What has been on My Mind

11/20

Yesterday I spent my afternoon writing long piece on the aftermath of Al Franken’s mistake for which he has apologized but I have decided not to publish it. It is time to move on but still I am troubled by something Carl Bernstein, on Real Time with Bill Maher, called our inability to contextualize. As I take it he means that we are having trouble differentiating between a man who made a mistake and a serial molester which is why Franken’s name is lumped in with likes of Moore, Weinstein, Weiner, Louis C.K., et al.

My concerns don’t end there. There are calls for a national conversation for which Charles Blow called “a man problem.” In order for there to be any kind discussion we have to go beyond simplifying and say that it is a societal problem and that needs to be addressed by all of us including women. We are all part of the problem as we are all part of the solution.

Women are being listened to and being heard and that is good thing but my fear is that the pendulum will swing so far that people who have made a one-time mistake or didn’t make any mistake at all but incurred the wrath of someone will get drag-netted along with the truly horrible. It has happened before in our country and otherwise innocent people have had their reputations and lives destroyed. We must guard against this and at the same time protect victims.


I have said what has been on my mind for the last several days and will leave it there.

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