What was on display during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing last week was toxic masculinity. Jonathan Freedland writes:
It was the nominee himself who delivered a masterclass in male privilege, flushed and raging at the impudence of those who dared stand between him and the seat he believed was his right. He gave explanations that were so implausible they simply had to be false, he implied without evidence that one female Democratic senator had a drink problem, he lashed out at a supposed leftwing conspiracy, alleging this was all “the revenge of the Clintons” coming across as a partisan political hack with an honesty problem rather than a would-be member of the nation’s highest court.
It was a performance right out of Donald Trump's playbook -- which is why, when it was over, Trump tweeted, “Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him.”
Trump has established the template. But that same template is on display in several places:
Competition in the global misogyny league comes from Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, whose response to the rape and killing of an Australian missionary in the town where he was once mayor was to say, “They raped her, they lined up. I was angry because … she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste.” Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán’s government in Hungary distributes primary school textbooks that have revived the part of a traditional children’s song that cheerfully describes men beating their wives as a normal part of family life. In Britain, our own wannabe Trump is Boris Johnson who, when looking to take a cheap, rabble-rousing shot at Muslims, aimed his fire at Muslim women and their appearance.
Freedland believes that, besides a personality disorder, what is behind these ugly displays is the perception among a lot of men that "their status has been shaken by the shifts of the last several decades."
Indeed, the world has changed. But men like Kavanaugh, the Republican senators and Donald Trump have slept through the changes.
Image: balleralert.com
6 comments:
Vox has a great visual, great chart, and when you click on the questions, it links to the testimony,
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/28/17914308/kavanaugh-ford-question-dodge-hearing-chart
Ford answered every question,
Special K had fewer questions, ( time was lost to his sobbing, crying and blubbering jags), and evaded, gave a non-answer or lied, 45 times.
Remember when Sec. State Hillary Clinton went 11 hours striaght in one of the many many "Bengazhi!!!!!!" Hearings ?
Thanks for the links, Jay. It seems to me that if a potential Supreme Court Justice lies or evades under oath, that behavuour disqualifies him for the job. I remember Hillary's testimony. These are the same folks.
Sad that you would say that Owen.
There are vast differences between Special K and Hillary Clinton.
On a minority of issues, they have a similar "world view", that's because they are products of their time and the environment they live in, the beltway, but their differences are vast, from gender equality, to corporate responsibility.
There are no "perfect" cantidates. We have to learn to accept "better", and regularly point that out, rather than falling into knee jerk bothsiderism, or bitter why botherism if we ever want to get to "best".
Hillary submitted to 11 hours of questioning in one hearing alone, answering every question calmly and clearly, and the only breaks that were called, were by the Committee, not Hillary.
Special K couldn't last 11 minutes with out requesting a break to "gather" himself.
Aside from being the subject of a 40 year "fake news" coverage by the MSM and the ReThug Industry, Hillary's 3 biggest flaws as a cantidate were:
- belief in American Military Exceptionalism. That's no big surprise. It's propagandized in to almost every American from birth. 28 ongoing "unwinnable wars" a 3/14 win/loss record since WWII, and a tapped out US Military, is just starting to sink in as one of those things that has changed.
- A belief that well regulated Corporations and Banks, would restore "health" to Capitalism. This of course, is a very '70's View and ignores major changes in Corprate Culture.
- belief in "bipartizan ship". Even today, many Democrat's are in denial that the ReThug's have been engaged in a UnCivil War since 1994 to return the US to pre-Civil War days.
So, Refugee Concentration and Rape Centers for Babies in the US,
But you know, "both sides", amirite?
I always thought there were lots of false equivelencies drawn between Hillary and Trump, Jay. When I used the term "same people" I was thinking about her questioners, not Hillary. She was far from perfect. But one of the reasons she is not president comes down to good old fashioned misogyny.
Britain has had women heads of state. So has Germany and Canada. But the United States? That said, remember Hillary won by 3 million votes.
“We went back and forth, then we fell in love. He wrote me beautiful letters . And they are great letters. We fell in love.”
Insane Clown POSus about Kim il Jong, WV Speech, Sept.29, 2018.
Who knew that the Insane Clown POSus was not only gay, but shopping for a new wife.
Pretty sure who's the "top".
And on the same day, at the U.N., Korea's ambassador is delivering the message, "Don't mess with us." Somebody's crazy, Jay.
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