This post is not about Michael Moore and his acclaimed film. The title refers to Roger Stone, the presumed triggerman behind the political assassination of Senator Al Franken.
The speed of a social movement often outpaces the checks and balances needed over time to curb exploitation. No doubt, predatory sexual misconduct is more widespread than thought. Victims hide their abuse under silence in fear of shame and retribution. The correct term is ‘victim blame.’
In politics, the name of the game is obfuscation. To discredit one accuser is to discredit all accusers. To defend one rogue is to hang clouds of suspicion over honorable men. Welcome to the Art of the Smear.
Comedy often relies on sexual innuendo, and dirty trickster Roger Stone knows a comedian will push boundaries for a laugh. He knows an out-of-context publicity photo will incriminate the man and incite his base. These conventions of show biz turned Senator Franken into an easy mark.
Roger Stone concocted a double-bind smear with locked exit doors, a virtual fire trap with no means of escape. An honest investigation may have exposed the scam, but Senator Franken was preemptively sabotaged by his own colleagues and denied due process.
Dirty tricks create a perverse reality of reverse polarity. An honorable man resigns in shame; the Groper-in-Chief endorses a pedophile for senator. Most repugnant of all, a false victim discredits all true victims of predatory abuse.
A false equivalence is not easy to debunk in the best of times ... and next to impossible in the worst of times.
Agreed, Octo. Al Franken was convinced that he'd be cleared by an investigation and I believe he would have been too. It was not just his own colleagues that came out against him, however. Many Democratic voters said Franken had to go. It's about "doing the right thing" some said. Getting rid of an excellent Senator (one on the right side of the issue, btw) after he apologized (and his apology was accepted) due to waist squeezes was the right thing?
ReplyDeleteRoger Stone's involvement, the fact that it was Franken who caught Sessions in a lie during his senate confirmation hearings (causing him to recuse himself from the Russia probe) and the fact that Franken was a strong proponent of net neutrality say to me that this was a hit job.
Nearly a year since this was published, but it's still timely. Perhaps Stone will get what he deserves, or part of what he deserves, but Franken is still in the dog house.
ReplyDeleteThe opposition of course was quick and adept at using the passion of the Liberals against them in a kind of political Judo. Perhaps we have learned something.