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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/28/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-senate-supreme-court
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Ford v Kavanaugh: an American horror story on live TV | Ford v Kavanaugh: an American horror story on live TV |
(about 2 months later) | |
He said, she said. | He said, she said. |
She said: “Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two. I was, you know, underneath one of them while they laughed.” | She said: “Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two. I was, you know, underneath one of them while they laughed.” |
He said: “My Dad started keeping calendars of his life in the summer of 1978” so he started doing the same. “My calendar shows all but definitively that I was not there.” He was out of town almost every weekend. Where I don’t know. | He said: “My Dad started keeping calendars of his life in the summer of 1978” so he started doing the same. “My calendar shows all but definitively that I was not there.” He was out of town almost every weekend. Where I don’t know. |
But watching these extraordinary Senate hearings, what mattered a lot was not only what was said but the way it was said. Dr Christine Blasey Ford is seen by many as the perfect victim: a professor, married, white, with two kids, she took great pains to explain not just her memories of the alleged assault but how memory works, how trauma embeds itself and lurks unbidden in women’s lives. Her strange desire to have two front doors, another way out, all these years later, had led to rows with her husband. | But watching these extraordinary Senate hearings, what mattered a lot was not only what was said but the way it was said. Dr Christine Blasey Ford is seen by many as the perfect victim: a professor, married, white, with two kids, she took great pains to explain not just her memories of the alleged assault but how memory works, how trauma embeds itself and lurks unbidden in women’s lives. Her strange desire to have two front doors, another way out, all these years later, had led to rows with her husband. |
Brett Kavanaugh's credibility has not survived this devastating hearing | Richard Wolffe | Brett Kavanaugh's credibility has not survived this devastating hearing | Richard Wolffe |
She recalled catching the eye of the other man she alleged was in the room (Mark Judge) and thinking he might help her, but he didn’t. She was terrified but composed. Many women watching recognised something in the details she went over; more than that, they recognised her compliance, her desperate need to be pleasing and helpful. This was not a trial, we had to keep reminding ourselves, but it sure as hell felt like one. | She recalled catching the eye of the other man she alleged was in the room (Mark Judge) and thinking he might help her, but he didn’t. She was terrified but composed. Many women watching recognised something in the details she went over; more than that, they recognised her compliance, her desperate need to be pleasing and helpful. This was not a trial, we had to keep reminding ourselves, but it sure as hell felt like one. |
Ranged before her were a semi-circle of old men. In a rare flash of self-awareness they had thoughtfully arranged for a woman to sit beneath them to put the questions they were too cowardly to ask. Belatedly even the GOP is worried about “the optics” even though they clearly thought from the outset that Ford was a paid-up Democrat pawn. That she had talked of the alleged assault before Brett Kavanaugh was nominated for the Supreme Court is key but was barely mentioned. That she said she would be happy to cooperate with an FBI investigation indicates she believes in what she is doing. | Ranged before her were a semi-circle of old men. In a rare flash of self-awareness they had thoughtfully arranged for a woman to sit beneath them to put the questions they were too cowardly to ask. Belatedly even the GOP is worried about “the optics” even though they clearly thought from the outset that Ford was a paid-up Democrat pawn. That she had talked of the alleged assault before Brett Kavanaugh was nominated for the Supreme Court is key but was barely mentioned. That she said she would be happy to cooperate with an FBI investigation indicates she believes in what she is doing. |
There was no discernible reason to make false accusations, to bring a good man down. Her testimony was credible. She was congratulated on her bravery. Her main crime seemed to be her fear of flying. Emergency helplines were flooded with calls from women now remembering or reliving long buried assaults and rapes. | There was no discernible reason to make false accusations, to bring a good man down. Her testimony was credible. She was congratulated on her bravery. Her main crime seemed to be her fear of flying. Emergency helplines were flooded with calls from women now remembering or reliving long buried assaults and rapes. |
Then it was Kavanaugh’s turn, and it was as if she had never existed. Her testimony evaporated. What we saw was anger. Peak white male privilege. Something Kavanaugh was entitled to was being taken away. He cried, he raged. It was as uncomfortable to observe as her terrified subservience to men who despised her. | Then it was Kavanaugh’s turn, and it was as if she had never existed. Her testimony evaporated. What we saw was anger. Peak white male privilege. Something Kavanaugh was entitled to was being taken away. He cried, he raged. It was as uncomfortable to observe as her terrified subservience to men who despised her. |
