his underwear, IS a violation of Alabama criminal statutes.  This isn't a question of prosecution, but one of measure.  Do we, as Symone Sanders insists, treat Al Franken like Roy Moore?  That strikes me as a rather blunt kind of justice, even if it is only the political question of who belongs in the Senate.  If Roy Moore is elected and is kicked out of the Senate by vote of the Senate, then the same fate should await Al Franken; and how many other Senators?  Now we're into punitive justice, where an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves everyone blind and toothless.  Maybe that's not the desired goal, but where else do we end up if we insist all who are deemed guilty  must be equally punished?

I mean, we're spinning out of control, here.  As I've said before, hysteria is not so dramatic nor so rare as we think it is.  Howard Fineman and Jonathan Alter have both defended Franken on Twitter:

“I've watched ‪@ alfranken unfairly bracketed w/ accused serial sexual predators,” Fineman tweetd. “He & I've been family friends for decades. As a comic, he could be crude. He went too far (& apologized). BUT: he's NOT predatory, adores his wife & family & is a lifelong champion of women's rights.”

“I completely agree,” Alter posted, “and would add that all of us make dumb mistakes. But they shouldn’t be conflated with those of child molesters, perverts and rapists.”
Are we to see no difference between grabbing someone's butt (yes, "gross") and sexual predation?

At some point there's a certain witch-hunt hysteria here, and a desire to make any story into something as serious as any other story.  The problem is, that doesn't always work.  If people are gonna vote for Roy Moore, they're gonna vote for Roy Moore.  If the GOP pays a political price in the future, then that's the way the price is extracted.  If Al Franken fails to be re-elected, that's the way the price is extracted against him.  If we're going to start decapitating everyone based on some new standard of purity which cannot be violated, we're going to end up with no one in office.

Except, as I've also said before, Mike Pence.  Is that really the best outcome?

*"Felt gross" is probably close enough for a civil tort claim of assault, which is defined as 'offensive contact' (if I remember my 2nd Restatement of Torts, and I'm not sure I do.  Funny I ever let go of that; then again, probably not.).  But the damages are, as the law also says, de minimus, or not worth anything.  And one is entitled to wonder if it happened, and if it did, well, yeah....

Because it doesn't deserve a new post:  AND NOW CHARLIE ROSE admits, yeah, he did the gross things he's accused of (wandering around naked in front of women, shoving his hands down a woman's pants, etc.) and he's sorry sorry sorry and he's learned from it and...

You know what?  I'm out.  Al Franken is accused of being an ass-grabber by one woman, makes a childish photo with another (without, apparently, touching her) and he's as bad as these guys?  Al Franken was a jerk, once or twice:  maybe.  Louis C.K. and Roy Moore and Charlie Rose, et al. are sick people.  Two of those three have at least admitted it (as has Franken, at least in apologizing); one refuses to.  Differences of kind, not just of degree.
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1 comment:

  1. June Butler8:39 PM

    Not for a minute do I believe Leeann Tweeden was grossed out by anything Franken did. We have to use common sense when we assess claims of harassment and assault. Franken is no Trump, or Moore, or Rose. No, he should not resign from the Senate.

    The letter from the women who worked with Franken on SNL stating he always treated them respectfully is telling. The boys club at SNL when Franken worked there was known for its sexist environment.

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