Thursday, September 20, 2018

well, just don't bite your co-workers


"You can't run this complex country on untruth."

~ Bob Woodward, reporter


"Let's get this country moving again."

~ John F. Kennedy, U.S. President, 1961 - 1963

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     In England, a slang expression for someone who perpetrates sexual harassment is "sex pest."

     (That cracks me up, I don't know why -- cannot stop from having a small little laugh if I think of "sex pest" or, the evergreen, "mid-day racist séance."  I just can't help it -- they're so silly....)

     The expressions make me laugh (only a little) -- not the issues themselves.

Racism,
sexual harassment,
and sexual assault (heaven forbid) are of course serious issues.

_____________________________________

3 headlines today


     | |   Kavanaugh's Sexual Assault Denial Follows a Familiar Pattern

Vox


     | |   Cardinal Dolan Announces Independent Review of Church Sex Abuse

The New York Times


     | |   After Recorded Racist Remarks, a New Jersey Sheriff is Urged to Quit

The New York Times

--------------------------------- New Jersey Sheriff urged to quit -- 

Don't tell me he was having a Mid-Day Racist Séance...?



Max, he was having a Mid-Day Racist Séance!



I asked you not to tell me that.


_____________________________________________________

     Cardinal Dolan announces independent review of church sex abuse

     Kavanaugh's sexual assault denial follows a familiar pattern

...Pattern -- yeah, we see patterns, all right....


---------------------- I have one thought about this...  Well, actually I have more than one thought.  But one thought I wanted to mention today, about the stories of sexual harassment and abuse that have made their way to the front and center of our society's consciousness, is this:

Many people understand this problem as a problem with "How Men Behave."  A Man-Problem, basically.  Not that every man you meet is like this, not at all, but still a "Man Problem."


I see it differently.


The way I see it is -- to illustrate --


Write out this sentence:

"The problem is that some men sexually harass women."


Then take out the words

'some men'

and substitute the phrase

'malignant narcissists.'

And take out the words, 'sexually harass women'

and put in the phrase 'perpetrate grievous harm in the world.'


Now, instead of

"The problem is that some men sexually harass women"

we have this sentence --

"The problem is that malignant narcissists perpetrate grievous harm in the world."


     I think that is the problem that modern civilization -- modern humanity -- has to face and address, next.  Sexual harassment is one form of that problem; it's part of the the problem; but it doesn't stand alone.


     Some malignant narcissists are women; grievous harm is sometimes perpetrated upon men; it isn't a man problem, a sex problem, a boss problem, a co-worker problem, a family problem, a public problem, a politics problem, a judge problem, a Hollywood problem; it's a Narcissist Problem.


     The narcissist "weaponizes" different things to do their bullying and attacking:  he or she may weaponize --

sex

the workplace

the policeman's badge

the neighborhood

a position as a religious leader

a family or social group

the court system, etc.

_____________________________

     As British people like to put it, "There's work to be done."






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