In ‘The Many Faces of Brett Kavanaugh’, Frank Bruni of the NYT posits “Some women saw a young gentleman. Some saw a drunk predator. Maybe he was both.” www.nytimes.com/...
Well, sure. People are complicated. As Virginia Woolf once wrote: ‘Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by his heart, and his friends can only read the title’.
BUT, at the same time, there is such a thing as a person’s essential character — his ‘core’. And it is important to know what that is; that determination is the necessary and essential prerequisite whenever we ponder whether or not a stranger will be admitted into our personal and social circles.
Will I let this person into my heart? Will I loan this person $500? Eventually, painfully tutored by the experience of living, we all become pretty adept at this ultimate surmisal. We learn to recognize and adjudge the true essence of a person, oftentimes within mere seconds.
I recognize Kavanaugh.
He's that entitled rich kid from HS that had no hesitation invoking a particular slur whenever he encountered the terrorized gay kid. He relished making the lives of special needs kids a living hell. A lot of women don't want to think about this, but there is a common scenario that often occurs with this type of man.
The ‘Bretts’ of the world will be interacting with a bright, respectful girl/woman (someone of their 'class' you might say), and they will evince genuine connection and intellectual engagement. Then, the woman leaves. This is followed by a momentary hush and near-smirking, conspiratorial glances at the other men in the group while the female moves out of earshot. As soon as it is ‘safe’, the mask will drop and ‘Brett’ will regale us other 'guys' with lurid commentary regarding the size of her breasts. And I guarantee you, it is never the word 'breasts' that is used.
For all these girls and women he has cajoled, he is a 'good guy'. But we in his male clan know better. Of course some people do genuinely change. But take a look at some his emails with his posse when he was well into his Thirties. Read along as he admonishes his bros to keep their activities on the QT, especially as it relates to 'the spouses'.
Yeah, I recognize the guy alright...