Domestic Abuse, Sexual Assault, Sexual Battery, Rape, and a Career

The real problem with allegations of sexual abuse is that the act of abuse is symptomatic of an attitude which is at its heart inhumane.  Thus we are shocked by allegations of abuse against a person who shows caring for others in other actions, but not shocked by such allegations against a person who is generally abusive in other ways.  Don the Con, to use an effete example, is abusive towards women just as he is abusive towards other people in general; he hates women just as he hates black people, Mexicans, and the poor.  Bill Cosby, on the other hand, has been credibly accused of behavior that is completely out of character for his fatherly, loving persona.

What should we do to someone who has been accused of sexual impropriety ( or any other kind of impropriety, for that matter? )  We should reserve judgement until we receive credible information, for starters.  Let that caveat not prevent us from calling out hateful words or policies, nor from endorsing loving action.  A person’s career should not be held hostage to mere allegations but if one’s career is already damaging others before allegations have surfaced, there is no need to hold back.

Let us take former Judge Roy Moore for an example.  Here is a man who, as a judge, twice defied precedence and the specific orders of judges from higher courts.  Such actions, which prompted his removal from the bench, should disqualify him from holding public office, yet he made a credible and nearly successful run for the Senate from his home state– because the endorsement of a man who should never have been elected ( and should have been impeached immediately after taking office ) was considered probative by a large segment of his constituency.

I do not know what is the best remedy for these situations.

Here is the comment of the day, in response to a New York Times article about Robert Porter, the White House staffer under John Kelly who was recently removed after the accusations of his two ex-wives became public:

Every person compartmentalizes, loving the parent who perhaps hit or otherwise abused them, loving the child who lied or bullied, loving the self that is imperfect and sometimes even rotten or mean. But we feel better about it – far better! – when there’s honesty, contrition, maybe even restitution. But when the transgression is hidden, denied, or wantonly devalued, that’s when we should question the decency of the loved one, when we should withhold forbearance, forgiveness…and votes! If there’s anything good coming from the Trump administration, it may be that we have begun a gigantic truth and reconciliation effort. Trump and his people will be the last to join that.