Sunday, November 12, 2017

Silence is not just assent, it is complicit consent - Part 8

There is a common theme among those who are talking about the allegations made against Roy Moore, the defrocked Alabama judge who is the Republican nominee in a U.S. Senate race scheduled to take place on December 12, 2017.

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) called on Moore to step aside but made mention of the age of the allegations against him.  "You know, this is a terrible situation, nearly 40 year old allegations, we'll probably never know for sure exactly what happened." 

Fox News' Judge Jeanine Pirro said, "Right now it is 40 years later (Reporter's note - 38 years, just to be pedantic).  I doubt there could be a charge filed here."

Alabama State House of Representatives Member Ed Henry (R) said, "If they believe this man is predatory, they are guilty of allowing him to exist for 40 years.  I think someone should prosecute and go after them.  You can't be a victim 40 years later, in my opinion."

* * *

Let's flash back to last month.  On the 10/17/2017 episode of her Fox News program, Jeanine Pirro's opening statement contained the following text, "And no surprise though, your morals are nowhere in line with ours.  You openly rise to applaud a child rapist, Roman Polanski."

You can watch the video yourself if you wish.  I only got as far as the above quote.


Funny, there are some similarities and some vast differences between what Roman Polanski did and what Roy Moore did.  Both men were adults.  Both of their victims were young teens (Polanski's victim was 13, Moore's alleged victim was 14).  Polanski plied his victim with alcohol and drugs.  Moore is not accused of doing that to Ms Corfman, but he did allegedly give wine to an older teen who was still not of age to drink legally in Alabama.

But the fact that these allegations date back to the 1970s means NOTHING about their relevance.  A victim is a victim, no matter how long they wait to come forward.  There may be a statute of limitations preventing their assailant from facing justice in the legal system, or in civil court, but there is no statute of limitations on morality.  A crime is a crime when it was committed and it remains one.  The passage of time does not lessen the significance of the offense.

The hypocrisy is on both sides of the political aisle.  Progressives excuse/defend/act as apologists for other progressives.  Conservatives do the same.  The one thing we ought to be able to remove partisanship from is that no one should be victimized by a sexual predator, at any age.  It is merely even more severe a transgression when a child is the victim.  

I don't know if Pastor Tom Brown has any children.  I know that both Judge Jeanine Pirro and Representative Ed Henry have daughters.  Would they allow an adult male to do what Roy Moore allegedly did to then-14 year old Leigh Corfman?  Would they let an adult male remove their daughters' shirt and pants, and then take off his own clothes?  Would they be so sanctimonious about that man running his hands over their daughters' bra and underpants?  Would they have no problem with his guiding their daughters' hand to touch his genitals through his underwear?

I guess they would have no problem with it, provided it happened nearly 40 years ago.  How sad for their daughters.  How sad that a 14 year old Leigh Corfman's decision to remain silent rather than face the dangers of accusing a powerful assistant district attorney of misconduct in 1979; makes her less worth of their "Christian compassion."