Kavanaugh was just an ordinary guy who likes beer, a nod to Trump’s base, and an extraordinary one in that he appears to have lived an utterly blameless life in which he has done nothing but excel at sports and academia. He spent a lot of time snivelling in a swell of self-pity and heightened emotion. If this was merely a job interview, one wondered how temperamentally he could even be a judge. She was composed. He was verging on hysteria. Is this what the #MeToo movement does to decent men? Destroy them needlessly? | Kavanaugh was just an ordinary guy who likes beer, a nod to Trump’s base, and an extraordinary one in that he appears to have lived an utterly blameless life in which he has done nothing but excel at sports and academia. He spent a lot of time snivelling in a swell of self-pity and heightened emotion. If this was merely a job interview, one wondered how temperamentally he could even be a judge. She was composed. He was verging on hysteria. Is this what the #MeToo movement does to decent men? Destroy them needlessly? |
He kept going back to his precious ledgers of innocence, the calenders. There seemed to be a general agreement that Ford may have been assaulted by some man at some time. Earlier she had sworn under oath that she was 100% sure it was him but somehow that no longer seemed relevant. He said he had not watched her testimony. His aide said he did. | He kept going back to his precious ledgers of innocence, the calenders. There seemed to be a general agreement that Ford may have been assaulted by some man at some time. Earlier she had sworn under oath that she was 100% sure it was him but somehow that no longer seemed relevant. He said he had not watched her testimony. His aide said he did. |
Instead we had the spectacle of these men closing ranks, pledging support for him. Lindsey Graham’s reptilian hissy fit was quite something. No one in the history of mankind had ever been so wronged as this raging sniffing hero before them. | Instead we had the spectacle of these men closing ranks, pledging support for him. Lindsey Graham’s reptilian hissy fit was quite something. No one in the history of mankind had ever been so wronged as this raging sniffing hero before them. |
Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh testify - in pictures | Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh testify - in pictures |
What those watching saw was the GOP in all its glory. Here was a display – and I can use no other word but patriarchy – in which men have innate moral authority and women embody desire, disgust and doubt in equal measure. These men, remember, enable Trump, a man who boasts of grabbing women’s crotches, to be in the White House. Their grip on power depends on his and he tweeted his support for Kavanaugh. Of course he did. | What those watching saw was the GOP in all its glory. Here was a display – and I can use no other word but patriarchy – in which men have innate moral authority and women embody desire, disgust and doubt in equal measure. These men, remember, enable Trump, a man who boasts of grabbing women’s crotches, to be in the White House. Their grip on power depends on his and he tweeted his support for Kavanaugh. Of course he did. |
It’s not simply that this Catholic man would, as a supreme court judge, legislate on reproductive rights for women as well as rights for gay people. For his entire lifetime he would be one of those responsible for indicting a sitting president, something he has indicated he would not do. | It’s not simply that this Catholic man would, as a supreme court judge, legislate on reproductive rights for women as well as rights for gay people. For his entire lifetime he would be one of those responsible for indicting a sitting president, something he has indicated he would not do. |
So this is not about who is believed here. I imagine Kavanaugh will be. It’s about a belief system that props up male power which, while challenged by #MeToo and other movements, sustains itself with utter self-righteousness. On TV we saw the venal semi-circle, the precision of Ford, the “darvo” technique (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender) that legal types are familiar with, being used by Kavanaugh to full effect. His tears were evidence of who the real victim was here. Him. | So this is not about who is believed here. I imagine Kavanaugh will be. It’s about a belief system that props up male power which, while challenged by #MeToo and other movements, sustains itself with utter self-righteousness. On TV we saw the venal semi-circle, the precision of Ford, the “darvo” technique (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender) that legal types are familiar with, being used by Kavanaugh to full effect. His tears were evidence of who the real victim was here. Him. |
If he is appointed, there will be two men on the supreme court accused of appalling behaviour towards women. How could this be so? Well we just watched it happening on TV again. This is 2018 and yet apart from the cameras and the light that Ford shone, we saw a darkness. Gilead. A huge darkness, medieval and frightening. The American horror story unfolds in real time. | If he is appointed, there will be two men on the supreme court accused of appalling behaviour towards women. How could this be so? Well we just watched it happening on TV again. This is 2018 and yet apart from the cameras and the light that Ford shone, we saw a darkness. Gilead. A huge darkness, medieval and frightening. The American horror story unfolds in real time. |
• Suzanne Moore is a Guardian columnist | • Suzanne Moore is a Guardian columnist |
Brett Kavanaugh | Brett Kavanaugh |
Opinion | Opinion |
US Senate | US Senate |
US supreme court | US supreme court |
Law (US) | Law (US) |
Republicans | Republicans |
Sexual harassment | Sexual harassment |
Rape and sexual assault | Rape and sexual assault |
comment | comment |
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