Sunday, February 24, 2019

Cassie Jaye - Partisanship vs. Balance

One of the unfortunately trends in our society is that we favor partisanship over balance. In politics, people who agree with some Republican positions and some Democratic positions have been purged by their parties for not being loyal enough. Extremists rise to power and moderates are expelled. 

The happens in gender discussions as well.  Most people view feminists as the opposite of those who advocate for men's rights. Rarely does someone advocate agaisnt discrimination whether it be against women or men. Rarely do people working to prevent violence against women recognize that violence against men by women even happens. Rarely do men advocating for men's rights argue that we need more women running companies, in political office and in the military. Rarely do feminists state it is unacceptable that males make up 98+% of deaths in the military.

Cassie Jayne is an feminist filmmaker who made the documentary film The Red Pill (available on Amazon for free with Prime) on the men's rights movement.  Making the film actually charged her thinking about gender discrimination. She went from a partisan to a more balanced viewpoint. Sadly she has been criticized, even vilified for doing so.

Intelligence, honesty and integrity are sadly undervalued traits.

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Unintended #MeToo Consequnces

The #MeToo movement has certainly brought to light many crimes and unethical practices that have been too long tolerated in our society. Which is good. Very good. But we should also recognize that like anything else bad people use it as just another way to commit crimes and unethical actions. Even if only 2% of accusations are false that means that 1 our 50 people accused have their life unjustly ruined.

But there are more subtle downsides to the movement or more accurately the subversion of the movement as Bloomberg journalists Gillian Tan and Katia Porzecanski highlight in, Wall Street Rule for the #MeToo Era: Avoid Women at All Cost.

Because an accusation alone can ruin a career and destroy a family and the reality is that there are false accusations, men often go to extraordinary lengths to avoid any situation which could lead to a false accusation. Things like going to dinner with a female co-worker on a business trip or socializing after hours. The very things that often help advance one's career.

The reality is that many good men are paranoid about false accusations which leads them to exclude women more. This has the effect of making it harder for women to achieve equality in the workplace. And men are right to be paranoid. No one knows the rate of false #MeToo accusations is; however, we do know that the rate of false accusations in divorce court is high, anywhere from 70 to 95%. Nearly everyone has either gone through divorce or knows someone who has. In just my own case, all the people who I have talked to about it understand that false accusations in divorce court are common and devastating. I suspect that even Spring's family and friends understand the reality of what she did. Avoiding any situation that might place you a position to be falsely accused is a rational reaction.

If we want equality for all then we need justice for all. At one time in our country just an accusation of a rape against a white women by a black man would result in a lynching. We are repeating that with false #MeToo accusations and false abuse claims in divorce cases.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

The Lauren Clark Way

Lauren Clark in a move somewhat like Riley North in the movie Peppermint but sans the violence went public, very public when she was assaulted, fondled and robbed  by an attacker while she was out for a run in Washington, D.C.

Clark likely only escaped being raped because she fought back.

The assistant, Jayro Cruz, was caught and confessed. Despite Cruz's history of sexual assaults he as sentence to only 10 days in jail and these were worked around his schedule as a rising chef in the restaurant world. Cruz repeatedly violated his prohibition yet received no further punishment.

Clark eventually took to contacting the restaurant he worked at and passed out flyers. If she couldn't get justice from the court she was going to make sure everyone knew who Cruz was and what he had done.  Way to go!

I have often thought of taking the same path. The lawyers, judges and others who have acted unethically and quite often criminally in my case have caused so much pain to so many that it is truly tragic they have only got away with their actions but have financially benefited from them. The court seems incapable of acting in a just manner. So maybe they way to proceed is to quit using pseudonyms and start using the real names of the guilty.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Like I Always Say...

Like I always say, if you want to know if an action is inappropriate swap the gender/race/national origin/gender preference and see if you think the same way.

The comedian/actor Amy Schumer thinks it is hilarious that in college she took advantage of a drunk male student. By advantage I mean sexual advantage. If the genders were reversed pretty much everyone would call it rape. Actually it is pretty clearly legally rape but we unfortunately do not live in a society that has equal rights for men and women.

Maybe the student Schumer took advantage of should sue Schumer for all the money she has made using the story in her comedy routine. Maybe Schumer should never work in entertainment again. Maybe she should go to jail.

Maybe she should hook up with Harvey Weinstein given how much they seem to have in common.

It is pretty disgusting and disheartening to learn that a person who complains about being treated in a discriminatory manner doesn't  actually care about what is right. They just want to be the abuser not the victim. 

Sadly this is no surprise to me given that the LPRB predominately operates in a manner exactly opposite to its purpose - they protect lawyers from the consequences of their criminal and unethical actions rather than censure them for such actions. Or for that matter the entire family justice system which  rather than operating to ensure justice is instead itself rife with criminal and unethical activity.