Thread by @JerryDunleavy

Speaking of atrocious Kavanaugh hot takes that do damage to their own cause, let’s talk about @DennisPrager’s laughably embarrassing piece for @NRO.

Oh if you haven’t seen @Xan_DeSanctis’s epic clapback, give it a read too. (1/x)

nationalreview.com/2018/09/brett-…

nationalreview.com/2018/09/brett-…

Okay, I guess I’ll just go thru this dumpster fire of an article line by line or paragraph by paragraph, since basically each word is misleading, deceptive, immoral, gaslighting, or just wrong. Starting w/ the title — no, the charges against Kavanaugh shouldn’t be ignored. (2/x)

It’s a pretty impressive feat that even the subtitle is trash. Mind you, Kavanaugh is not taking this dumbass “boys will be boys” approach — he denies he did it. But *if* he did do it, we learned something about Kavanaugh — he assaulted a girl as a teen & lied as an adult. (3/x)

Wrong. Obviously a moral society should take charges of sexual assault seriously because, if true, a serious criminal offense has taken place and, if false, a serious lie has been told. So don’t believe anyone blindly — but no moral society would turn a blind eye to this. (4/x)

As an aside, I should mention at this point that this thread is not about whether or not I believe Judge Kavanaugh did or did not do what Dr. Ford has alleged he did — it is purely a refutation of @DennisPrager’s amoral argument that it doesn’t matter one way or the other. (5/x)

Who is really claiming this? I’m not saying what someone did in highschool is ***all*** I need to know, but if someone (1) committed sexual assault in highschool & (2) lied about it throughout adulthood — to the entire country no less — then you’re damn right it’s relevant. (6/x)

Let’s be clear — the allegation we’re discussing is (if true!) sexual assault. 17 year olds are tried as adults for offenses like this *all the time* — & @DennisPrager knows that. I guess he hopes his readers forgot? If Kavanaugh did it & lied about it, it is disqualifying. (7/x)

LOL. I know I’m gonna blow your minds, but it is not, in fact, a key Judeo-Christian tenet that we shouldn’t care about sexual assault as a teen or about lying as an adult. And WTF is “true evil” — again, *if* Dr. Ford’s allegations are true, is assault not evil? Seriously? (8/x)

Forgiveness is indeed a big part of Judaism & Christianity but c’mon. First, if what’s alleged is, as @DennisPrager apparently thinks, NBD, then what’s there even to forgive? Second, if it’s true but Kavanaugh denies it, he’s lying... so there’s no remorse & no forgiveness. (9/x)

“Moral bank account”? That’s not how this works. I don’t get to justify my bad actions based on my good ones or get to tally up good things I do then do that many bad things minus one. No get-out-of-jail-free card or one free assault / theft / murder for being a good dude. (10/x)

I agree Kavanaugh has led an admirable adult life — by all accounts a good family man, charitable, kind, a coach, a volunteer, & so forth. But that doesn’t justify ***ignoring*** a claim of sexual assault as a teen. This doesn’t mean he did it. But FFS you can’t ignore it. (11/x)

Maybe some are taking this charge seriously only b/c they’re “afraid of The Left.” But, um, at least some of the folks on The Right who take this seriously — I’m not saying believe it blindly, btw, but take it seriously — do so because, well, sexual assault is serious. (12/x)

Uhhh if Merrick Garland was accused of committing sexual assault in highschool then the Democratic Party & media would prob do what they could to downplay it or ignore it or etc. — but that would be an example of ***hypocrisy***, not an example of doing the right thing... (13/x)

This is where this dumpster fire article becomes Chernobyl. @DennisPrager dunks on victims of sexual assault — derisively dismissing the sadness or depression or fear or trauma they may feel by mockingly referring to PTSD. To him, being angry about being assaulted is weak. (14/x)

We should want victims of crimes to come forward — and standing up for what’s right *is* empowering. It’s how perps get caught & justice gets served. Now, if an accuser lies that’s obv evil, but if they’re telling the truth then it should indeed be praised — not mocked. (15/x)

“This is, needless to say, wrong.”

Actually, @DennisPrager, your article is one big gaslighting exercise in twisting Judeo-Christian values, dismissing morality, & downplaying the evil of assault, so emphasizing that ***this is wrong*** is actually pretty damn necessary. (16/x)

BTW — shouldn’t we be concerned by the fact that “nearly every woman past puberty has experienced a man trying to grope her.” You’d think the response to a problem this pervasive would be to take it *more* seriously, instead of *not seriously at all* as Prager suggests. (17/x)

I can’t believe it has to be said, but ***there’s nothing empowering about a girl in her mid-teens being sexually harassed & having to avoid him to stop it happening again***. That’s not empowerment as he claims — the harasser has the power. Women should feel safe. Period. (18/x)

It also needs to be said that no real man should be blasé about women being harassed & abused & terrorized — but especially if that’s your mother or daughter or sister or wife, I expect a lot more from you as a man than “Welp, the boss groped her & made her hide, oh well.” (19/x)

So @DennisPrager makes it clear he doesn’t even care if Dr. Ford is telling the truth because he thinks it “tells us nothing about Kavanaugh”. Um... if it’s true it would tell us if he sexually assaulted someone & then lied to the American people about it. Seems relevant! (20/x)

That’s how it closes. That’s it.
So it is trash takes from start to finish. What a disservice to victims who deserve more than this indifference, to women who deserve better treatment, to men who deserve better advice, & to readers who deserve more than this weak bullshit. (21/x)