SEXUAL HARASSMENT FRENZY

THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT FRENZY OF 2017

by Hugh Murray

“On Friday's broadcast of HBO'S 'Real Time,' host Bill Maher declared:

“While discussing the allegations against Alabama Republican Senate nominee Judge Roy Moore during his opening monologue, Maher said, 'I've got to defend my tribe here a little bit, liberals vs. conservatives. Because certainly, sexual harassment is absolutely the one thing we see now is totally, truly bipartisan, maybe the last thing that is. But no liberal defended Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey, who might be going to jail. Anthony Weiner is in jail. Louis CK, we hear, this week, did horrific things. Compare that to Trump and Roy Moore. We arrest our alleged rapists. They elect them.”(This item is by Ian Hanchett, posted on Breitbart 10 Nov. 2017)

Weiner did something illegal and was convicted in court. That is why he is in jail. What did Trump do? Or even Judge Moore? What has been proved? Indeed, what did Bill Maher write when Bill Clinton was president?

In his 1996 book Does Anybody Have a Problem with That?, Maher titles a short chapter “[Bill] Clinton Should Sleep Around.”:

“So far, Bill Clinton has been a big disappointment to me,...You see, …,I was sure we were finally getting a good old-fashioned, screwing around Kennedy Democrat in the White House – and wouldn't that be better? It would be in the eyes of all men out there, if they're honest with themselves.

“Because, to us men, the president isn't just the president, he's the tribal chieftain. He's the warrior with the greatest prowess, the longest spear, and as our chieftain, we look up to him to live beyond the strictures of normal man, as chieftains do. 'Bathe her and bring her to my tent' – that's what power is all about. All the men in America didn't agree with John F. Kennedy's politics, but they all respected him as a cocksman...

“...And please don't think it's infidelity itself that we admire, but the man is the president,...,and if he can't get some decent tail, what hope is there for the rest of us?(p.21)

“...Not to mention that many foreign leaders simply won't respect a president who isn't getting something on the side. We look at the world through American eyes, but in Latin America, to say nothing of Italy, if your president doesn't have a scandal, it's a scandal.”(22)

That was Bill Maher in a monologue that first aired 8 August 1993, in the first months of Bill Clinton's residency. Of course, Bill did sleep around, and more famously, stood in the Oval Office while intern Monica Lewinsky serviced him. True, Bill in his testimony swore he did not have sexual relations with that woman; and that lie was sufficient to get Clinton impeached, but insufficient to get him convicted and ousted from the White House.

In 2017, Maher seems to be reversing his earlier view. Today, we are in the midst of a wave to expose sexual predators. Each day's news contains new names of gropers, nudists showing all before before an unappreciative audience of one, masterbaters performing before shocked and disgusted guests, deep throat kissers, propositioners all aimed at ensnaring an attractive young lady (or in a few cases, a lad). Each day prominent names are besmirched with tantalizing accusations, men of power are apologizing, yet still being fired. Familiar names from Hollywood, TV, films, and now a Democratic Senator, and a Democratic Congressman, smeared with dirt. So, despite Maher's assertion of early November 2017, Democrats do elect alleged sexual predators. But in 1993 that is precisely why Maher was praising the Democrats – he wanted another John Kennedy, another cocksman in the White House. And how many times was Ted Kennedy, the “Lion of the Senate,” re-elected? Ted not only had a reputation as a player, he was also known as a poor swimmer. Only the meanest fanatics would criticize him for choosing his political career over collateral damage left in a sunken automobile.

In the early 1960s at university I wrote my MA thesis on the Scottsboro rape case, which began in Alabama in 1931. After the first trials, 8 young Blacks were sentenced to death, and the 14-year-old, to life imprisonment based on the testimony of 2 young white women. The cases went up and down to the US Supreme Court twice, and there was huge international interest and protest about the case, as the main defense team was led by the Communist front International Labor Defense. (Interestingly, the 2 leaders of the Scottsboro Defence Committee in the UK in the late 1930s were American Paul Robeson and Johnstone Kenyatta. Johnstone later became better known as Jomo, the leader of the Mau Mau uprising in his native Kenya. His son, Uhuru, was just reelected Kenyan President.) There were years of litigation about Scottsboro, and finally an illogical compromise. None of the 9 were executed, and some got out sooner than others. When one reads about the case, it seems clear that the women initially lied about the rape. At the 2^nd trial, one of the women repudiated her earlier claims and testified there was no rape. To me, and to most who study the case, it appears that the women lied about the rape. Women do make up stories.

