Sunday, September 30, 2018

The Kavanaugh Scream




This Reuters image licensed by abc news is hereby used solely for educational purposes - please leave a comment in you have a copyright concern

Can you see the expression on these women's faces as they listen to Kavanaugh rant?

Women of my age are poised for a piercing and echoing "Kavanaugh Scream" should Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed without adequate investigation given the credible evidence raised of a deeply flawed moral character. 

This poised scream is energized also by the men in step with women's outrage. The poised scream is a massive force.

Kavanaugh deserves due process and I applaud Jeff Flake's acknowledgement of the need to conduct an investigation of serious allegations made against Kavanaugh's character. One week does not seem sufficient.

Very few women in America want a man in the Supreme Court who has a record of fundamental disregard for, and exploitation of, women's bodies.

The men who exploit women's bodies are the the type of man who disregards other people's rights as human beings.

I've known those kind of men. Most women do. If men of this ilk become successful, they wear a socially appropriate mask that allows them to have a respectable family and community regard.

The amazing series West World explores this troubled masculine identity, linking it to the pursuit of violence and sadistic sexuality.

Of course some women are attracted to this sadistic ethos, but these types of appetites and passions are ruled by a certain kind of man.

I don't know if Kavanaugh is that kind of man. He deserves due process in a full investigation.

That said, if Kavanaugh is approved without adequate investigation of allegations the scream that will result will reverberate across the nation in its felt effects.

People are angry but they feel powerless. Women are half the population. Few things unite them as effectively as the kind of man who exploits other people's bodies, especially vulnerable female bodies. Unfortunately, this scream is coming at time wherein activism is increasingly being coded by authorities as terrorism, a coding that reflects the rise of a repressive regime:
Parrish, W. & Levin, S. Thu 20 Sep 2018) 'Treating protest as terrorism': US plans crackdown on Keystone XL activists. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/20/keystone-pipeline-protest-activism-crackdown-standing-rock

“Treating protest as terrorism is highly problematic,” said German, noting that the US government has long labeled activism as “terrorism”, once claiming that filing public records requests was an “extremist” tactic. “It’s an effective way of suppressing protest activity and creating an enormous burden for people who want to go out and express their concerns.”

The “terrorist” and “extremist” labels can be used to justify brutality and a militarized operation, said Andrea Carter, an attorney with the Water Protector Legal Collective, a group that has represented Standing Rock defendants.

“It’s a really egregious tactic,” she said, noting that the labels also lay the groundwork for prosecutors to turn low-level misdemeanor cases into federal felony trials. “A lot of it has to do with public relations.”
The repressive apparatuses have been amassing force for years. In 2009 the American Civil Liberties Union reported that DoD terrorism training materials described public protests as “low level terrorism” (“ACLU Challenges”).  In 2008, the Pentagon planed to deploy 20,000 uniformed trained troops inside the U.S. by 2011, purportedly to help state and local officials respond to a terrorist attack or some other domestic catastrophe (Hsu and Tyson A1). The Washington Post reported resistance to this plan:
[Excerpted] Domestic emergency deployment may be "just the first example of a series of expansions in presidential and military authority," or even an increase in domestic surveillance, said Anna Christensen of the ACLU's National Security Project. And Cato Vice President Gene Healy warned of "a creeping militarization" of homeland security. (Hsu and Tyson A1)
Good luck searching if you want to know the true number of military deployments in the US, especially when supporting US policing. The Pentagon won't even release troop deployments for Afghanistan:
Pentagon Questioned Over Blackout On War Zone Troop Numbers. NPR https://www.npr.org/2018/07/03/625544265/pentagon-questioned-over-war-zone-numbers-blackout
There is a MOBILIZATION of REPRESSIVE APPARATUSES (laws, technologies, types of protocols, symbolic codes, etc) poised at the moment of the rising Kavanaugh Scream.

Reform of this sadistic ethos is the only thing that can stop the risking Kavanaugh Scream that will echo and amplify the screams of other people who have demanded rights as human beings.

I hope the Kavanaugh Scream can move as an unobstructed great ripple leading to reform rather than break harshly against a wall, that will ultimately crumble but not without needless destruction and misplacement of the vital energy needed to confront the infrastructural challenges captured in the idea of the Anthropocene.



References
ACLU. “ACLU Challenges Defense Department Personnel Policy To Regard Lawful Protests As ‘Low-Level Terrorism.’”ACLU. 10 June 2009. 24 June 2009 http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/39822prs20090610.html.




Hsu, Spencer S., and Ann S. Tyson. “Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security.” The Washington Post 1 December 2008: A1.







