Liberty on Tap since 1984
A brief thought about Al Gore's alleged sex assault
Freedom Pub host Jim Lakely invited me to crosspost this comment to Freedom Pub. I thank him for the invite.
Byron York prints plenty of disturbing details from the police complaint against Al Gore, but this is the one I find most infuriating:
Snarky folks at The Corner are treating this revelation as being run-of-the-mill Democratic politics, but honestly the problem here -- as is often the case -- is of power generally. You can see an almost carbon-copy dynamic at play when people angrily defend the Catholic Church against accusations of widespread child molestation. Victims are urged to hush up, to go away, because their truth threatens The Mission of whichever person or movement or institution is involved.
And while it's often true that sacrifices must be made in order to advance a worthy cause, you can easily tell the difference in the worthiness of those sacrifices by asking one simple question: Is the dignity of the individual who made the sacrifice enhanced by that sacrifice? Or is it diminished?
If the answer is the latter -- if a woman is obliged to be silent about a sexual assault -- than the person, or movement, or institution is almost certainly unworthy of the sacrifice. I don't want the allegations against Al Gore to be true -- but that's mostly because I don't want the woman in question to have been victimized. Shame on her supposed friends for valuing her dignity so cheaply.
Finally she got away. Later, she talked to friends, liberals like herself, who advised against telling police. One asked her "to just suck it up; otherwise, the world's going to be destroyed from global warming."To that "friend" let me offer up a piece of advice: Go to hell.
Snarky folks at The Corner are treating this revelation as being run-of-the-mill Democratic politics, but honestly the problem here -- as is often the case -- is of power generally. You can see an almost carbon-copy dynamic at play when people angrily defend the Catholic Church against accusations of widespread child molestation. Victims are urged to hush up, to go away, because their truth threatens The Mission of whichever person or movement or institution is involved.
And while it's often true that sacrifices must be made in order to advance a worthy cause, you can easily tell the difference in the worthiness of those sacrifices by asking one simple question: Is the dignity of the individual who made the sacrifice enhanced by that sacrifice? Or is it diminished?
If the answer is the latter -- if a woman is obliged to be silent about a sexual assault -- than the person, or movement, or institution is almost certainly unworthy of the sacrifice. I don't want the allegations against Al Gore to be true -- but that's mostly because I don't want the woman in question to have been victimized. Shame on her supposed friends for valuing her dignity so cheaply.
Views: 4
Tags: al, dignity, environmentalism, gore, power
Comment
-
Comment by M.Bailey on July 2, 2010 at 11:44am -
This is a classic example of a cult mentality. The issue itself (global warming) takes a back seat to the individual (Al Gore). The most important thing to these people is to keep Al Gore around. If that means forgiving an assault like this, so be it. Clinton got the same treatment from women who believed that he championed women's issues. They were willing to forgive numerous instances of harassment and/or assault.
You can point to any cult you want and see examples of the individual leader preying on members and having their predatory behavior willingly forgiven, or even encouraged. Cult leader rob their members, sleep with their members (regardless of age or marital status), and the members pine for more. The fact that people are acting this way is no surprise.
-
Comment by Jim Lakely on July 1, 2010 at 8:46am
-
And there is breaking news on this story. The Portland PD is re-opening the case.
-
Comment by Ronald A. Lau on July 1, 2010 at 8:38am -
I agree with your assessment, but there is no denying that today's Cable/TV/paper news protects the Liberal/DNC/Green/'Social Justice'/'Environmental Justice'/AGW/ACL leaders from all controversy for no other purpose than to protect Liberal/DNC/Green/'Social Justice'/'Environmental Justice'/AGW/ACL policies.
© 2012 Created by Freedom Pub.
You need to be a member of Freedom Pub to add comments!
Join Freedom Pub