Brett Kavanaugh Vs. Christine Blasey Ford: A Case for Common Sense
I'll begin with a summary:
Brett Kavanaugh is a 53-year-old, white man. He went to high school, graduated from college and earned a post-graduation from the best law school in the country - Yale.
He was nominated for a seat in the Supreme Court by the President of the United States, Donald Trump. This is when things get interesting.
On September 16, 2018, weeks before the final vote on his confirmation, a certain Christine Blasey Ford accuses Brett Kavanaugh and his school friend Mark Judge of sexually assaulting her 35 years ago in high school.
Instinctively all brows rise. Why is she speaking up now? Why didn't she say anything for 35 years?
Christine Blasey Ford is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and is widely celebrated in her field. She doesn't seem like a person looking for fame for that controversial best-seller she must be writing, or is she? You decide.
They are both respectable individuals in their respective fields. So, is there a political motive behind her allegations? You decide.
While the allegations are quite new, the internet does what it does. The liberals and feminists dig deep into the past and character of Brett Kavanaugh. Photographic evidence of Kavanaugh’s years at Yale University was unearthed, including proof of his term at a fraternity called ‘Truth and Courage’, casually nicknamed ‘Tits and Clits’.
Does this reflect on Kavanaugh's character? Does this show an attitude of disrespect and objectification of women or harmless fun? You decide.
The motto of this fraternity was, "No means Yes and Yes means A***".
Surely the motto "No means Yes" cannot be harmless fun. So does this reflect on Brett Kavanaugh's character? Is this an immature joke or the promotion of a deep-rooted, non-consequential rape culture? You decide.
As if this wasn't enough, photographs emerged of Brett Kavanaugh and his fraternity burning women's underwear on a stick as a "Male Bonding Exercise".
Is this just how boys talk and behave or does this "bonding exercise" not insinuate that women are just sexual objects? Is it ok to laugh and bond over such a distasteful act? You decide.
On September 23, Deborah Ramirez made a second allegation against Kavanaugh relating to sexual assault.
The alleged incident occurred in 1983 when Kavanaugh was 18 years old. Kavanaugh and Ramirez, both freshman students at Yale University, were at a dorm-room party. She alleged that an inebriated Kavanaugh "thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away", before pulling his pants back up and laughing at Ramirez. The third allegation of sexual assault was made against Kavanaugh on September 26. The woman, Julie Swetnick, released a sworn statement alleging that she had witnessed Kavanaugh and Mark Judge trying to get teenage girls drunk so they could then be gang-raped in a side room or bedroom. Swetnick also alleged Kavanaugh and Judge were both present when she was the victim of one such gang rape. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee is now one of the most powerful testimonies in history. She began by saying, “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school... One evening that summer, after a day of swimming at the club, I attended a small gathering at a house in the Chevy Chase/Bethesda area.” “There were four boys I remember being there: Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, P.J. Smyth, and one other boy whose name I cannot recall," she wrote. When Blasey Ford walked in, Kavanaugh and Judge were already visibly drunk. She only had one beer throughout the night. When she made her way up the stairs to the second floor of the house to use the bathroom, that's when, Blasey Ford said, the attack began. "I was pushed from behind into a bedroom. I couldn't see who pushed me. Brett and Mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them. There was music already playing in the bedroom. It was turned up louder by either Brett or Mark once we were in the room," she wrote. "I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me. He began running his hands over my body and grinding his hips into me. I yelled, hoping someone downstairs might hear me, and tried to get away from him, but his weight was heavy." From there, she alleges that Kavanaugh attempted to take off her clothes, but had trouble due to his intoxication and the fact that she was wearing a one-piece bathing suit. "I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming.” “This was what terrified me the most, and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me", she said. During the assault, she writes, Judge jumped on the bed, which made all three of them tumble over. That was the moment she escaped. From there, she ran into the bathroom and locked the door until the boys left. She then ran down the stairs and out the door. “....Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter. The uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense.” The Senate committee asked Brett Kavanaugh during the hearing if he wanted to call for an FBI investigation into the case. He responded by saying that the Senate should go ahead with an investigation if they thought it was necessary. The committee asked him to respond in yes or no if he wished to call for an FBI investigation. Kavanaugh did not respond. Does this sound man sound innocent to you? You decide. An FBI investigation followed the hearing. It was a limited FBI investigation or a restricted one. The investigation had to be completed in just seven days. An FBI investigation of a 35-year-old case had to be completed in 7 days in which Mark Judge, the third person present in the room during the alleged assault, was never questioned. Does this sound like a fair trial or a fair investigation to you? You decide. One could say the FBI investigation was merely a formality, a small hindrance to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as the judge that no one or no law could stop. Following Senate confirmation, Kavanaugh was sworn in at a private ceremony followed by a public ceremony in the White House on October 7. Is this man fit to be a Supreme Court judge according to you? Does this man sound like a fair and just judge of the law to you? Does this man sound like a judge who would call for a thorough investigation and dispense justice? Here's the interesting part, you DON'T decide. As a tax-paying American voter, you don't decide. As a citizen of any democracy, you don't decide. What happens to the USA is something the leader of the "free" world, President Donald Trump, decides or more specifically, his political influence decides. And unfortunately, what happens to Christine Blasey Ford or any other rape victim? Sickening abuse of power decides. And the truth is what happens to you or me, money decides and political connections decide. Shweta
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