Another lost
teachable moment
Every few
years there’s certain events that spark large, legitimate outrage. I as a hopeful idealist always hope that
society will change in response to these events but sadly it usually devolves
into sensationalism and then dissipates.
It wasn’t
always like this. During the civil
rights era, events like Bloody Sunday or Rosa Parks arrest would first initiate
large scale outrage which would then be followed by coordinated protest leading
to a specific set of reforms. After Rosa
Parks was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of the bus the entire
community Montgomery organized a protest that lead to eventually eliminating
such discriminatory regulations. Women
in the early twentieth century flocked to the movement of women’s suffrage to
gain the right to vote among others.
About five years ago there was a
number of high profile cases of a white police officer killing a black person
in a situation where the life of the police officer might not have been in
danger. It could have turned into a
movement to form a better relationship between police and the communities they
protect or it could have been a move to have body camera’s on every
officer. Instead it devolved into
massive protests followed by looting and
rioting. In one town there was a fire
and the hoses that firetrucks brought were stabbed by angry protesters. Does this help anything? It finally ended when police officers were
being murdered in their cop cars and any possible sympathy went out the
window. The failure of improvement I
would place on the media which sensationalized each and every case and choose
sides based on politics. Each case was
different, some where I could see why the police officer had no choice and many
others where the officer or armed civilian had many other choices.
Last year
two major high profile cases of sexual harassment and assault came to light. The first was the well connected movie
producer Harvey Weinstein. The second
which was even more horrific by orders of magnitude was the monster Olympics
doctor Larry Nassar. How can our society
learn from this and change? In both
these circumstances it was ‘known’ that they were probably an abuser. People turned a blind eye. They were so successful and powerful, every
single benefit of the doubt multiplied by 100 was applied. It wasn’t until Weinstein got caught on tape
that his world began to unravel. You
would think this would lead to the simple change that when a number of credible
recent reports are brought about by a set of accusers with nothing to gain they
would be taken seriously and an investigation would ensue.
Every
year there is a women’s march that descends on Washington DC. There’s no less cohesive themed event. Some women want reproductive rights which
they have, others want equal pay, others hate President Trump and some are just
angry. In 2017 actress Ashley Judd
headlined one such speech at the women’s march saying the most disgusting vile
things because she was angry at President Trump. It came out later that Harvey Weinstein
actually sexually harassed her. I think
she should have ranted and raved at the man who actually hurt her instead of a
man that said unpleasant things about unspecified women. This year’s notable was another actress, whom
I admire Natalie Portman. Her diatribe
was on how men liked her in inappropriate ways because of the way she
looks. It was such a burden being
beautiful and sought after. I would like
to know if she would like to try to walk a day in the life of a person who was
overweight, unattractive, unimportant and poor.
Which cross is heavier to bear?
The MeToo
movement has already devolved into sensationalism. Every week there’s a new scrumptious
allegation from twenty years ago about some actor who molested, assaulted, or
harassed someone. Instantly the actor is
shunned, cut out of magazine covers and disinvited from awards shows. This helps no one, in fact it does a
disservice. It might be that many of
these allegations are true but the trial by public opinion is the exact
opposite of what our justice system stands for.
The last
time I can remember any movement changing society was in the early 2000’s when
online bullying became a thing. After a
number of children committed suicide the education communities collectively
took action to address the issue of bullying.
They didn’t try to stop bullies from existing because that’s
impossible. Instead they focused on the
subject of bullying and emphasizing respect and cooperation. Victim’s are empowered to stand up for
themselves or reach out. From my
perspective in my children’s schools I believe the issue is addressed more seriously
than what it was when I was a student. As
long as it’s taken seriously and not, “boys will be boys”, attitude.
Analogous
to the serious issue of bullying and assault if we think we can change
men to stop liking women it’s not going to be of any consequence. Men will always desire and chase after women
so long as men are needed to continue the human race. What we can and should change is the idea
that anyone is too powerful, to rich, to well connected, or too important to be
exposed. This is at the heart of the
three worst examples of sexual assault and rape that has happened in our
society.
The third example is from the recent past. A number
of years ago accusations of rape in the Catholic Church reared its ugly head.
For the first time, priests were fired and in some cases prosecuted. However, the bishops that had covered up
these crimes were not summarily removed.
Cardinals who knew of activities were also not removed. Three successive Popes’ have failed to fully
address this issue which is why the Catholic church is in decline. The Catholic church removed the tumors but
failed to do the proper chemo therapy.
These men are seen as too important to the organization or to put it more
crudely, they generate too much money to be removed without a certain
unpleasantness. It’s easier to pay off
victim’s, remove the immediate offenders and continue business as usual. This is the core of the problem!
Exactly
similar was the situation with Harvey Weinstein. Everyone says they knew, they knew! The producers knew, the movie stars knew, the
politicians knew! Yet they smiled and
clinked champagne glasses with him. It
wasn’t until one brave actress recorded his disgusting towel routine that the
truth was finally believed.
Disgraced,
jailed Olympic doctor Nassar assaulted over a hundred girls. One girl told her father about assault that
happened six years prior and he didn’t believe her, his own daughter! People knew but they willingly turned a blind
eye. The Olympics was too important, our
national pride to valuable in some people’s eyes. “What does it profit a man to win the world
but lose his soul in the process?” -Jesus
He’s in jail, the entire USA gymnastics board has resigned along with
the Michigan State president. While this
is a proper response to the outrageous scandal does it really change our
society at large.
What we
should do is shy away from minor allegations of sexual assault. Yes, every allegation should be privately
investigated and dealt with but not as a sensational manor. We should make it well known in every single
sphere that NO ONE is too powerful, too important, too rich, too well connected
to not be exposed for the most serious crimes of rape, especially of
children.
A hashtag
never helped anyone.
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me
to sin, it would be better for him to
have a great
millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the
sea.” Matthew 18:6
