As in the case of the # MeToo movement, it is not easy to express your personal verdict on the Kavanaugh question without being subjected to other people’ s judgement and your own values being questioned. You can’ t escape the trolls.
FROM THE PUBLISHER’ S DESK
At this point, the Brett Kavanaugh saga is no longer just about Roe vs. Wade. After all— as civil rights attorney Anita Arriola has pointed out— Roe vs Wade has been on the precipice of destruction even without the Kavanaugh factor due to accumulating layers of curtailing provisions that lawmakers in every state, Guam included, have tacked on to abortion laws.
Now America is debating on an unsettling question. What do you make of the Brett Kavanaugh situation? The question about his moral character has eclipsed his ideology as he headed for his confirmation as a nominee to become associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court.
We find ourselves discussing it over lunch.
Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor, accuses Kavanaugh of sexual assault. She alleged he pinned her to a bed at a party, tried to strip her naked and covered her mouth with his hand to muffle her screams. It was a long time ago. She was 15. He was 17. Booze was involved.
When you consider the age factor, you think twice before you pass judgement.“ Can you hold a stupid 17-year-old accountable for his stupid action?” a lawyer friend of mine asked.“ But at the same time, oh man, it is a horrible accusation. It was a horrible crime.”
As in the case of the # MeToo movement, it is not easy to express your personal verdict on the Kavanaugh question without being subjected to other people’ s judgement and your own values being questioned. You can’ t escape the trolls.
Were it just a simple case of toilet papering, pickpocketing or minor theft, it could’ ve been easier to shrug off as youthful folly. At some point in our teens, we had engaged in some forms of mischief— some are truly embarrassing, others may be criminal. As adults, we look back and strike ourselves with remorse. But in the case of Ford’ s accusation, oh man, it is indeed horrible.
“ Where is justice if he gets away with it?” another friend of mine said.
Remember Anita Hill?
Some ideologists insist it is political.“ Why only now?” You have to remind them that Ford first exposed this information to the Washington Post in 2012— though anonymously then. Personally, I am inclined to believe that no sane woman would risk public humiliation just to be part of a political orchestration.
4
Contrition
“ We really have no way of telling if she was making this up. I mean, I value Roe vs Wade and I definitely do not like Kavanaugh getting on the Supreme Court but if this is political, it is not fair,” yet another friend said.“ For the process to be fair, both parties should be heard.”
You can close a debate with that.
But even after the confirmation process is completed
— Kavanaugh may or may not get the nod— but this scandal will be judged by history and remain a reference of integrity.
While reading related articles, I stumbled on a Chicago Tribune column by Mary Schmich, who wrote about her friend’ s idea of an ideal world, in which moral conflicts can be reconciled:
“ I wish we lived in a world where a man could say that he did a terrible thing when he was a kid, and he didn’ t realize until many years later how truly horrible it was, and that it shaped his life in ways that made him go out of his way to help victims of similar assaults, and that he had often thought of contacting the woman to apologize for his terrible behavior as a drunken youth,” Schmich wrote, quoting her friend.“ I wish we lived in a world, where that sort of reparation was expected of someone who does something horrible and whom we expect to live to regret it, and I wish we could forgive, without taking anything away from the horror of the assault.”
But where is Kavanaugh’ s remorse?
As in the case of the # MeToo movement, it is not easy to express your personal verdict on the Kavanaugh question without being subjected to other people’ s judgement and your own values being questioned. You can’ t escape the trolls.
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