Yesterday I was up at 6:30 in the morning with the TV warming up and a cup of coffee in my hand … awaiting the start of the Senate Hearing on the attempted rape accusation levied by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Judge Brett Kavanaugh. I witnessed the whole thing and I walked away dispirited.
I think I’ve put my finger on at least one source of that emergent sensibility and it is this. It’s not just that the 17 year old Brett Kavanaugh did attack 15 year old Christine Blasey, all told that’s actually pretty clear, but that he and his supporters lack the courage to stand up and give voice to what they believe.
There is some room, it seems to me, to discuss the conflicting norms we expect boys to come to terms with as they enter adulthood: always ensure consent (to influence another) … unless, of course, you believe it’s virtuous to impose your influence on another in the service of a defense against an ‘enemy’ (as defined by our command hierarchy).
I suppose that’s a bit crazy making for many young men and they consequently have a right to cry foul play. This is, after all, what our fascinating experiment in liberal democracy is all about … negotiating boundaries.
But there is nothing courageous or honorable about simply refusing to stand up and be straight. And the failure to do so all but guarantees that the complex living system that constitutes what we are, at our best, is doomed.
The notion that these ‘truths’ came to our attention in the service of a political agenda does not relieve the ‘honorable’ Judge Kavanaugh from taking ownership of them. Its time for him to ‘man up’ here and put away the tears … or forever be a weasel foraging in the dark.