Editor’s note: This commentary is by Julia Purdy, of Rutland Town, a copy editor, freelance writer and retired educator. This is an open letter to the Vermont Legislature.
[L]ike many millions of people, I tuned in to the confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh that took testimony from both Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh. Fortunately I had something to do at that moment that required little brain power so I could give it my full attention.
It was like watching the blind leading the blind.
When I taught Advanced English Comp, I developed a checklist for distinguishing fact from fiction. I called it the “Three P’s.” Is the event or allegation plausible? Is it also possible? And finally, is it probable? Failure to answer yes to any one of the three categories would raise a red flag. The first two leads to the third: probability.
Dr. Ford could not recall much about the incident – neither the date, at whose house it occurred – except the terrifying experience itself, during which she was lured into a bedroom, sexually assaulted while others looked on laughing, and in which she feared she would be inadvertently killed. Anyone who has endured sexual or domestic violence or child abuse knows that precise fear.
But she apparently never told her parents, who were not mentioned as attending the Senate hearing, nor the police at the time. She shared the trauma first with a marriage counselor while going with her husband to resolve a marital dispute, she said. Later, her “beach friends” as she called them urged her to go to authorities. She went to her Congressional representative and, later, to an attorney.
All of Ford’s allegations were plausible and possible, given what we all know about wild high school parties and the unfortunate gang mentality that eggs on some men, especially in tight groups, to assault women. Donald Trump’s boast on tape about groping women and taking them by surprise, which he dismissed as “locker room talk,” is just the tip of the iceberg.
It appears to happen in the armed services quite a lot, in connection with heavy drinking, often at parties. The National Library of Medicine of the Institutes of Health cites an article from “Violence and Victims” (2009) about newly enlisted male Navy personnel. “Overall, 13% (n=144) reported engaging in sexual behavior that approximates legal definitions of ACR [Attempted and Completed Rape] since the age of 14. Among those men, most (71%) reperpetrated ACR incidents. … Demographic variables were unrelated to perpetration history. Regardless of time period, respondents reported perpetrating primarily completed rather than attempted rape, perpetrating multiple ACR incidents rather than a single incident, using substances to incapacitate victims more frequently than force, and knowing their victim rather than targeting a stranger in completed rape incidents,” the article says.
Some may recall the infamous Navy Tailhook scandal in 2001, when some 100 Navy and Marine Corps officers attending a “Top Gun” aviators’ convention in Las Vegas sexually assaulted 83 women and seven men after a raucous party. PBS’ “Frontline” reported that “Ultimately the careers of fourteen admirals and almost 300 naval aviators were scuttled or damaged by Tailhook.”
We don’t even need to point to such egregious examples. Any woman walking past a construction site up until about the 2000s (and maybe still) and getting catcalls and whistles, knows the phenomenon.
Brett Kavanaugh came out swinging. He spoke convincingly at length – choking up much of the time – of the hardship to his family, the insult to his character, the damage to his career of Dr. Ford’s allegations. He recounted his sterling Catholic upbringing as an only child, school athletics and leadership positions, charity work and how he championed female law professionals. He said he had kept a “calendar” as his father had, of the significant events in his day-to-day life, including mostly sports practice and the occasional beer party with friends.
His protestations of an angelic character were almost convincing. But speaking from personal experience, I know that a couple of things may pertain. First, it is possible for even an “angel” to so completely disassociate from sinful activity that the person does not recognize it even in him- or herself. Second, the individual might consider the activity perfectly to be natural and normal, and be truly confused and hurt that other people do not. Many abusers are undoubtedly of either type.
It is entirely plausible and possible that Brett Kavanaugh and his buddies would think it cool to assault girls at beer parties.
What was glaringly missing, and hammered almost to death, was the lack of an official FBI investigation. Apparently no one had requested one, although the cross-talk became so confusing that even that became unclear. The fact that the FBI does not pass judgement but reports the “he said-she said” – which most people probably already understand would then lead to an informed conclusion by a competent body – was also muddied by the constant assertion by the chair, Sen. Grassley, R-Iowa, that the FBI does not draw conclusions – which I took as a rhetorical ploy (it’s called “obfuscation”) to confuse the issue.
So probability, while implied, still needs to become established fact. That may never happen.
Further, Kavanaugh himself deliberately obfuscated by refusing to answer simple yes-no questions and resorting to lengthy evasions. He also seized every opportunity to cast blame, Trump style, on a hidden left-wing agenda, saying it was “sprung” on him, and all but accusing Ford of being a pawn. He also thanked Trump wholeheartedly for choosing him.
The question remains: Can Brett Kavanaugh – regardless of Ford’s and other women’s charges against him – represent true justice in a lifetime appointment in the highest court of the land?
