Wednesday, September 19, 2018

A victim speaks up …

… My Rape Doesn’t Justify Punishing People Without Due Process.

There is also a moral and ethical obligation with recognizing what happened to you and the power you wield from your ability to accuse. If I stumbled upon the man who raped me, as I have often thought about, could I accuse him in public? Could I shout his name and the crime he committed against me that has redefined my concept of intimacy, autonomy, and lifelong health?

10 comments:

  1. Due process is a legal requirement. It doesn't apply to a job application i.e. suitability for a particular job.

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  2. Due process comes into play when what one is being accused of amounts to a felony. People get sued for making such accusations. And an appointment to a job is not quite the same as an application for one.

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  4. Due process becomes relevant in a legal action, and it doesn't look to apply in Kavanaugh's case due to the statue of limitations.

    Does it really matter if someone is applying for a job or seeking to be appointed to one? Frankly, I could argue that much of Kavanaugh's career has in fact been one long application for the position he now hopes to hold.

    When I hire (or appoint) someone to a position, I want to be able to trust him. Now, and in future. If I have any doubts whatsoever about his honesty, I won't hire him.

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  5. He could still sue her for slander. And then due process would kick in. What is yiur evidence that Kavanaugh sought to be appointed to the Supreme Court. His career, like those of many in the judiciary, has been such that an appintment thereunto was certainly a possibility. The same can be said of just about everyone who has served on the court. (An exception might be Earl Warren, who was a governor, not a judge, prior to his appointment. In fact, I happen to think restricting the court to judges is a bad idea and not in accord with the founders’ intentions.)

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  6. Yes, and it might be a good idea if he sues her, for exactly the reason you cite: due process would (or should) kick in. Then a proper investigation could be undertaken, leading us to learn just how honest he is. What is the unseemly hurry? (Well, we all know the answer to that: get Kavanaugh confimed before elections.)

    Kavanaugh's ambition over the years is my evidence. But as I've said, in the end, for me, it's about honesty, not about whether he's applying for the position or accepting an appointment to it. There are plenty of qualified potential justices.

    Di I believe Ford? I would like to hear from her directly to make a better assesment. But I will tell you this: most if not all women have faced unwanted sexual aggression to a greater or lesser degree. The extent with which we have lived with this and been affected by it is something men can't really understand--not really.

    I am well aware that false or mistaken accusations can ruin a person's life: another reason to insist on a proper investigation. And even then, and with due process, it can be very difficult to be absolutely sure of the truth. More than 50 years ago, my mother served on a jury deciding a child molestation case. The child was very young, maybe five. My mother was the sole juror who held out against the others, since she was simply not convinced that the evidence was sufficient to ruin the accused's life. The trial ended in a hung jury. Was my mother right? Who knows? We do the best we can--hopefully with integrity and honesty. Which are certainly qualities we should expect from our Supreme Court justices.

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  7. I absolutely agree that restricting the court to judges is a bad idea. I'm also convinced that there ought to be term limits, as is the case here in Germany.

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  8. Just speaking for myself, if I were raped, the first thing I would do is call the cops. By the way, what is it you know about Kavanagh’s ambition over the years that the rest of us don’t? Has he been more ambitious than Merrick Garland, who, so far as I know, was not inordinately ambitious, just notably competent in his field?
    As for term limits for Supreme Court justices, probably not a bad idea, though Germany does not strike me as a model for democratic procedure. Just saying.

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  9. 'Just speaking for myself, if I were raped, the first thing I would do is call the cops.'

    You are a grown man now, no longer young and terrified and distraught, and times are at least a bit different than in your youth.

    Think about about all those young boys abused by Catholic priests: how many of them called the cops? And young women or girls were often disbelieved, treated disgracefully, blamed, and more. The shame was (and probably still is) enormous. Alone in my circle of close friends, I can name a number of women who were raped, and only one of them, as a girl in her late teens, went to the police (and won the case), mostly because she had an extremely supportive mother.

    As to Kavanaugh's ambition, I think his quasipolitical background, especially his White House role, is significant. Whether is he is more ambitious than Garland is irrelevant.

    How much do you actually know about the current democratic procedures in Germany? If you are referring to its fascist history, you would do well to consider whether there are lessons to be learned in the American context. Just saying.

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  10. Regarding Kavanaugh, this piece is well worth considering:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/09/kavanaugh-confirmation/571021/

    Do I agree? Not entirely.

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