As IF Times

Source: Woman accuses Al Franken of kissing, groping her without consent

Under the heading of “it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy” comes the most recent allegation du jour of harassment/molestation and general sexually inappropriate behavior, this time directed towards the charming Al Franken.  As if we need one more reason to dislike him.  Since the floodgates literally burst open last month with the “shocking” revelations of the real life Jabba the Hut, Harvey Weinstein, men (and those that resemble men), from virtually all corners and echelons of society have been outed like cockroaches in a kitchen when the lights come on.

From Entertainment, to Politics, to Industry, to Media, the roster of alleged scoundrels and worse is expanding so quickly that it may be easier to count those that didn’t rather than tabulate those that did.  The really shocking revelations are not the Weinsteins, Spaceys and Frankens of the world, those hardly raise an eyebrow.   But apparently even George Bush senior is a cad! George Bush!  While certainly his transgressions aren’t anywhere close to  the d-baggery exhibited by the other characters, the net of shame will likely go on to ensnare many others who may have had even a hint of impropriety expressed during their lives…even if it was 40 years ago.  However, to characterize this avalanche of bad behavior as sudden would be wrong.  It’s only the revelations that are sudden.  We can bet that opportunists will jump to portray that there are two kinds of men; those that have been outed and those that will be outed.

Oddly, while the activities of the ever increasing cast of miscreants are exposed and helping the cause of heretofore silent victims, they also create a new class of victims…. those being the vast majority of men who behave as civilized people.  Now they too will be on eggshells wondering if any or every one of their actions will be construed as some kind of assault.  Suddenly, like gun owners, all men will be cast collectively as villains because of the actions of a few.

We will see instances of even innocent interactions with vastly different contexts labelled as examples of ‘abuse’.  As an example, the vague claim of “unwanted attention”.   Most women will be the subject of attention at some point.  Whether it’s wanted or not may depend on whether it’s Brad Pitt or Al Franken.  Since there are many more Al Frankens in the world than Brad Pitts, it’s likely that most attention will be unwanted.   So, while the exposing of d-bag behavior is good, we expect that lots of innocents will be tarred as well.

The common denominator in all the cases of improper conduct is that instances of abuse are linked with disparities of power.  Someone in a position of influence by way of  station or fame feels empowered to exceed the bounds of acceptable  social behavior.  Why? Because they get away with it.  Many of the worst recently exposed miscreants are entertainers.  They have always escaped responsibility for their crassness by virtue of being ‘artists’ and have been placed on pedestals by their adoring fans.  Some may notice that no janitors or window washers have been outed for abusing co workers.  But if you live at the top of the power pyramid, you are allowed to believe that rules are for lesser folk.  That’s not a phenomenon peculiar to American society; it’s a social dynamic that  exists in all of nature.  The point of having an evolved and civilized society is that its members are expected to behave as civilized people.  Those that choose to not behave accordingly deserve to be outed.

Now that women have been empowered to speak out, maybe the best solution to keep this behavior at bay is the classic one; a good punch in the nose.

link The Years of Shame – NYTimes.com.

Some may be aware of the writings, or more correctly the rantings of Paul Krugmann.  By profession, he is an economist, yet somehow his unhinged opinions on politics is where he derives most of his notoriety these days.   In the most recent missive published in the New York Times, the true depth of his insanity is on full display for the world to see.

Even as the U.S. rightly commemorates the September 11 bombings from ten years ago, Krugmann fires some vile shots at Messrs. Bush and Giuliani for the heinous crime of happening to be in charge when the terrorist acts took place.   He calls them false heroes who capitalized on the incident to aggrandize themselves.  As I’ve said numerous times, everyone is entitled to their opinions, no matter how out of touch with reality they may be.  The greatest benefit of living in a free society is that any and every idiot is allowed a voice.   Only by comparing these opinions with actual facts can  people determine whether or not to listen to these idiots. 

Years ago, a golfer savant named Moe Norman was recognized for his genius in doing one thing; striking a golf ball.  Other than this very narrow area of human achievement, he was essentially unable to communicate with people.  As long as you didn’t expect anything sage from his unintelligible utterances, you could admire his innate skill.  Apart from his ball striking ability, you couldn’t depend on his opinion on whether or not the sun came out much less on a topic of any kind.  Certainly, no one would seek his opinion on the state of fiscal balances in the economy.

Krugmann seems to fall into this same category.  Although a past winner of a Nobel prize in economics, it’s worth noting that Al Gore and Barack Obama are also Nobel winners, so this in itself is not a validation of other-worldy brilliance.  Unlike Mr. Norman, Krugmann has the soapbox of The New York Times to express his nonsense and that’s where it gets evil.  There are those people out there that still think the Times is a legitimate news organization.  Over the past 30 years and increasingly in the past 10, the opinions espoused in that circular are more conspicuously out of sync with reality.  It’s as if they lived in their own delusional bizarro world where reality is an inconvenient nuisance.  To them, gravity is the product of some capitalist monopoly.

There will always be a market for this kind of ‘journalism’, but increasingly, that niche market of leftist drivel is shrinking as subscription levels prove.  According to their own statistics, the Times circulation has fallen to just about 830,000 in 2010,  a decline of 5% from a year ago which was also in decline from the year previous.   When they publish the opinions such as Krugmann’s it serves to marginalize them more and more from sane people.  Even Moe Norman would wince.