I don’t know if Brett Kavanaugh is innocent or guilty. I want to believe he’s innocent, but I once believed Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton were innocent. So when it comes allegations of sexual misconduct, I’m not going to be a cheerleader for one side or other. Instead, I’ll wait until I see the evidence before I make a judgment.
That may seem like common sense, but there’s a new argument among liberal feminists that asserts accusers should be believed, no questions asked. I grew up surrounded by women, which I think helps give me plenty of respect and empathy for women who have been traumatized by abusive men. Sexual predators have no business being on the street (much less the Supreme Court). But it is not a myth that women sometimes falsely accuse men.
Vandyke Perry and Gregory Counts are two African-American men convicted in rape in 1992 because a jury decided to “believe women.” Counts was just freed after 26 years in prison, because the accuser came clean.
So when I see tweets such as this from feminist Emily Lindin “Sorry. If some innocent men’s reputations have to take a hit in the process of undoing the patriarchy, that is a price I am absolutely willing to pay” it disturbs me.
This is not an acceptable stance.
If Brett Kavanaugh is guilty of what Christine Blasey Ford accuses him, by all means administer justice. But for public figures like Joy Behar to say he’s guilty without a fair hearing is un-American and naive.
I remember Tawana Brawley, a women who falsely accused four men of raping her. Susan Smith was a woman who drowned her two kids, and then claimed an African-American carjacked her and abducted her kids. There was Duke Lacrosse team, falsely accused of sexual assault. History is littered with false accusations and dire consequences. The Scottsboro boys come to mind.
A mob-like culture that’s being created.
Partisans on both sides want me to be a cheerleader or condemn Brett Kavanaugh. We don’t have all the facts of what occurred. On the surface, It’s hard to believe someone with his reputation and who has passed several security clearances did what’s alleged. But I am leery going out on a limb, like some conservatives did for Roy Moore.
So I warn my conservative friends to search for the truth instead of being a cheerleader for the cause. Just because the other side is wrongly jumping to conclusions, that doesn’t mean we should follow them.
