It occurred to me, after I wrote the preceding post, that I
am old enough to have seen this movie before, in the days of Senator Joseph
McCarthy and the “Red Scare”.
Just as in the 1950’s the public was swept up into an
emotional fear of Communist spies and sleeper agents embedded everywhere in American
society, today we have the emotional #MeToo movement sure that every powerful
man has been harassing the women around him.
Just as in the 1950’s the simple accusation that someone was
a Communist sympathizer was enough to get them fired and blacklisted, without
any proof being required, so today the simple accusation that a man has
harassed or sexually exploited a woman is enough is some quarters to get him
fired, without any due process or proof required.
Just as it was almost impossible to prove one wasn’t
a secret communist agent (proving a negative is almost always difficult if not
impossible), so today it is almost impossible for a man to prove he hasn’t
harassed a woman, especially since it is almost always done without witnesses,
so it is simply his word against hers.
Just as then there were in fact enough actual communist
spies and agents around to make the accusation plausible and creditable, so
today there are enough actual proven cases of men using their power to sexually
exploit woman to make the accusation plausible and creditable against any just
about any adult male.
And just as Senator McCarthy saw how to weaponized this fear
and mob justice to advance his own career, so today people have weaponized the
#MeToo movement to use against any opponent. If you can’t bring your opponent
down with such tactics, you can certainly ruin their reputation, because the
gullible public will generally believe, without proof, that “where there is smoke there must be fire”,
so the accusation alone is enough to do the damage. And if you need a little
more leverage, just pay or persuade a few more women to come forward with the
same accusation, because apparently numbers of accusations can substitute for
actual proof in most people’s minds.
Think of this as you watch Monday’s Kavanaugh-Ford hearings.
Posts
