Innocent before proven guilty, maybe that never was true. I can’t say one way or the other if I believe without any reasonable doubt whether Brett Kavanaugh is guilty of this sexual assault. I listened to the majority of his marathon testimony. I have doubt that this happened. I would not feel comfortable declaring his guilt, and truth be told nobody would be able to declare it with certainty. So, who should we feel worse for? Christine Blasey Ford seems convinced this terrible thing happened. I doubt they’ll be able to prove it. It’s a very serious allegation, and we should handle it with the law in mind. Only four people were in that house 36 years ago supposedly. We are only going by “he said/she said.” That’s all we have right now. I would not say that Christine Blasey Ford lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing or press. She may believe what she says. I have my doubts about her perception. It appears that she doesn’t have significant details of the assault. There are other details like her strange story about fear of flying. Yet, we found she has flown everywhere! That’s a small possibly insignificant detail, but it reveals something. We see her perception of things incongruent with the actual outcome. She doesn’t remember who drove her home from the party. She doesn’t remember the name of the fourth boy. Who else was at this party? Were other girls there? There are so many holes in this testimony. Granted, it was 36 years ago. I can’t remember what I did last New Year’s Eve. Memory is faulty at best. So, maybe it happened and maybe it didn’t. Do we believe her anyway? Do we believe her, because she’s a woman, and he’s a powerful white guy? There are many levels of static here blocking the image on our screens. I can’t make out a solid picture. It is unlawful to assign guilt when we don’t have a clear vision of the truth. The truth is we probably will never know. There will be serious doubt in this case.
We should believe all women. That’s the drumbeat for the #metoo movement. We need to believe women even when there is a reasonable doubt. That’s what they mean; they mean that a woman’s word is paramount; the law comes second. What does this mean? Does this mean that we take their word as truth even if it’s untrue? I think the virtuous ones mean that we should be open to listening. I can get behind that. That’s what the country was founded on, a fairer society. I can’t get behind hysteria preceding law. We are a society of laws. The enlightenment was about reason, science and discourse. Now, we have devolved into madness. We are basing guilt through emotion. We are not relying on evidence.
There is a political war being waged; Kavanaugh and Ford are unwilling partisans. This battle is a low point for the United States. I always long for transparency in government, but I don’t see the virtue in having Kavanaugh need to divulge his sexual history to the world. It is the way these things go though; these hearings are public. I take issue with Brett Kavanaugh being robbed of his privacy when there are big holes in the opposing testimony. It should have been a closed hearing based on the sensitivity of the case. We want a fair and clear hearing; we don’t want the angry mob influencing the outcome. I am all for transparency. I’m not for seeing a person subjected to this humiliation. Really, this comes down to a political battle and it’s getting ugly.
I know it seems like I have no consideration for Ford. I do have my concerns for her; whether this did or did not happen. She is a mother and wife. It must be terrible for her family as well as it is for Kavanaugh’s family. I look at both of their families. It is a terrible thing to watch, yet we can’t turn away. I have too many questions about the legitimacy of the allegation that I can’t help but side with Kavanaugh. He is innocent until proven guilty here in the United States. Right now the state recognizes his innocence. Only, until we prove beyond a reasonable doubt is he guilty as charged. I still see him as innocent. Nothing Ford has said has proven his guilt. So, I feel for him more. I see Ford is troubled and confused. I see she may believe that this happened. So, she is experiencing hell on Earth. I feel for her, but it is a theoretical hell (as of now). It has not been confirmed that Kavanaugh is the devil incarnate. Kavanaugh is still innocent, and that means the hell he’s experiencing is a legitimate hell.
We have to go by the letter of the law. We can’t let this devolve into political warfare, gender war or a circus act. We need to reserve our emotions and rely on the evidence. We can’t in good conscience condemn a man as a monster with reasonable doubt. Let’s not just focus on this one man or one woman. Let’s see this as it is. This is a battle to keep the United States honest even if we can’t know if these two people are being completely honest.