So I have been thinking about why the Kavanaugh-Ford
imbroglio has been such a tinderbox. Why it bothers everyone so much,
irrespective of the side you are on.
After all, there are things that are much worse, on a larger
scale, that need our attention. Like the limited intelligence of the people in
power now.
Let me start off by assuming that Dr. Ford is speaking the
truth. Because I am a woman, and this is not something you can make up. I would
not make something like this up to save my life. A sexual assault is too
demeaning, too damaging, too frightening to simply pretend it happened. And yes,
the trauma stays for an entire lifetime.
Why does something that may have happened decades ago rile
us up so much? And why, if it is true, should it be a damning factor in Kavanaugh’s
life?
Because it is not the incident in itself that comes into
question. It is the depravity it implies. The depravity that in all likelihood
continues to be a part of the person. Just as the trauma will continue to haunt
the victim. An assault speaks to the character of the perpetrator. Slapping a
girl’s butt is not a joke, it is invading her privacy, it is total lack of
respect for her of her person, it belittles her as an object, and demonstrates
a lack of empathy and understanding that is predictive of future behavior.
Maybe someone grows out of it, maybe they don’t. I would think someone who can forcibly push a girl down and try to pull her clothes off is not likely to change his
attitude. His character is already far down the drain.
And if he has, by some miracle, outgrown his bestial
tendencies, then by extension he should have developed remorse. If he had shown
something on those lines, I would be happy to see him on the Court. It takes so
much character to admit you were wrong.
What bothers me most? The threats she is receiving. What
kind of a world do we live in if people cannot speak out about the wrongs
inflicted on them? Even if she is lying, this barbaric reaction is indicative of
how wrongly women are viewed. Not believing her is an opinion, but getting her
to shut up this way is as bad as an assault. Making threats on her life is unconscionable.
I have no words to form a sentence that will portray the
angst and disgust I feel at the execrable ‘every boy has done this’ concept. I
cannot fathom how such evil twisted minds can think that this would be normal. It
is insulting to boys and men everywhere.
The other terribly disturbing revelation is how many people
believe this is equivalent to ‘drinking in high school’. Shoving a person down, irrespective of the
gender, is not the same as trying pot or cheating on a test. You cannot equate physical attack on someone else with choices we make for ourselves. Hurting someone is
not acceptable at any age. Period.
There is no justification for what he did. The time lapse is
irrelevant, since he never apologized. There is nothing anyone can say that
makes it right or excusable. The only thing we should be looking at is finding
out if it is true.
