The Senate, Judge Kavanaugh, Hollywood & America. AKA… An Orgy of Hypocrisy and lessons learned, hopefully.

This past week I have found myself thinking a lot about that great decade in which I grew up; The 80’s. Yes, those wonderful and excessive 80’s. That decade where it was chic to drink to excess, be sexually excessive, be excessive in hairstyles, clothing and music. Yes, the 80’s brought us everything from Michael Jackson, to Madonna. The 80’s brought us John Hughes movies, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Return of the Jedi and Top Gun. The 80’s made excess okay and we ran with it at breakneck speed. But this is more than an homage to the 80’s. This is about what happened then, how we have come to realize how much we should have matured, and how we should realize what was so goddamned wrong about the influence of the 80’s. In short, we (America) should have matured both socially and morally.

The Senate Judiciary hearings have brought out such an ugly side of Politics and America. I’m sure I am not alone in wishing the whole lot of Senators on that panel just be flushed out of Washington. I see in that panel a group of sanctimonious, hypocritical, thieving, conniving, lying bastards. They have been on Capitol Hill so comfortably long they actually believe they are doing something good for America. And maybe in some sense they are doing some good. But we’re so accustomed to sensationalist controversy, we miss a lot or any advances they achieve on Capitol Hill. I mean seriously… Can anyone tell me what have Lindsey Graham, Chuck Schumer, Jeff Flake, Diane Feinstein and the rest of the lot accomplished for the betterment of America. I’m sure there’s been something, but I personally can’t tell you. What they have accomplished is showing us how much bullshit they can spew and stay elected. But that’s because their constituents (WE)don’t know any better.

We have been exposed to a Supreme Court confirmation worthy of a Daytime Emmy. There’s been fighting, crying, yelling, accusations and a surprise victim. I add to this an excerpt of my Facebook post which garnered a myriad of partisan and passionate responses:

1. I tend to find both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanuagh credible.
-I do believe Dr. Ford suffered a horrendous sexual trauma 35+ yrs ago and “maybe” Judge Kavanaugh was there.

2. I believe Judge Kavanaugh truly doesn’t either know or remember what he did at those ‘drunken high school’ parties. (Hell, who of us can, correct?)

3. I really think this should be properly investigated and the Senate vote not held.

4. If they can’t come to a decision without acting like total asshats, a new Judge be nominated or the vote proceed.

No woman should ever be vilified for taking decades to bring up their trauma. Especially since men that were molested by Catholic Priests 35+ years ago are considered courageous. On the other hand, Politicians who use that trauma for their public gain should lose their jobs because they are the most vile of humanity.

Now, I still stand by that. But I will also add that after this week’s secret FBI findings, Judge Kavanaugh’s vote was going forward no matter what the outcome. Senator Flake’s passionate and conscience-filled speech of how he was so torn about these allegations was merely propaganda for the masses. He is so self-absorbed he forgot what he said during the hearings. The following Sunday, Flake admitted on 60-minutes he would not have called for a hold on the vote if he was running for re-election. Did he actually think no one pays attention? Yeah, I think he did. Which only shows how morally bankrupt a man he is. So now that the secret FBI findings have been read, the practice vote went forward so the Republicans can see who they need to buy off to get Judge Kavanaugh a seat to the highest court in the land. That’s all this was. An exercise in political gamesmanship and bullshit. Behind all this Judiciary Committee drama, was Alyssa Milano as the Hollywood #MeToo connection of awareness.

Now, I don’t dismiss what Ms. Milano is bringing to attention because it is definitely necessary. What is also necessary is that there needs to be an absolute equality of judgement and punishment of the male offenders in Hollywood and the Media. Face it, we all know Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly, Matt Lauer, Les Moonves, Louis CK, Bill Cosby and many more Hollywood men have faced egregious accusations. We also know the aforementioned offenders have either lost their jobs, and only Bill Cosby is in prison. Honestly…there’s definitely some injustice going on. If Cosby is in prison for what he did decades ago, the other white guys should be in jail as well. (Yes, I just pulled the race card because it is so obviously blatant.) So come on Hollywood, let’s exercise some of that equality y’all keep yelling about!

Now… remember how I started this about the 80's? Well, this is where I bring this full circle. Back in the day 35+ years ago, I remember one or two kegger party's. Or at least I think I do. I remember the influence of teen-geared movies and music and how we 80’s kids did everything possible to emulate those influences. I look back to how males were influenced by that very media of how to treat women. I look back and see how women were indoctrinated into believing they literally needed to accept our behavior as “normal”. After all, it was pervasive in the movies we watched. To quote a line from one of the quintessential teen movies, “Sixteen Candles” when a young girl was asked if she had a good time on her date the night before; “Well, I don’t remember. So I guess I did, right?” I think back of how we teens laughed at that line back then, and how today we adults cringe at the same line.

We teen males learned it was okay to berate and physically or verbally accost the teen girls. We grew up with that autonomy knowing we’d just get away with “boys will be boys.” But now, 35+ years later we adult males and females have realized how wrong we were to both act the offender and accept to be offended. Only now are we accepting the error of our ways. But we’re not done yet. Hell, we have only begun to scratch the surface. We’re so hellbent on saying how we should bring “awareness” to everyone. Well, news flash… we’re pretty damned aware of what’s happening. But what are we doing about it?

I had a conversation with a colleague recently who told me about a discussion that was given to only Freshman women when she went to University. The parts she particularly remembered was how the females were told to walk in pairs, carry their keys between their knuckles, only have one earphone in their ear, and think of every male walking near them as a potential attacker. As a father of one daughter, I understand and applaud teaching that type of awareness to our daughters. But I did wonder… what was the University teaching the males on campus? What are we as a society teaching our sons? The fact is, if we don’t teach our sons to be gentleman without losing their manhood, then we’ll never advance toward a more equal and respected society. Conversely, we must continue to teach our daughters to be strong, unwavering and not afraid to speak up. My question to you; “When do we start teaching our sons and daughters these lessons?” Because from where I sit, America is about two generations behind the curve.