Thursday, April 4, 2019

It's not #MeToo, it's just plain creepy.

I’ve been watching in stunned disbelief as a parade of women accuse Joe Biden of embarrassing them with inappropriate touching… and a parade of opinion writers, many of them conservative, rush to assure us that there is nothing to see here, nothing at all.

A popular line of argument is, “We didn’t believe Kavanaugh’s accuser because she had no evidence, therefore we should not believe Lucy Flores (or the other six-and-still-counting women who have complained.)” Huh? If there’d been a string of publicly available videos showing Kavanaugh throwing girls onto beds and jumping on them, you bet your sweet patootie we’d have believed his accuser. In Biden’s case there is just such a string of videos showing him behaving precisely as Lucy Flores describes, except in most cases his victims are not grown women but young girls. (More on that later.) Why wouldn’t I believe that at an event which wasn’t videotaped he behaved exactly as badly as he did when the cameras were on him?

Cue the defenders.

He didn’t actually rape anyone, so what’s the big deal?
Tucker Carlson: “Hugging is not sexual assault. Eskimo kisses are not rape. That used to be obvious. It's not obvious anymore. And so we are sorry for helping to blur the distinction between human affection and coercive immoral behavior.” https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-we-are-offering-an-apology-and-it-has-to-do-with-joe-biden-and-anti-human-hysteria
Excuse me? Nobody has accused Biden of rape. They’ve accused him of behaving inappropriately, in a way that caused them discomfort, and – this is important, y’all – in a public setting where they were part of the display. Where they felt inhibited against pulling away, telling him to back off, slapping his face, or whatever else women are supposed to do when a man puts his hands where they are not wanted. Being grabby isn’t rape. But it’s also not okay. And when you choose to do it where the woman concerned feels that to object might be a breech of decorum that would harm the political party you both belong to, it actually is “coercive immoral behavior,” Tucker.

He's just a victim of changing standards.
Andrea Peyser: “Weird Joe, who’s been showing keen affection to members of the fairer sex since before he became a big Democratic macher, has done the unforgivable in this humorless age. He’s shown genuine human warmth of the male variety to females in the scary era of #MeToo…. Once, a man who gave a lady a friendly pat, a shoulder rub or an encouraging peck on the noggin was either thanked profusely, ignored or simply asked to stop.
Women, it was presumed, weren’t so powerless as to be unable to avoid unasked-for contact.”
https://nypost.com/2019/04/03/the-bonkers-assault-on-joe-biden/
What world did you grow up in, Andrea? Yes, women are usually able to avoid unasked-for contact, though it helps if they are (a) grown women and not young girls, and (b) not standing in front of cameras at a public event meant to honor their fathers. But why should they have to fight off such contact from men who ought to know better?
When I was growing up, in the fifties and sixties, I attended plenty of adult gatherings, most of them male-dominated; that was the reality of academic life in mathematics at that time, and having a father who was chairman of the department meant I had less freedom than my peers to duck out of such gatherings. Some of them were arranged to honor distinguished visitors to whom I was supposed to be very, very polite.
Not one of those men ever put his hands on me, sniffed my hair, or whispered sweet nothings into my ear. They knew better. It had nothing to do with “the scary era of #MeToo” and everything to do with the standards governing male behavior. Is Joe Biden a victim of changing standards? Hell, no. He’s somebody who never learned the rules in the first place, or more likely, somebody who decided the standards for common decency didn’t apply to him.
The people who are coming forward to complain about Biden’s behavior are mostly adult women, and I might be inclined to say, “You made your choice to let a senior member of your party grope you rather than make a scene that would be politically embarrassing.” But what do we say to the young girls who’ve suffered from Biden’s handsiness? Take a look at the video compilations – there’s a short one here, if Youtube hasn’t taken it down yet – and tell me those little girls should have been able to evade Biden’s hands, or that they deserve this treatment for trying to stand still and not embarrass their parents by making a scene. But don’t worry, Biden’s apologists have that covered too.

He didn’t drag them backstage and rape them, did he?
Heather MacDonald on the widely publicized pictures of Biden with young girls: “In almost every one, the girls’ parents are standing next to them in an even larger crowd. There is no possibility that Biden is going to abduct the children for sexual favors.” https://spectator.us/joe-biden-policing-personal-space/
Oh well, that’s all right, then. I totally don’t mind you rubbing your hands all over my daughter and snuffling her hair, Uncle Joe, even if it makes her miserable, because it’s not rape-rape.

Should this behavior disqualify Biden for the presidency? I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s creepy and that he should have been called out on it years ago.

15 comments:

  1. It's marking territory, and yes it is creepy

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  2. These are my thoughts exactly. Sniffing the hair and putting your hands on young girls was never anything but creepy. I don't know why this wasn't made clear to him years ago.

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  3. You expressed my feelings VERY well. Nice post.

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  4. ....as I've said for years, every time a situation like this arises for a DIM....the Big "D" is the All Encompassing FREE PASS card from the "media" and DIM party....if this same exact behavior was from a R, anyone with an IQ of at least room temperature would/should know that they'd be immediately publicly branded a PERVE, berated in the "media" 24/7 for weeks, and the pitchfork/torch wielding mob (real & cyber) would be marching & demanding their heads being placed on pikes....and these days, that's not a metaphor

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  5. Please, Dear Lord, I beg of Thee. Make the Democrats nominate Joe "hey, it wasn't rape" Biden for their 2020 candidate.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, but wouldn't it be more fun to watch Bernie Sanders try to debate Trump?

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  6. Update your profile, ma'am! You are two series behind!

    Biden is disgusting. Unfortunately, like many predators, he is good at attacking those who will be too paralyzed to fight.

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  7. I agree. I always think twice before tapping a woman on her shoulder to get her attention, something I do without hesitation to another male.

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  8. I thought Andrea Peyser was stepping away after some of her recent weird assertions? I guess she's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

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  9. You’re exactly correct.

    Biden know better. He’s made speeches where he said you shouldn’t touch a woman in any way without her consent. He just doesn’t think the rules apply to him.

    It’s ‘I’m important’ privilege.

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  10. In a general sense I'm not bothered by Mr. Biden's bahavior. I've known people who will break into my "comfort zone" because that's their norm. I think Biden's behavior is largely that.

    HOWEVER, given the #metoo and affirmative consent environment and the fact that the political left has pushed for a new norm which would outlaw traditional romance (e.g. asking permission to touch somebody), then throw the book at Joe Biden.

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  11. I can't stand all this sudden aghastness.Biden's behavior has been known and commented on for years if not decades, and yes, I believe even described as creepy. There's a reason he has the nickname "Uncle Joe". I've had my own experiences with men like him who for whatever reason, behave too familiarly and don't really understand why it could be problematic. For that matter, I've had women invade my private space and be too touchy feely with me as well. Someone should have taken Biden aside years ago and said, "No, Joe. You've got to be more aware of your actions," not wait for this particular political moment to publicly come forward with these stories that really do not surprise us. And that is what really irks me about this whole thing - the timing and the public nature of it. Sheesh. I think I mostly side with Thomas in his appraisal about behavioral norms, and we also must remember that some people have a much different comfort zone than others. It pains me to see the pendulum swing so far that the constant radar is turning us into a society afraid to reach out physically in support or comfort.

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