There are true victims, and there are false accusations. That’s why we have due process.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process has been turned into a referendum on the #MeToo movement. Regardless of proof, evidence, or truth, the message from the progressive Left is clear: If you support Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation, you are affirming toxic masculinity and turning a cold shoulder to every legitimate victim of sexual assault. To the Left, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has already been canonized into an icon of modern feminism.
To “fact-find” at Thursday’s hearing was merely the pretext for a parade of congratulations and praise for the newest face of #MeToo-era feminism. No Democrat even pretended to be open-minded. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who gave a long speech about the importance of abortion in the initial confirmation hearings, even had actress Alyssa Milano present as her guest. (Milano is credited with beginning the hashtag #MeToo and is another bastion of liberal feminism.)
So, the court of public opinion quickly set up a false dilemma. To support Judge Kavanaugh is to delegitimize every female victim’s experience with sexual assault. The Left’s new motto, “I believe women,” is a categorical denial of the fact that people can be sincerely wrong. I could believe with 100 percent certainty something provably false. I could claim I’m the queen of England. I’m a woman, so I have a right to be believed! But what happens when belief does not match fact or reality? What happens when society punishes you based on my unproven belief?
Many who have condemned Kavanaugh show they can no longer reason or use analytical skills to differentiate between fact and reality versus emotion and opinion. All objectivity has been summarily dismissed. All interest in truth has been scorned in favor of political agenda. When our culture drives the idea that we can arbitrate our own reality (often referred to as “your truth”) and simply ignore facts when we don’t prefer them, it shouldn’t shock us that the progressive Left, represented by the Senate Democrats, don’t care about facts or truth either.
It should be easily understood that it is possible to abhor and condemn sexual assault categorically and also support Judge Kavanaugh, based on fact, reason, and standards of proof. Doing so requires the ability to understand why the presumption of innocence and objectivity is critically important to each individual case and why the lack of corroborative evidence is insufficient to prove a belief or allegation.
Moreover, Dr. Ford is not actually the embodiment of every victim. When juries across the country render verdicts of guilty or not guilty in criminal sex-offense cases, they are not rendering a judgment on the premise of sexual assault being morally wrong. A verdict of not guilty in one instance does not mean that jury is somehow condoning sexual assault in all other instances. It is a matter of proof and truth-seeking.
But the progressive Left is systematically creating the illusion that every man is guilty of sexual misconduct simply on the basis of his gender. If you are a man, you are presumptively a sex offender, and it doesn’t matter what evidence exists or doesn’t exist. A mere allegation is sufficient because men are toxic anyway. And if you support the American legal tradition requiring evidence and proof before condemnation, you are condoning sexual assault. The Women’s March official Twitter feed posted pictures of every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee after the hearing with the banner “RAPE APOLOGIST” and the caption to each senator, “You are a rape apologist.”
Thus, the latest wave of the #MeToo movement is suggesting that if the jury in the court of public opinion supports Kavanaugh, even though the record lacks any evidence that he is in fact actually guilty of sexual assault, then we are all turning our backs on every single legitimate victim. God help the “old white male” Republican senators because #MeToo is ready to condemn them, too. In the age of “progressive” liberalism, the campaign against the “old white male” represents the ageism, racism, and sexism that are central to their partisan platform.
Consider the absurd overreactions from women who have actually been treated as equals by men — which is supposedly what the feminist movement is about. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Ben Shapiro was “catcalling” her when he offered to debate her. He actually treated her the same as any other political candidate. But because he is a man and she is a woman, he must have had some underlying gross sexual intent.
The newest manifestation of #MeToo is undermining everything the civil-rights movement stood for in the 1960s. At that time, presumptions of guilt and inequality were based on race. Today, they’re based on gender. Is this the America we have fought for? Is this the America that values genuine freedom? We must keep fighting to preserve and protect liberty and justice for all.
Conserving our American principles of law and justice is rooted in the recognition that every person has certain rights and inherent dignity as a human being. The progressive Left is trying to effectively strip Judge Kavanaugh of his rights and inherent dignity and sacrifice him on the altar of feminism, and with him, every male in America. “Believe women” is saying that no man deserves a defense, even if unjustly or falsely accused. Kavanaugh sat before the Senate as the modern-day Tom Robinson, with only Senator Lindsey Graham as his Atticus Finch.
As a woman, I am ashamed this could happen in America today. This is the sad state of our culture today and why it is so important for women, especially, to stand up to support Judge Kavanaugh. Standing up for him is not only about his fitness for office and confirmation, but is standing up for the principle that no man in this country can be stripped of his good name, integrity, and competence for civil service simply on the basis of his gender.
Women must stand up and stand firm for true equality. These men are our fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons. What happens when #MeToo comes after them? We must be reasoned and reasonable. There are true victims, and there are false accusations. That’s why we have due process in each individual instance and constitutional protections against guilt by association.
Being pro-woman does not require being anti-man.