Well, it’s happening again.
We like some people, we dislike some others. Some people are credible, some aren’t. Some are calling for others to resign.
Do we know how stupid we look?
We’ve been screaming how Hillary Clinton was dismissed, because she’s a woman. Yet here, we’re discounting the accounts of women, and we’re dismissing the leadership of women.
Here’s the deal. Life for everyone changed with the Weinstein revelations. No, it was bad in 2016, it was bad in 2000, it was bad in 1994. It was bad in the 1980s, the 1970s, the 1960s, and the 1950s. I’ll give a pass to anyone who was in the military during WWII, because as long as you were abroad, you were dead. But 1945-1949, it was bad then.
We men have suffered under the delusion that we are superior to women for centuries. It goes back as far as we know, across religions and nationalities. Muslims? Yep, in some cases. Christians? Yep, in some cases. Jews? Yep, in some cases. Chinese? Yep, in many cases. Japan? Yep, in many places. Hindus? Probably. Buddhists? I have no idea; probably. Atheists? Wouldn’t surprise me. Americans? Yes, in many cases. Brits? Yes, a lot. POC? Yes, in some cases. Brazilians? Probably. Australians? Probably. Russians? Definitely. Botswanans? Probably. (Am I missing a continent or religion?)
And we perpetrate it through so many stories, movies, and language. Seriously: there’s a female pronoun, and a male pronoun, and plurals are consider to be male unless there’s an exclusive female collection.
And, we have another problem, even as men: we men who know better can’t always speak up to a man behaving badly, because often that man has the power. Yes, it’s a power dynamic. Understand that, men: it’s a power dynamic!
But, we’re criticizing women for standing up to bad behavior. Really.
We should be smarter. We should be more disciplined as a political party. Maybe we should come up with a “twelfth commandment” that reads, “A Democrat shall never speak poorly of another Democrat”, and tell everyone that means in public. In private, that’s another matter.
And we need to get rid of as many men as we can in Congress. There are some good men there, but I don’t trust men any further than I can throw them.
I’m done for ranting, for now. I’m sure I can add a lot. But men, and even women, remember however well a person speaks, their actions speak louder than words.
Peace.