15 comments:

  1. Serious allegations? What makes an allegation serious? The alleged crime? The credibility of the accusation? The person making the allegation and/or the person alleged to have done the crime? Are the allegations against Keith Ellison serious? Against Bill Clinton? There does seem to be some relativity in these matters. Many women bring allegation of rape and are generally ignored . . .keep that in mind. What makes the claimant credibile? Her educational background, her job or profession, her attractiveness, her connection to types of people? On NPR yesterday I heard a law professor say that Chritina Ford was very credible. That does not seem true based simply on her testimony. Psychological literature would indicate that the more certain a person is of a memory of trauma the less likely it is to be accurate. A PhD in psychology should know this. I know a lot of people, some of whom are on SSDI for mental health reasons. Dr Ford reminds me of them. Weak and easily intimidated. Not what you would expect from a monied, highly educated mature woman. And her voice? Not one I would want to hear very often. Now I am not saying that she is lying though she may be or that her tale is not true as it also may be. But for educated adults who presumably have some interest in knowing people and their natures, the response to Christina Ford has been disappointing.

    Now for Judge Kavanaugh. He has lived a very cushy life, no doubt about that. Money, health, a good marriage and two healthy children. He would have done better to acknowledge that and to not ask for sympathy or pity that he were being accused falsely. For his family it is a different matter. His wife and children are not guilty of anything as far as I know! Most people do not make it through life without at least one tragic event, and many have several.

    Dr Ford was not raped. Whatever happened may not even have been an attempted rape. We will never know. She will never know either for certain. Many women have been raped. What about them? Isn't this whole affair the privledged once again seeking attention, money and pity for what is minor compared to what many men and women suffer almost daily? Personally I think it is the behavior of an immature society.

    Two fine actors who have no wide spread recognition could put on a similar situation in a documentary format. The best actor would be innocent? Probably. You can not tell from presentations whether someone is guilty or not. The Innocent Project has proven this repeatedly. Menory is not a tape recorder or a video. The purpose of memory is not veridical presentations of the past. Historians trouble endlessly about historical fact. The purpose of memory is to aid the person is self preservation. If distorting does that then so be it. A jurors job is really a terrible task.

    Americans need to grow up. Oh, and three cheers for Lindsay Grahams ex tempore speech!

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    1. The repuklican corporatists are not populists. They are skynet.

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  2. The real fear of Kavanaugh in not that Roe vs Wade will be reversed as it will not be for obvious reasons. The real fear is that the Supreme Court will refrain from legislating. Statutes will be read as written and not as they "ought to have been", or according to the legislators' "real intentions".

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  3. "[A]dequate investigation of allegations"? Good luck America. These are never easily come by. Let me remind you again of the Innocent Project. Equal justice under the law is an ideal, almost a fantasy. In our present sensational case there is virtually no evidence. No witnesses, no DNA, no whereabouts and no time. I suppose some think Kavanaugh should be water boarded but that would according to the experts yield only false information. I think Dr Ford should be subjected to an FBI background investigation though. Or would that be adding insult to injury? So it is unclear what adequate investigation would encompass. Perhaps Majia would enlighten me on this. Utimately it all comes down to politics. If you are on this side of the line Kavanaugh is guilty though most won't say that outloud; on this side he is innocent. The FBI would do best to investigate the Senators and those that have sponsered Dr Ford. Could this be a Black Op instigated by Brennan? Possibly. After all Chuck Schumer said they would do anything to stop this nomination . . . and I suppose that includes things that are illegal.

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    1. If you can take your speculation this far, why not go a bit further. How do we know that the current soap-opera is not a staged performance by both sides?

      I found Dr. Ford's performance better than Kavanaugh, but how do I know I'm right?

      I must admit bias as I am opposed to any Supreme Court nominee as they have all proven themselves to be corporate shills.

      Is there yet another "October Surprise" in the works as we remain engrossed upon this ongoing performance?

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    2. According to Zero Hedge, the Bill Still Report, etc. Dr Ford has CIA connections both through her family and through her work--teaches at the Stanford CIA Intern Program. To leap a bit further this could be a Brennan and Friends operation.

      Add to that the fact that the "crime" was not all that serious. Perhaps only in her imagination at the time was it even an attempted rape. The authorities would probably not have seen fit to bring it to trial. Whoever the assailants might have been in this might-have-been event would have had their own side of the story. Yes, I think the Americans have been taken for a ride and not a very fun one.

      We also have to keep in mind that girls/women harm men. Usually this is done subconsciously and psychologically.

