Let me tell you a few
things about rich, or even moderately well-to-do, white boys and men raised in
the United States. Typically between the ages of 14 and 30. Some of whom will
even read this. They are among the worst people you could ever
meet.
It’s a unique subset
of Americana – part of a class of people who get every advantage life can
possibly offer them; health insurance, travel, a good education and guaranteed
college, upwardly mobile career paths and expectations, fraternities and secret
societies… it leads to a sense of entitlement that translates in many many cases
to inexcusable boorishness. So many of this class of people become leaders in
finance, law and politics that it’s nearly an unspoken part of the up-and-coming
lifer’s resume.
Having grown up as a
white male just outside of this subset (okay, substantially outside of this
subset – we was poor) but growing up along-side them (getting into college,
etc.) I was often astonished at how much all of these young men expected
everything to go their way. That no matter how awful a thing they might have
done, that they knew not only that they could get away with it but that they
were supposed to.
They drank alcohol to
excess because they were supposed to. They had (biblically had) women at parties
because they were supposed to. They travelled and did the same things because
they were supposed to. They committed acts of silly and stupid vandalism – often
while drunk. They all believe in this. They brag about it in a bizarre display
of comparative dominance, like wild animals. Sometimes they believe this because
it’s what they’re taught. Sometimes it’s because they teach themselves. But one
thing they all have in common is that this is a phase of life – something they
do and then move on from. They look at the terrible things they’ve done to
themselves and other people with pride, but behind them. In their eyes
it’s unfair to expect anything else.
Judge Kavanaugh is
most certainly one of these people. His classmates were – to this day they brag
about it. They brag about him bragging about it. They are most likely all decent
citizens and people NOW. They got through that phase. Even though that
experience digs into the brain and influences them for the remainder of their
days – displayed as simple misogyny to inappropriate behavior to sex crimes all
the way to people who wish for the days of The Handmaid’s Tale. But they are
also the people they used to be.
We are living in a
time where the political party in power, from its lowest woman (and yes, the
lowest people in the party are women – or black – look at how they’ve been used
as pawns during this whole Kavanaugh process) to the most raw version of all
this at the very top are people who believe in this. Who respect it. They will
defend to the death those who have experienced it with them. Many experienced it
themselves, including the man at the top.
It should come as no
shock that Kavanaugh is this kind of man – I expected it of anyone that would
get nominated. The people in power right now have coddled and brought forward
men like this. Men who have had these experiences. MANLY MEN. There are tens,
hundreds of thousands of men just like him out there, and if my some miracle we
keep Kavanaugh off the bench the next one up will be just as bad. A believer
that this is right. His right.
It’s sad, really, but
we’ve done this to ourselves. This is a result of the further widening of the
wealth in this country since the Reagan error, plus a near psychopathic coddling
of people so far to the right in their Christianity that they believe that 51%
of the electorate should be second class citizens. You do this for 4 decades and
pretty soon everyone who considers themselves young (or young at heart) simply
can’t remember a time when it wasn’t like this.
Now there are
exceptions. Hell, I know a few. But people like Kavanaugh, the Comics-gate
idiots, etcetera etcetera flat out believe that their entitlement outweighs
anything else and will lie, steal and cheat to preserve it , all the
while claiming that it is unfair to even point it out. Because what
they’ve done and what they believe is how it’s supposed to
be.
We are long overdue a
new revolution. People without power with pitchforks and placards far outnumber
this subset of Americana. People like to hide behind the idea of a new
revolution just to justify their own ideology as right but this isn’t about my
ideology, or yours. It’s about changing their sense of entitlement into
something they should be ashamed of. Not their wealth and position, but what
they did with it at the expense of others. It’s not about ideology, it’s about
that golden rule that they constantly throw in our faces while breaking it with
every step.
We need to
revolutionize how we treat each other, top to bottom and starting at the top.
Starting at the bottom. Starting in the middle. Start SOMEWHERE goddamnit!
Because I know all
these things I find it very easy to believe and support Kavanaugh’s multiple
accusers. Now you know all these things. I just taught them to you
— although you already knew it all. How easy is it for
you to support them?
You should. We have
to start fixing this somewhere.
Cheap
Shots:
A PROSECUTOR?
This Gamble is kind
of a big deal, and worth
paying attention to.
I am reminded of
the last line of the bit “Ralph Jameson” from his 1964 album, “I Started out
as a Child”.
It was probably
better in the original German. 1938
German.
He
really is dreamy, isn’t he Senator?
No no no, they’re laughing
with you, not at you. Okay, it’s at you but still, it’s a
laugh.
Jeanine Pirro will cluck
like a chicken when I snap my fingers in three… two…
Just for the picture
– the law firm of PJ,
Moose and Squee.
And because I love
you, this surreal and brilliant take on it all:
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