During the Senate hearings to confirm Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, National Public Radio reporter Nina Totenberg assured her radio audience, women do not make up stories. In effect, Anita Hill must be telling the truth. I thought, what BS! Thomas called the hearings a “legal lynching,” the identical phrase used by the Left of the 1930s to condemn the Alabama legal proceedings. If Hill had been so harassed, why had she followed Thomas to another job? Despite the feminist assault on the character of Thomas, he was confirmed and is still a Justice on the US Supreme Court.

The feminists did not give up. They continued their assault on the American judicial system, and many states enacted rape-shield laws. They vary from state to state, and they do not shield from rape. After an alleged rape, and the accused is found, his name can be publicized, but the woman's name is not disclosed to the public. The feminists contend that just exposing her name would expose her to ridicule and further humiliation. The alleged rapist should be humiliated by the media. But what if he is innocent? What if she has made false claims against him and others in the past? Is there any proof to support her claim. And to make the charges of rape after 40 years, as the woman has done in the case against Judge Moore in Alabama, how does she prove he did it? And after 40 years, how does Moore prove himself innocent? In cases where the rape-shield laws prevent publication of the woman's name, publicizing the man's name may encourage many women to come forth with similar charges against him, especially if he has money and they may get some. If her name were also in the media, one might learn more about her possibly unsavory, or criminal past that places her charges in a different perspective. I am a staunch opponent of feminist inspired rape-shield laws. And as bad as they are on the state level, they are far worse on many university campuses. There, the man may have no right to confront his accuser. Essential rights of the defendant have disappeared under feminist pressure, so the scales of justice on campus may be tilted overwhelmingly against the accused male.

Let me state clearly, rape is a crime and should be punished. But in the Alabama Senate race, the allegations against Republican Judge Moore are often flimsy to begin with – he was in his 30s dating teen-age girls. But some say the girls were 18 or 19 at the time. Is that a crime? Many men marry women a decade or two younger than they. Some men wait till they have accumulated more capital before marrying, and that can take time. Different is the allegation of the woman who speaks of an incident when she was 14. But why was she silent for 40 years? If in the year 2033 Monica Lewinsky were to first claim that she and Bill Clinton had it on in the Oval Office, many would rightly be skeptical. Moore is innocent until proved guilty. What is the proof by the woman? The burden of proof is and should be on her.

As much as I disagree with Judge Moore on gay rights and the 10 Commandments on public property, I view the Washington Post “expose” as a Democratic ploy to smear Moore. Worse, these Alabama political inspired accusations have sparked a witch hunt. Soon, if a TV emcee hugs a contestant who just won a prize, that may become grounds for a lawsuit and a firing. A man placing his arm round the shoulder of a woman to protect her from the cold, might come to mean sexual harassment or even pre-rape. To ask a woman out on a date; she declines. Perseverance, men were once taught. He asks again. Now, that might constitute harassment or even stalking. Have the man registered as a sex offender for asking for a date! We are entering a period of the witch hunt, often led by women who dislike men.

Angela Lansbury got flack by stating that some of the blame belonged on the women who dressed inappropriately. I think the issue is more complex. I think that both men and women should go after what they want. And both have the right to reject what the do not want.

Going back to Hollywood and Weinstein. I suspect that many a starlet who first enters a film studio wants to ask, “Where is the casting couch?” And male actors too. They are young, beautiful, and want to get in the films while they look good, and the couch may be the fastest track to stardom. Is this only Hollywood and the rich? No way. This is universal. I just read a book that includes an incident from Mao's Cultural Revolution. A naive young city gal is forced to move to the countryside and live among the peasants; she learns that one way to get lighter work-loads and a trip to the city is to “befriend” a party leader. She did not, she was not raped, but she received no privileges. I suspect this is a common feature throughout history and throughout the world.

But how can the woman show whom she is interested in? Here Lansbury's remark about clothing is important. For the woman in the West, how much do you reveal? And to whom. In public, it is hard to cover, open, cover, to each person. But charm can be used to entice the ones you want, a look of disgust to dissuade others.

Men in the West often used touch, sometimes protectively, for many women, and a little more caressingly for the special ones. Is this now to be a crime of harassment? To ask for a date – harassment? A 2^nd time, stalking? To look too closely at the breast, pervert? A word about how good she looks, harassment, sexist, etc.

We must stop the march of the feminists and their attempts to build walls between men and women. America is now engaged in a witch hunt, a hunt led by the witches.