Kesha, Cosby

The Cosby case I haven't followed I admit but someone recently mentioned to me why did none of these women report what happened until ten years later when the statute of limitations has run out, and furthermore why is Kesha presenting her story of rape in a civil, not criminal court, ten years after the fact. I can believe her story and others or rather I want to, you know. There are, unfortunately, women who fabricate stories of abuse or rape and honestly I have a difficult time sympathizing with much of what I read in the papers for the very reason that these women DID NOT go to the police, the hospital, a doctor.....and those working your case have really nothing to work with, or there are no signs anywhere of trauma.....so we weren't there, how are we supposed to know what did or did not occur? 

However, there's another side to this which I understand because I've been there. I've been sexually harassed, and was subsequently fired from a job at a construction site, this all by an accountant. I did make one mistake when I was there plus it was a temporary assignment so there was really not much to go by. I went to the web site of NOW and read other women's testimonies. I was also ......there are people in the industry who did try, some not without success, to take advantage of me being that I was extremely vulnerable at the time. Most of the time, you don't want the cops there it's a very ugly scene. You don't want cop cars outside an office building where the guy is guilty of being a sleaze, but hasn't physically harmed you. I've heard stories of actors walking into agents' offices and offering sexual favors for parts, these male and female.....which is pretty vile, but it shows you how tight the competition is, to the point where people are willing to degrade themselves. I can't really judge as much as I'd like to or maybe this person was bullshitting who knows maybe that happened in the Cosby case ALL of these women threw themselves at him, but kinda doubtful. I can understand not wanting to go public with an embarrassing incident. Then when things start surfacing, it makes sense that you feel you have a safe space to speak in. 

It's a real paradox.....that's why when I was renting a space from Ted and he was behaving strangely, questionably, I felt compelled to write about it not to mention the stuff I'd read on him on the site ReportYourEx (it's been removed, but it said that women accused him a sexually, physically, financially and emotionally abusing them) and oh it's so ugly my biggest mistake was not to just leave. I understand that, too, why "she doesn't just leave." It's not always that simple, that's why. It does not mean that you have low self esteem or think it's ok to be violated. But I should have, not waited until things were at the threshold to where I was forced to act on this. Most people who abuse a situation operate out of the idea that they can keep their real selves hidden, all this dirty ugly stuff clandestine and therefore "no one will believe you" because "he's such a nice guy." If you talk about what happens you may face repercussions people belittling you, threatening you or your family it goes on and on. I understand that, too.  

"Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.
Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger is poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle -- with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment." 

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961 

 full text here 

[Below is a quote from the very brilliant editorial on the rise and rise of Donald /Duck/Trump, in comparison to Hitler, article here]

"We, the people, need to find somewhere, buried in the recesses of our fading memories, the capacity to make common cause against this formidable threat to our equally shared liberties. The time is now."
Danielle Allen is a political theorist at Harvard University and a contributing columnist for The Post.