And yet, somehow, payoffs by rich people are sometimes publicly exposed.
And yet, somehow, sometimes people who lie are recorded lying.
I’ve said no such thing. I’m speaking of how, IMO, the public should respond to allegations of sexual assault.
None of this conflicts with what I’ve advocated for. I haven’t advocated for anyone to be jailed. I’ve said that all allegations should be taken seriously and fully investigated without the accuser being denigrated barring proof of dishonesty – that certainly hasn’t happened for many or most of the allegations against Trump (or the ones against Kavanaugh), and I’m not sure if it’s occurred for this allegation against Biden. That’s what I think the standard that society should set for allegations against powerful men.
SJWs aren’t actually a thing. They are a concept created by conservatives to attack people for being against bigotry. It involves a combination of nutpicking–picking out the very small number of people on the extremes–and then using that to apply to a larger group by misrepresenting what their position actually is.
It is apt in this discussion, though. The claim that we should always believe accusers (or “women” as some do it to make it a sexism issue) is made by SJWs. In other words, it doesn’t really exist. All one has to do is acknowledge one example of a fake rape accusation, and that falls away.
It remains the most common tactic when you can’t actually win an argument on the merits. Accuse your opponent of believing something they don’t. This is just a more sophisticated version.
Until people stop falling for this nonsense, even the worst ideas from conservatism will have currency, simply because of these rhetorical tricks.
Any term that started as an attack on people who were arguing the moral high ground should be discarded.
This is just clearly false. People who want to stop something will not reflexively assume that the accuser is lying. They will not do special pleading on rape, requiring it to be held to the standard of a court of law, but having no problem accusing anyone of anything else without such proof. They are not going to remain silent when they believe such is going on (which was a huge part of what #MeToo is trying to fight).
The world is full of peopl3e who claim that they believe the right things, what conservatives coined “virtue signaling.” But how people act is what shows what they really believe. They can even lie to themselves sometimes.
No racist thinks they are racist. No sexist thinks they are sexist. And no rape apologist thinks they’re making excuses for rape. If it were as easy as that, we wouldn’t have these problems.
The fact is, 1 in 5 women have reported being sexually assaulted. The Democrats and most on the left have said this is a problem that needs to be fixed. The Republicans are silent about this. That shows they don’t see it as something that needs to be fixed.
We live in a society where people are actively lying about what #MeToo says in order to try and shut down a movement about stopping rape. Those people clearly do not think rape is a problem.
You can believe whatever you want. From where I’m standing, SJWs are a thing; they are a problem; and if they keep up their bullshit, the pendulum is going to swing back so hard in the other direction that America is going to eventually elect leaders who make Donald Trump look like Mr. Rogers.
And the people who vote for Mr. Worse Than Trump are deluding themselves that so-called SJWs represent anything more than a very tiny fraction of American society. Basically, it’s voting for neo-Confederate racist because of a boogeyman representing no more than one out of every 10,000 Americans.
But of course, that’s just a dodge. Racists will vote for racist candidates because they are racists; not because someone made them do it.
Another example: at Haverford College, the student council recently resolved that “Hawaiian shirts” are “cultural appropriation” despite the irony that not a single native Hawaiian was involved in the decision.
The examples go on and on. I’m a solid progressive, and SJW nonsense embarrasses me. But I don’t deny that it’s real (or even that it begins with the best of intentions).
Apparently video has come out from an episode of Larry King live that allegedly has the alleged victim’s mother calling in to the show and bringing up issues her daughter was having with a prominent senator.
Grim is really trying to make this dog hunt. It seems to only be a thing among strong Bernie supporters who don’t identify as Democrats and are highly unlikely to vote for Biden regardless.
It’s clear that something happened, but that doesn’t mean Biden stuck his fingers up her skirt. It’s possible she felt violated somehow and she might have a legitimate reason to feel that way - maybe she got her hair smelled, told him she didn’t appreciate it, and then he demoted her or ignored her. Or maybe none of that happened. Who knows?
For starters, the caller’s identity can’t be corroborated since her mother is deceased. And secondly, the caller is being extremely vague. She claims that her daughter is having “problems with a senator” and chose not to go the press “out of respect for him”. This doesn’t mean anything without context. Workplace issues can encompass far more things than sexual harassment. And I highly doubt problematic senators are such a rarity that the timing of that call and Reade’s departure from her job means that it can only be none other than Biden.
Still, let’s say that call is indeed her mom and what she’s saying is 100% legit. So she felt brave enough to contemplate going to the press about being sexually assaulted by a prominent senator in 1993, but somehow continued to publicly sing his praises in the years thereafter until… now? Why the sudden about-face? Why didn’t she come forward last year when Biden has already declared his candidacy and the first wave of sexual harassment allegations were already receiving media attention? She would have actually appeared far more credible then. Why wait until he became the presumptive Democratic nominee?
It’s still horseshit. Your daughter was sexually assaulted and your response is, not to go to the police, not to hire a lawyer, but to call Larry King? And then be all coy about the senator’s name instead of just fucking blasting it right there which WOULD actually direct a shitstorm his way? This whole thing has “publicity-hungry narcissistic fabulism” written all over it. But in any case, Biden should come right out and declare that it’s bullshit. That’s literally all he needs to do. “This is bullshit, and American lives are at stake right now and we don’t have time for this. Next question.”
Which daughter? Did you mean Tara or a sister of hers? If the former, she’s not exactly a neutral party who can be trusted to tell the truth at this point.
All of this. This is such sloppily put together attempt at a political take-down that has the signature of Jacob Wohl all of over it if you didn’t know any better. The most enraging aspect about it is how many people insist on taking it seriously in the name of “fairness” either out of fear of being called hypocrites by Republicans or because of embittered Bernie supporters. I will absolutely put the blame on #MeToo as well for enshrining the norm of treating all allegations as if they’re equal and 100% honest to the point it’s become taboo to express healthy skepticism at a particular accusation. This is how Al Franken was turfed from the senate, and a certain faction of people are interested in making sure the same happens to Biden.