      Finally, we all have many experiences with people in our lives. We are lied to on a regular basis. We may do our share of lies, white ones at least. I found that Dr Ford seemed to be acting. Where were the tissues to soak up the real tears? Why was her voice so weak and uneven? Why would a PhD psychologist after 36 years not have had psychotherapy to the point of accepting her past? Why would she not know the word exculpatory? Doesn't she even know the word culpable? And what does ex mean? So she was not intellectually convincing, and emotionally I thought she was also unpersuasive. As I remaked above I thought Kavanaugh made too much out of being mistreated. Has he not been a bit pampered for years in his important roles? I think so. He has not had to rub shoulders with the masses that is for sure. Neither are people I would socialize with though Kavanaugh is clearly the most interesting with his vast legal knowledge and experience. Toss a coin for the truth! And try to figure out how having two front doors is a safety measure as it means having to check that both are locked. How far apart are they? Really a strange idea. I thought it was originally two bedroom exit doors?

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    3. When it comes to sexual harassment, Bill Clinton set the bar so low that even Trump could crawl over the top of it.
      An impeachment of Clinton by both the House and Senate and having his ass thrown out of the White House at that time would've stopped the Trump campaign in its tracks. As usual, Amerika gets what it deserves while each side blames the other.

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    4. You know Joan Rivers thought quite highly of Donald Trump and thought he would be a good president and get things done. She was a truly brilliant comedinne and very perceptive. I think your conclusion is wrong.

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  4. Now here would be a challenge: Coming soon to a theater near you. Betty Davis as the rape victim and Mongomery Cliff as the accused rapist. It turns out it was Jack Palance who scared kids with his wicked cowboy smile. But it was a real thriller that everyone on the edge of his seat. Some thought Betty as Lou Lou was lying and other thought Montgomery as Chad was a real devil and guilty. Palance just slinked around smiling. You see, Shakespeare was right, it is all show business.

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  5. Freefall sounds like a socialist name. A capitalist would be cheapfall or economicfall. I suppose if Bernie Sanders slipped and fell it would be a freefall? Unless it were for a charity in which case it would be a taxfreefall.

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    1. It began with Building 7. It will end with economic collapse. In between that time, I try to show that getting to choose which psychopath will abuse you is not freedom.

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    2. Ah, yes. Bldg 7 went down in free fall time. I have to differ though with your designating of Trump as a psychopath. I know the symptoms well and do not see him as having them. If he did his children would not be hanging around.
      However, I believe the previous four presidents did have serious character flaws and might be classified as pyschopaths or perhaps better as sociopaths, the latter being nurture not nature. Governments are rarely wonderful and leaders no matter how good are never what everyone wants.

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  6. Well, it has now become abundantly clear; the person who directed this "movie" lacked inspiration. Instead of the dowdy Dr Ford he or she needed a younger woman who was still quite pretty, even beautiful as some women in their forties can be--Greta Garbo was more beautiful in her forties than she was in her twenties. And his actress needed an abundance of emotion and real tears. Dr Ford was boring and tedious. Who could believe anyone would try to rape her? Now Kavanaugh was perfect, but he needed to be out of law school and not just a high school guy drunk on beer. I will grant you that the witness thing is hard to solve. You can always find someone willing to play a role, but two women willing to lie? can not be easy, because later on one of them will spill the beans or want more money. Evidence is also tricky. But a better actress is essential. Chuck Schumer should have thought this through with more care and looked around a lot more. And why have Diane Feinstein set on this like an old mother hen on an egg? No, the producers and directors are to blame. This is one of those films that are called box-office bombs. I wondr if Michael Moore had a hand in this?

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  7. William it is abundantly clear that this issue gets under your skin.

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    1. Hopefully under yours as well, since we can not have Judiciary Committee hearings turning into brawls--however, some of my comments are humor. When you wrote "adequate investigation given the credible evidence raised of a deeply flawed moral character", I found myself wondering where you had found that evidence and what it took for you for evidence to be credible? "Sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who questioned Christine Blasey Ford during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, released a report on Sunday highlighting a massive list of inconsistencies in Ford’s testimony.(http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=59144) While neither you nor I have the educational background or experience to arrive at definitive conclusions, this lady does. And Alan Dershowitz came to a similar conclusion. So I am puzzled by your use of credible. The fact that she lied about her fear of flying was also a problem for me. But then maybe she was merely thinking about Eric Jong! It seems to me that you leaped to a conclusion immediately and never really turned back to take a close look.

      P.S. why is my name not showing up with my comments?

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