I don’t think this will go quite the way she envisions it going.
There are some truly weird stories in politics. Rather than letting this issue die over the upcoming holidays, she will now keep it alive. She should be grateful that Moore pretty much drowned out the story of her husband except among die hard politicos.
I doubt his suicide was because he couldn’t pay gambling debts
Yes, this may not be the ideal time for the “down with lying whores who defame good men” message to really resonate.
Something to think about: the shock of a sudden violent death of someone close (especially self-inflicted) puts people into a strange place mentally. You want to get away from the excruciating pain, but there’s nowhere to go. Some people react by generating a lot of activity to try to make sense of or derive some meaning from the death. (Think of people whose children died suddenly and violently who then become crusaders against violence.) The fact that her husband killed himself blew up the very ground on which (I’m assuming) SHE thought they had built their life together. It’s about the most un-Christian thing he could have done. How will she live with this wreckage? She’s got to focus her attention somewhere at the moment. She might follow through. She might lose interest. I say we cut her some slack.
Remember when Hale Boggs’ plane went down and his wife Lindy ran for his seat (they were the parents of commentator Cokie Roberts.)
My uncle shot himself two years ago and his partner of 45 years isn’t even close to digesting and assimilating that horrendous event (he found the body). He will not live long enough to “get over” this tragedy.
Yeah, I’m cutting her slack. I hope she doesn’t end up pushing policies that make it harder for survivors to come forward, but I understand the motivation behind her actions.
Sexual assault is obviously wrong. However, those who contribute to an environment where suicide or death is the penalty for transgressions need to rethink their idea of proportionality.
Here is an interesting article on lack of discretion. Sexual harassment is wrong. Mob justice is, too.
Great article. The politician in question is accused of digitally raping a young teen. I’m not happy he’s dead but outrage in response to his actions is entirely reasonable. You picked the wrong perpetrator if you intend to arouse any sympathy.
I didn’t say anything about outrage. Sympathy? You ever read the prison rape jokes people make? Those jokes contribute to a vindictive culture. Sympathy for criminals or those who act immorally isn’t going to be popular but popularity is irrelevant to a necessity to advocate for proportionality.
And I’m more concerned with the overall environment being created. This is just an example of consequences.
I, for one, have noted your concern.
He made a choice to take his life. Some people are happy he’s dead. I doubt many people here would have seriously advocated for the death sentence were he facing prosecution. There’s no distorted sense of proportionality in this case. Nobody’s making prison rape jokes. I don’t think anyone should be raped, as punishment or otherwise. I don’t think prisoners should be treated in any sort of cruel way. Shit, I’m opposed to solitary confinement for basically any reason.
Some of us are sitting in this thread contemplating the bereaved wife’s pain with total equanimity despite the fact she’s probably going to make things shittier for victims in the long run. She’s going to silence her husband’s victims and others, and I’m still sitting here feeling bad for her.
On the subject of proportionality, virtually any other thread would make more sense than this one, a case where people are mostly sympathizing with a wife whose husband was accused of extremely vile behavior. I doubt his suicide was the result of anything but self-interest. He was worried about facing the consequences of his actions. His choice to rape a young teenager and later to kill himself is not on me, or anyone else in this thread. Do you know who else is going to suffer for this besides his family? The victim. She will be blamed for his death. She probably will feel responsible for his death for the rest of her life. I don’t believe suicide is selfish by default, but this one was unconscionably selfish.
As far as the article itself goes, it’s a good article. You know where you really need to take that article? Facebook, where people really do lose all sense of proportion. (I sent it to my husband, FWIW. Plenty worth discussing.)
That’s swell.
But what went wrong in this case in terms of the reaction? Or in other cases? How am I supposed to alter my behavior? I’m not sure what the actual point is, unless it’s just that sometimes assholes (i.e. those vocal very, very few who advocate for death or rape for accused abusers) will be assholes.
It’s a good point in way the wrong thread. This one hits so close to home for me. I hope this woman can open her eyes eventually and start fighting for victims instead of perpetrators.
I’m glad I don’t live in that district. I hope for the sake of those who do, that the widow Johnson doesn’t think it apppropriate to turn the campaign into a referendum on the allegations her late husband had been facing.
THAT would be hella ugly.
When I said cut her some slack, I didn’t mean give her a free pass for all time.
She’s got to be in some horrible kind of shock right now. I can’t begin to put myself in her shoes, and I don’t mean purely the sympathy/empathy angle. It’s hard to lose your spouse. It’s very hard to lose your spouse to violence. Harder still to lose him to self-inflicted violence. And intolerable that his death should completely invalidate every moment you spent together and every word that came out of his evil, lying mouth. She has no solid place to stand on and the Christian faith he preached is useless.
Wait and see where this goes.
Have you read the article? For those that haven’t, there was a whole lot more than just assaulting the one young lady. And a lot of the things researched and written about occurred while Rebecca Johnson was around (and a willing co-conspirator to some things, perhaps). And revisiting stuff that was alleged and seems backed up by documentation that it happened is only going to make her life and her husband’s legacy even worse than it is now. I mean, it’s no skin off my nose if that happens, but <sheesh!> sure seems like poor & impulsive decision making to me.
That’s why I said: I don’t think this will turn out the way she envisions.
I think, in some ways, this is a better article about the whole thing.
In a lot of ways, actually.
When you read the facts of the article, it’s clear this guy had serious ongoing mental issues, including a tenuous grip on reality. His wife may not have known about the rape per se, but she had to have known he was mentally unstable. It’s hard to believe she didn’t share at least some of his questionable values. Thus pushing all of the blame for his suicide onto the victim is disingenuous at best. Understandable in the face of her grief, perhaps, but really not acceptable. I hope she doesn’t invite further grief on herself by trying to frame her husband as an innocent victim.
At any rate, she’s incorrect in calling it a high-tech lynching— which is, as many of us recall, an event in which a black man accused of sexual harassment is allowed to perjure himself on live television before being awarded a lifetime appointment to the US Supreme Court.