Tales from the past and the present

When I was in high school, I used to spend my Saturday nights hanging out at the local radio station. One Saturday night when I was a junior, as I was driving over to the station I saw a girl I knew from school walking alone. She was about my age but I had not seen her since our sophomore year, but we did know each other a little bit. The question came to mind: Hmmm, hang out at the station or maybe spend the evening with a girl?

So I hung a u-turn and pulled up next to her.

"Do you need a ride?"

She nodded her head and climbed into the car. As we drove along I noticed that something was bothering her.

"Is anything wrong?" I asked.

"It's my husband."

(Oh crap.)

"He beats me when he has been drinking."

(Oh holy crap.)

"And he's been drinking."

(Oh holy crap I hope I live to see tomorrow morning.)

I dropped her off her house which was surrounded by a large gravel lot. I did my best not to spray gravel as I got the hell out of there. But I remember the incident, and she told someone about it (me).

Point: I did not know this girl THAT well, but I could tell that something was wrong. There may not have been much I could do about it, but I did as much as I knew how to do at the time. And she told me about it. Compare that with Christine Blasey Ford who, after being groped/attempted raped/raped did not seem to exhibit any signs to anyone who knew her that anything was wrong. She has not been able to find anyone to corroborate her allegations.

Two years later I had a girlfriend. Somehow we got into a discussion about rape. I said that I could understand what a terrible thing it must be to be raped. She told me in no uncertain terms that there was no way, as I was a man, that I could have any idea what it was like to be raped. This went on for a couple of minutes after which I said, "You're right. There is no way I could appreciate what it would be like to be raped."

She got a very pained look on her face and, almost in tears, said "You're like all other men. You didn't even TRY to understand what it is like to be raped."

In other words, a man is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Radio stations have regular callers. Not to say that they are "groupies" as the term usually means, but they tend to call up whomever is on the air. There was one regular caller. Her calls usually went something like this, and there is little in the way of exaggeration here:

"When I left the house to go to work, I bumped into the mailman who tried to rape me. I went down to the corner to catch the bus. When I got on the bus, the bus driver tried to rape me. When I got off the bus downtown, I went into a 7-11 to get a cup of coffee. The clerk tried to rape me."

Now were are supposed to believe some vague accusations from a woman who was supposedly fondled/attemted raped/raped in the early 1980's by Judge Kavanaugh. She does not know exactly when this took place. She does not know where it took place. But we are supposed to take her word as gospel because women never lie about such things. Emmett Till, Duke lacrosse team, and many others not withstanding.

We need to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. Now. We need to support those women who are sexually assaulted, but we need to take the weapon of false accusations out of the political arena.