The recent Brett Kavanaugh hearings have really illustrated the title of this entry better than any other example I could come up with. Whenever a woman comes forward with sexual harassment/assault claims there are all sorts of people saying, "Why didn't she say it sooner?" "She's just looking for attention." And often enough, "She was asking for it."
There's a distinct lack of empathy from a good many people. Instead of hearing the woman out, they try to shout her down, blame her for her own rape, or make her go away--and then we wonder why women don't report these allegations right away. Also when statistically 94% of those accused of rape get off scot free. And other times they just get a slap on the wrist--remember that kid from Stanford I think it was who only got 6 months?
Of course this isn't the only instance where empathy is sorely lacking. For most of my life especially, Republicans have loved demonizing the poor. Reagan blathered about "welfare queens in Cadillacs." Red states have time and again restricted access to food stamps, Medicaid, etc. In the past they've had drug testing, which usually caught no drug users. Wisconsin has such a restrictive food stamps system that it'd be easier to list what it DOES let you buy. Now the latest thing are work requirements. Because of course the people on welfare, Medicaid, etc are just lazy drug addicts sitting around collecting easy money at taxpayer expense, right?
The problem is it's not just rich, asshole politicians who are at fault. There are plenty of poor people who spout the same bullshit and of course vote for those asshole politicians. There's a sort of arrogance prevalent where people think that because someone isn't as rich or successful that they are that they must be dumb and/or lazy. Maybe in some cases it's true, or maybe the other person just got some bad breaks--like this person!
The point is, when we blame and fight amongst ourselves it only helps to keep us divided. That allows rich asshole politicians to keep accumulating power. Until we can put aside the pettiness, we'll never have a better world.
1 comment:
Hopefully it's the republicans fighting among themselves now; the democrats are mad and moving.
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