Thursday, December 28, 2017

Home truth

John Hayward:
Lost in all this political maneuvering is the lesson Americans really should learn from the sexual harassment meltdown: the dangers of centralized power.

This is not a scandal that coincidentally just happened to affect entertainment media, journalism, and politics. Those are the three pillars of centralized power in the United States, and they are symbiotic. They depend on each other for story content, influence, political contributions, access to newsmakers, and the ability to silence accusers. In what other industries would so many politically active, outspoken, charismatic, and financially secure women keep quiet about a tidal wave of crimes that strike at the very heart of feminist convictions?
Yep. And there's more:
Power is the bait that lures victims, the fuel for arrogance, and the milk that nourishes the sense of childish entitlement displayed by so many of the men who walked out of the shower naked in front of female subordinates, or pushed buttons to lock them in offices until they paid proper tribute to the big star. Power is the prize that makes influential people abandon their principles in pursuit of some greater good.

Power long ago became the substitute for personal honor and moral judgment in our political class, which most definitely includes top journalists and the culture-makers of Hollywood. They share a common belief that policy positions are the true measure of morality. As a “feminist” infamously put it at the height of the Lewinsky scandal, Bill Clinton was entitled to a few blowjobs for keeping abortion legal. To this day, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, some insist that Democrats with solid left-wing voting records simply cannot be misogynists or racists. There is a reason Harvey Weinstein’s first response to the exposure of his misdeeds was to declare war against the National Rifle Association.
More, a lot more, at the link.

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