The Political Hypocrisy
of the #ME TOO movement!

In the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against film producer and studio executive Harvey Weinstein, the "Me Too" (or "#MeToo") movement spread virally on social media in October 2017 to denounce sexual assault and harassment. Historically, the "Me Too" phrase has it origin from social activist Tarana Burke, and was given greater popularity by actress Alyssa Milano, who encouraged women to tweet it to publicize experiences to demonstrate the widespread nature of prejudicial, discriminatory, and violent behavior against women.

As 2017 comes to a close, several powerful men in broadcast media, the film and television industries, and politics have been brought down, their careers severely damaged or ended. Here's just a short list:

Harvey Weinstein	Film producer
Kevin Spacey	Actor
John Besh	Celebrity Chef
Louis C.K.	Comedian
Richard Dreyfuss	Actor
Gary Goddard	Director, Producer
Dustin Hoffman	Actor
Robert Knepper	Actor
John Lasseter	Film Executive at Disney's Pixar Studio
John Conyers	U.S. Congressman
Billy O'Reilly	Fox Cable News Journalist
Charlie Rose	CBS-TV and PBS News Journalist
Ryan Seacrest	TV Personality / Host
Russell Simmons	Hip Hop and TV Producer
Al Franken	U.S. Senator

In the spirit of sensationalism and not news, as usual the print and broadcast media have jumped on the #ME TOO and #TIMES UP bandwagon, which typically occurs in the absence of a thorough vetting process whereby any man accused of sexual abuse or worse is "allegedly" guilty of what has now become the most heinous crime in America.

HLN's Ashleigh Banfield blasts "Master of None" star Aziz Ansari's
anonymous sexual assault accuser in an open letter.

As you know, sexual abuse is not new, and sadly, it has occurred historically and perpetually as a constant dynamic in a dysfunctional pseudo-relationship between some men and some women. It's not right; it's blatantly wrong. But let's keep in mind, the tail does not wag the dog, and accordingly, the overwhelming majority of men and women respect each other and DO NOT sexually harass each other. Unfortunately, it's also said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, which is why some men and women of great power, wealth, and influence have engaged in sexual abuse or worse.

Historically, in the absence of social media and related technologies, the Hollywood-based "casting couch" and executive "board room" sexual abuse went unknown, and if discovered, it went unanswered. That was then, not as much now, because with social media and related technologies its really hard to ignore or avoid the truth of audio and video tapes, DNA, and other evidence. For example, as vividly captured on a cell phone video, on Saturday, April 4, 2015, a White North Charleston Police Officer, Michael Slager, repeatedly shot an unarmed 50-year-old, overweight Black man, Walter Scott, in the back.

An unarmed and obese Black man is running away
and shot repeatedly in the back by Officer Michael Slager

Last week, Officer Michael Slager was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. During and after slavery, Jim Crow, and even today Black people have complained about unarmed Black men (like Rodney King) being physically abused or killed by White police officers, KKK, and vigilantes but these claims were routinely ignored. Why? Simply put, as validated by countless independent research studies from both public and private entities, social justice for Black people has always been nothing more than a secondary consideration, but never an expectation or requirement. Plus, for White-owned and controlled media, the "perfect victim" could never be a person of color. The physical and sexual abuse received by a person of color was always somehow, someway justified - they did something wrong, they caused it, they deserved what they got. For example:

Actress, Gabrielle "Not a Perfect Victim" Union [Click image to watch video]

As stated in my previous editorial, I’m not concerned about being politically correct, because being “politically correct” is a major reason why our country continues to languish in the failures of our past, and in particular, our dismal history on human rights: genocide and incarceration of Native Americans; slavery, genocide, discrimination, and ongoing incarceration of Black people; incarceration and discrimination of Latinos; discrimination and internment of Asians; discrimination and sexist treatment of women and alternative lifestyles; and discrimination against the mentally and physically disabled.

The hypocrisy of the political correctness of the #ME TOO movement is the denial of the existence of blatant racism to people of color that has always co-existed with all forms of sexual abuse. How is the "ME TOO movement any different than the Black Lives Matter movement? Isn't it just as "abusive" to lay waste to a person's entire livelihood by denying someone access to education, employment, or housing, or health care, or food - solely because of their race? Oh, you disagree? Here's how it works. A White actress would at least be given the opportunity to meet with a Hollywood producer like Harvey Weinstein, but unless the film is specifically targeted as a "Black movie," a Black (or Latino, or Asian, or Native American, or diaabled) actress would never be considered - period. Get it? The "Glass Ceiling" exists for a reason.

Actress, Gabrielle "Not Priced-Out of Racism" Union [Click image to watch video]

Despite being founded on so-called principles of democracy, nevertheless, our country continues to treat women, Native Americans, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, alternative lifestyles, disabled, and others inequitably – and based on the wage and income gap between Whites and minorities, for most it’s getting worse. Even poor White people have extreme difficulty prospering in this country.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!"

