Trump is symptomatic of the rot in the right wing of the narrow American political spectrum. He is symptomatic of the ill-concealed predatory nature of the white, patriarchal society of the United States; of the white supremacist and antisemitic extreme wing of the right; of the unbridled personal greed of capitalism, and its will to destroy all regulation of capitalist activity. Trump won, of course, in the Electoral College. But apart from the stupidity of Clinton's campaigning, he won because he successfully appealed to the worst elements on the right. I suspect that there is a good deal of buyer's remorse among honest and decent American conservatives. We won't know for a couple of weeks, but I suspect that will just mean that they stay home on election day.
On topic for this thread, though, all men, and especially white men (because they are more likely to be among the powerful) have been exposed recently as predatory and exploitative.
Quote:Credible estimates of Iraq War casualties range from 151,000 violent deaths as of June 2006 (per the Iraq Family Health Survey) to 461,000 total deaths as of June 2011 (per PLOS Medicine 2013), over 60% of them violent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
Whatever Clinton might have done he at least is not responsible for the best part of half a million Iraqi civilians being butchered in Dubya's illegal war. Some perspective please.
@Olivier5,
Unaccountability across DC is the problem. They are Kjng and Wueen of the Problem—and still unaccountable.
@Lash,
MeToo is not about accountability. That's the role of the justice system. MeToo is about healing, for individuals and society, looking forward and improving the situation. Reducing thr trauma and the caseload. What happened years ago happened and nothing can change that. What we need is to look forward and make things better.
Quote:The Architect of #MeToo Says the Movement Has Lost Its Way
By Liz Rowley
[...] Burke says that in the year since the movement began, she’s observed an unwavering obsession with the perpetrators — a cyclical circus of accusations, culpability, and indiscretions. In part, Burke blames the media for latching onto every salacious detail in stories from #MeToo survivors. She also blames a culture that’s prone to fixate on high drama. But nevertheless, Burke has a strategy to correct the course of the movement she conceived of so many years ago, a three-part plan she’s been working to launch alongside the one-year anniversary of the viral moment. [...]
The work itself is threefold and starts with a recently launched website,
metoomvmt.org, which lists resources for survivors of sexual violence and their allies. When the site launches, phase two will involve survivor leadership-training programs to teach trainees to start their own survivor-support programs. Finally, Burke hopes to institutionalize the healing circles that she began running more than a decade ago.
https://www.thecut.com/2018/10/tarana-burke-me-too-founder-movement-has-lost-its-way.html
@Olivier5,
A year? uh no
Why is she reinventing the wheel? we've had survivor healing circles here for literally decades. They never sought/got any publicity but they were there. I've been peripherally involved with one in a community church on and off since about 1987.
The publicity will help, I hope. That we still need those groups so many decades later is what really hit me about the current 'movement'. I keep hoping they won't be needed any more
@ehBeth,
Indeed, the 'one year' is incorrect. Burke started it 10 years ago, through healing circles.
I think she wants to use the limelight to make a significant difference. I would do exactly that if I were her.
@ehBeth,
Quote:I keep hoping they won't be needed any more
Stikes me as unrealistic. That's like hoping thefts and murders won't happen any more.
@Olivier5,
Olivier5 wrote: Burke started it 10 years ago
I'd go with she made it more visible.
@Olivier5,
I also hope that people will stop murdering each other and stop stealing from each other. Hope for a better world and all that.
@ehBeth,
I'm pretty sure Burke hopes for that as well. Human nature is hard to change though. Hope for the best but prepare for the worse. She's also working specifically with poor black communities and that's noble in my opinion.
@Lash,
One opinion you'd do well to understand and internalize. Hatred is a poison for the soul.
@izzythepush,
izzythepush wrote:Quote:Credible estimates of Iraq War casualties range from 151,000 violent deaths as of June 2006 (per the Iraq Family Health Survey) to 461,000 total deaths as of June 2011 (per PLOS Medicine 2013), over 60% of them violent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
Whatever Clinton might have done he at least is not responsible for the best part of half a million Iraqi civilians being butchered in Dubya's illegal war. Some perspective please.
Those estimates are hardly credible.
And what deaths actually happened, are mostly cases of Muslims murdering other Muslims. Bush is hardly responsible for Muslims murdering each other.
@maxdancona,
maxdancona wrote:Hillary Clinton is the main reason that Donald Trump became president. Without the Clintons there would be no president Trump.
This is incorrect. Barack Obama's 2013 gun control debacle is the main reason why Trump is president. Mr. Obama wasted his presidency, and consequently in 2016 the voters had a strong desire for change.
@oralloy,
There was no 2013 gun control debacle, nor gun control discussions, nor gun control anything. You can say it till you are blue in your face, you can hold your breath, but it simply isn’t true. Maybe you are thinking of the shocking elementary school massacre or the people in church who were killed by the white supremist or maybe you just don’t notice when unarmed people are killed in schools or church. Don’t you remember what your folks said? Now is not the time.
@glitterbag,
That is incorrect. Obama devoted the first 100 days of his second term to a huge temper tantrum against the NRA:
Jan 16, 2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-idUSBRE90F0NU20130116
Apr 17, 2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-idUSBRE93F00D20130417
Consequently, he did not have any legislative achievements in his second term.
Come election day 2016, the voters were tired of a do-nothing presidency, and decided to elect the biggest change candidate that they could.
@oralloy,
The point remains that killing thousands of people in a war of choice is immensely worse than any sexual assault. And yet Lash doesn't care now and probably didn't care then. She only cares for her sweatheart Bill and her darling Hillary...
Very early in the history of this site, in late 2002, Walter started a thread called "Anti-War Movement," which became "The US, the UN and Iraq." Lash was busy lambasting the Clintons from early 2003. She did not take much of a stand on the invasion of Iraq, if she expressed an opinion at all.
