I saw a couple posts about “Just because I disagree with you doesn’t mean I hate you. We need to relearn that in our society.”... and I had a conversation with my family about some of our “friends” across the aisle. One general comment my girls mentioned was that, “Anybody who can call you a libtard, loonie, etc is not really your friend.” I noted the irony that some of those people that I’ve met in person are also probably the first to lend a hand when they see you’re in need... and I don’t think they really understand how some of the hateful name-calling can do irreparable damage. Or maybe they just think we’re being too “politically correct” and need to get some thicker skin.
It has been eye opening to see how people think though, and I’m getting glimpses into souls (or lack thereof). While I won’t be engaging in heated arguments (it’s useless and disappointing), I will be watching how people behave and continuously evaluate who I want to associate with.
This whole Kavanaugh Debacle is what brought about my experiment. When I first heard about the accusation, my first thought was that nobody would believe her because it’s been so long. I watched the testimonies both Ford and Kavanaugh. I found her to be credible and respectful; I found him to be rude, partisan and out-of-control. He even had to apologize to one of the female Senators for being such a jerk.
He misrepresented facts by saying the other witnesses cleared him; but what they really said was that they couldn’t remember. There’s a big difference. I went to parties just about every weekend in high school and got highly drunk at many... and I can’t remember what happened to other people either. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’m not lying about it either. Someone could’ve been cornered into a room with 1-2 other people and gotten sexually assaulted; and I wouldn’t have known either. I got decent grades and played sports like Kavanaugh - but that doesn’t have anything to do with whether he attacked her. Instead of answering yes or no questions, he ran down the clock by bragging about academics and sports. When I “ralphed,” it was cuz I drank too much - not because I had a “sensitive stomach.” If he lied about little things like “ralphing,” it makes me wonder if he lied about the bigger things. If I kept a calendar from the 80s, I wouldn’t write down each time I got drunk or passed out... so to say that his calendar clears him is a pretty big reach.
After the testimony, I posted that I believed her but I figured he’d be sitting on the Supreme Court because... Anita Hill. And I was right. They pretended to do another FBI investigation, but it’s not really an investigation if you’re not interviewing the numerous people who can testify that they saw him get out-of-control drunk in high school and college. Heck, from what I saw of an “adult” out-of-control Brett Kavanaugh trying to give testimony, I can only imagine what a scary, drunk teenage version of him was like. The one-week investigation was a sham as were the so-called moderates who called for it. Flake got a bit of heat in the elevator and asked for more investigation, but neither he nor Collins ensured that people were actually being followed up on. But that's neither here nor there - anybody who watched Kavanaugh "testify" could see that he spent his time attacking Democrats and conspiracy theories... and can no way be impartial.
People say, “Of course he was mad,” but this was a job interview for the highest court in the land (which is supposed to be impartial btw), and he behaved poorly by lashing out at Democrats, the Clintons, etc. He had plenty of time to calm down and give testimony like someone befitting the highest court of the land. He now claims he will be nonpartisan and regrets some of what he said, but he planned out his opening statement in which he lashed out at people, so you can’t really claim he was blindsided at the moment and reacted. He basically planned to be a partisan hack while giving his testimony. Even Republican former Justice John Paul Stevens said he’s not fit to sit on the Supreme Court. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/us/politics/john-paul-stevens-brett-kavanaugh.html
As for people who claim to now worry about their sons being falsely accused - If you raise your sons to respect women, then you don’t have to worry about that. In fact, the number of silent victims greatly outnumbers any boys that were falsely accused. I’ve known a lot of boys and I don’t know of any who have even been accused. This is just a scare tactic people are using to shut victims up.
People also ask why she waited so long to talk. All I can say is that you’re pretty lucky to not have been sexually harassed/assaulted and/or not known someone who has. It’s pretty well known that sexual assault victims don’t want to talk about it because they feel hurt and shame, and often get criticized for being at the wrong place, wearing the wrong clothes, being flirtatious, etc (especially back in the 80s). Oftentimes the perpetrator is a person in power or held in high esteem (family elders, priests, etc) and it’s a “he said she said” thing where only those two people were in the room. In this particular case, she was 15 years old and at a party she didn’t have permission to go to... and he was unsuccessful at the rape.
I’m glad she spoke up now because, at the very least, it showed how out-of-control he could be during testimony. I figured I’d listen to both testimonies before forming my opinion, and his behavior convinced me he was not fit. And it also reveals how the Republican Senators will do anything to make the Supreme Court as partisan as it can be. They accused the Democrats of digging up dirt on Kavanaugh, but there shouldn’t be any dirt to be dug up. Neil Gorsuch was confirmed not too long ago, and I can’t believe Kavanaugh was the only person suited for the job.
As I mentioned before, I knew he’d be confirmed anyway because we haven’t progressed all that much since Anita Hill. People keep saying “innocent til proven guilty,” but this was not a trial by court. This was a job interview. Her testimony was credible, she had a psychiatrist that she told about the attack several years ago and she had taken a polygraph. That’s enough to make me look for a better candidate. If I hire a babysitter for my kids, I’m not gonna hire somebody that even has a whiff of perversion or irresponsibility about him/her. I’m going to look for the next candidate. If I asked a babysitter about some accusations against him/her and he/she started railing about how there was a conspiracy against him/her... that person wouldn’t get a dime from me. But alas, that’s what we have as a Supreme Court Justice. Nothing surprises me anymore, it just saddens me. That’s the one branch of government that’s supposed to be nonpartisan, and it’s losing credibility along with the others.
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