Martin Luther King Jr.
"I Have a Dream" speech
August 28, 1963

Sadly, fifty-four-(54) years later, we're no closer to being judged by the "content of our character." Sadly, the veracity of a person's skills, knowledge, and proficiencies or abilities (SKAs), their professional "character," is not assessed by the overwhelming majority of employers. Ask them, if you can actually speak with someone on record, and they'll tell you, they make absolutely no effort to objectively measure and compare, in compliance with the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection (UGES), the skills of candidates against the posted essential job functions and/or the established job standards (if they exist) for the posted position. In fact, their applicant tracking systems or HRIS data bases are not designed to capture and assess such data.

Simply put, using the UGES a competent and AA/EEO/ADA compliant employer will not hire someone as a Software Developer unless the candidate proves - before hire - they can actually write code (Visual Basic, Fortran, C, C++, HTML, etc.) equivalent to the company's established job standards. Due to the size of the applicant pool, some employers typically claim it takes too much effort and it takes too much time to conduct such an assessment. Translation: These employers are too lazy and/or their HR staff is too incompetent to conduct an objective recruitment campaign, and the status quo of the "Glass Ceiling" is okay with them.

The recruitment search for the "right fit" has less to do with a candidate being able to actually perform the work equivalent to the company's job standards, but more to do with how the candidate looks (race, sex, weight, height, etc.), and talks (local, regional, etc.), and who they know (or don't know), and yada, yada, yada. Again, the employer did NOT ask you to participate in a selection assessment exercise to validate your SKAs, so they have no proof you're unable to meet or exceed their posted job requirements. Get it? You disagree? Again, the "Glass Ceiling" exists for a reason. Hiring or promoting a "token" woman or a "token" minority means nothing, because nothing changes.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Not all White men are bad or evil, and given that the overwhelming majority of men (and women) are simply good and decent folks, such is also true of White men. So, any generic statement asserting the evil of White men or any gender or race is blatantly wrong, stupid, and is extremely counterproductive. Please read the previous two sentences again!

What is true is that White men own or controll all aspects of national print and broadcast media, which explains why nothing changes, because White men define all laws and White men define all exceptions to the law. Do you really think the sentencing for heinous crimes against women would be the same if the overwhelming majority of sexual abuse and rape cases were adjudicated by women? Well, do you?? Black people have complained for decades about drugs being dumped into Black neighborhoods, but nothing has changed, including perpetual crime that coexists with drug trafficking. Conversely, when surburban White kids started dropping dead due to drug abuse, now we've got a "perfect victim" and a problem that needs to be addressed.

This is the hypocrisy of the #ME TOO movement, because not until White women used traditional and social media to publicize their experiences to demonstrate the widespread nature of prejudicial, discriminatory, and violent behavior against women did national media and politicians deem this issue worthy of national attention. Suddenly, the "perfect victim" surfaced, and now we've got a problem, because this mess is hitting too close to home. In jeopardy are the homes where extremely powerful, wealthy, and influencial White men live, White men who also engage in such reprehensible conduct.

Sometime in the near or distant future there's probably a class action lawsuit around the corner, and the ACLU and the U.S. Supreme Court better get ready. We should expect other groups of disenfranchised members of our collective society (LGBTQUI, bigamists, polygamists, pedophiles, the religious right, KKK, and others) to publicize the widespread nature of prejudicial, discriminatory, and violent behavior they've experienced. It's America, get a lawyer!

With or without a lawyer, don't expect "justice" to be timely. Again, what is true is that White men ultimately controll all aspects of local, state, and federal law enforecment and the judiciary, which explains why nothing changes, because White men define all laws and White men define all exceptions to the law. Get it? Some of these allegations of sexual abuse date back over 40 years ago, but back then it was considerably more difficult if not impossible for women and minorities to receive fairness, justice, equality, or any aspect of egalitarian treatment. Sadly, some women and men (as expected) appear to have only jumped on the #ME TOO bandwagon as opportunists attempting to monitize their 15-minutes of pseudo-fame, which appears to be the substance of recent accusations against Star Trek: The Original Series alumni George Takei.

So, instead of living in the past, why don't rich women start a multimedia conglomerate like a Disney, TimeWarner, Comcast/NBCUniversal, etc., and take control over all vertical and horizontal aspects of their business enterprise? Likewise, why don't rich Black, Latino, Asian, and Native Americans start a multimedia conglomerate like a Disney, TimeWarner, Comcast/NBCUniversal, etc., and take control over all vertical and horizontal aspects of their business enterprise? Instead of blaming some or all White men for their alleged narcissism, why don't women and minorities create their own major business enterprises? What the hell are you waiting for??

Since women and minorities have not consolidated their wealth and business acumen to create their own elite business enterprises, consequently, just like the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Black Lives Matter movement, the #ME TOO movement will blow over as soon as POTUS does something "sensational" to manipulate media attention for the next news cycle. Business as usual.

Trip Reynolds
trip.reynolds@yahoo.com

Reynolds' Rap December 8, 2017 © 2017-2019 Tripoetry. All Rights Reserved. First Amendment to the United States Constitution - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.