In the past several weeks, the world has been on its toes, discussing the presidential nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States and the horrific allegations against him. Following the plethora of recent political events, the regular, moderate citizen is left to wonder whether the political arena is reality or fiction as it seems borderline intentionally literary or comedic at times.
Most of my peers will remember the truly poor collection of books that circulated our hands in junior high - "A Series of Unfortunate Events." For those that weren't unlucky enough to read them, the series centers around a group of orphaned children that are continuously placed with borderline abusive foster parents.
I find myself in the same frustrating loop of injustice observing the current news cycle. The rational brain simply cannot process the fact that human nature has become so corrupt we have begun valuing career advancement over the self-worth of a human life. Starting with Anita Hill, all the way to Dr. Christine Ford, this series of unfortunate events has really shown the ugly side of the people surrounding us.
To those that claim that due process is necessary and this is simply a political situation - you couldn't be farther from the truth. If this is just a governmental procedure for you, you're lucky. Not all of us are. For many women who have seen their own worst nightmares in these shockingly similar testimonies, this is deeply personal. It seems to be a secret world that survivors of sexual assault (and primarily women) are in on, something that gets whispered from ear to ear, passed down from generation to generation. Only in the past couple years has the general population (yes, I mean primarily men) become aware of this shadow world - all thanks to the courage and bravery of those women that chose to stand up in front of the global population, and speak of their most harrowing experiences.
Thus, it seems like we are asking the wrong questions. Judge Kavanaugh isn't on criminal trial, so he doesn't have to be convicted beyond a shadow of a doubt. Should the FBI investigation deem it more likely than not that the allegations have a grain of truth to them, his life will not be ruined. Rather, we should be asking ourselves whether the mass of psychological and circumstantial evidence surrounding Kavanaugh's youth is suspicious enough to warrant the rejection of his completely unrequired promotion.
