The hypocrisy of progressives is astounding. When accusations of sexual assault emerge against republicans, liberals act like rabid mad dogs. They often ask for heads to roll and require the man to be fired from whatever job he holds. The accused is subsequently publicly shamed and found guilty in the court of public opinion. When there is an accusation of sexual impropriety against a democrat, especially over the past couple of years, progressives suddenly want 'context and evidence.'
On Sunday, December 13th, several tweets were sent by a woman named Lindsey Boylan accusing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of Sexual assault. Boylan claims he sexually harassed her for years.
Boylan is currently running a campaign for Manhattan borough president. She failed to unseat Rep. Jerrold Nadler for New York's 10th Congressional District in November of 2020. She also served in the Cuomo administration from 2015 until 2018 as executive vice president at Empire State Development and then as a special advisor to the governor.
The New York Times reported that Boylan previously described her experience working for Cuomo as "beyond toxic."
"If people weren't deathly afraid of him, they'd be saying the same thing, and you'd already know the stories," she claimed in a series of tweets earlier this month. "Seriously, the messages and texts I receive when I speak the truth about this... it's a whole book of people who have been harmed."
Boylan also alleged that "working for him is endlessly dispiriting" and that she is still "unwrapping it years later in therapy." She later said she "tried to quit three times" before finally leaving her position.
Cuomo's press secretary Caitlin Girouard said, "There is simply no truth to these claims."
The Associated Press reported that Cuomo was among several contenders under consideration by Biden for attorney general. In a subsequent tweet, Boylan wrote: "There are fewer things more scary than giving this man, who exists without ethics, even more control."
She added, "I saw how he wielded power for years. He takes advantage of people, including me."
This story reminds me of Tara Reade and my post on Utilitarianism. Do you even remember Tara Reade?
Tara Reid's accusations of sexual assault by President-elect Joe Biden stem from an incident in the spring of 1993. She said that Mr. Biden cornered her in a deserted hallway of the Capitol complex, pinned her against a wall, reached under her skirt, and penetrated her with his fingers.
This was minimally damaging to the Biden campaign. We seemed to have forgotten about anything before March due to the constant pandemic coverage. The truth may not ever see the light of day at this point, but there was a lot of pushback from progressives who were determined to defeat Donald Trump. They were willing to do anything, even if it meant sacrificing one of their own, for the greater good of electing a Democrat to the office of President.
Linda Hirshman wrote an op-ed in The New York Times called, "I Believe Tara Reade. I'm Voting for Joe Biden Anyway. The importance of owning an ugly moral choice." It was interesting because she discussed a somewhat new concept to me - Utilitarianism. It was also compelling because I see a connection between the progressive dismissal of Tara Reade's accusations when it's convenient, and the burying of this new Lindsey Boylan story in the news right now.
In her Op-Ed, Linda Hirshman wrote:
So what is the greatest good or the greatest harm? Mr. Biden, and the Democrats he may carry with him into government, are likely to do more good for women and the nation than his competition, the worst President in the history of the Republic. Compared with the good Mr. Biden can do, the cost of dismissing Tara Reade — and, worse, weakening the voices of future survivors — is worth it. And don't call me an amoral realist. Utilitarianism is not a moral abdication; it is a moral stance.
Won't the good for all the Americans who will benefit from replacing Donald Trump with Joe Biden, including the masses of women who will get some crumbs, count for more than the harm done to the victims of abuse?
Utilitarian morality requires that I turn my face away from the people I propose to sell out: Monica Lewinsky, Tara Reade. This is agonizingly hard for me to do. Pretending not to believe the complainants — which is what is taking place with Ms. Reade — or that they're loose nobodies, which is what much of the media did to Ms. Lewinsky, is just an escape from the hard work of moral analysis.
And it adds to the harm. How is feminism advanced by casting a reasonably credible complainant as a liar? Better to just own up to what you are doing: sacrificing Ms. Reade for the good of the many.
Ethical theories do a poor job accounting for what shapes moral judgment. Should feminists throw Tara Reade under the bus for the greater good of our country? What if Tara Reade were you or someone you knew? Is dismissing the 'Tara Reade's' of the world morally permissible since it supposedly benefits most people?
A few months later and we have yet another powerful Democratic man being accused of sexual assault. Is the greater good to sell out Lindsey Boylan for the greater good of the Democratic party once again?
When you stop and think it through, Lindsey Boyland's actions are very similar to Christine Blasey-Ford's. Christine accused the Supreme Court nominee at the time, Brett Kavanaugh, of sexual assault. She made the decision to come forward at that time because she thought someone would be given a position of power they didn't deserve. Lindsey Boylan suggests Cuomo previously abused his position and believes he should not have any greater power. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds to me as if Christine Blasey-ford and Lindsey Boylan follow a similar path.
In Lindsey Boylan's case, I find her accusation to be more credible because she worked for him five years ago instead of Christine Blasey-Ford's 36-year gap. Why do both Tara and Lindsey's stories garner little or no media attention, but there were months of news coverage and congressional testimony with Christine's claims?
This isn't a judgment or statement as to whether any of these accusations are legitimate or not. We should always presume the accused's innocence, but there should be questions about how these narratives are constructed. They cause active harm in terms of the general public's ability to understand what is going on with influential people.
Is #metoo in our rearview mirror? Should we treat sexual assault accusations with a hands-off approach from now on? I assume there are more significant concerns at the moment. Andrew Cuomo needs to sell his book about how well he is handling the virus. Maybe the media thinks we should be focusing on his live-streamed injection instead of his alleged sexual assaults.
Two years ago, many wrote about how the dismissal of Christine Blasey-Ford's accusation was psychologically damaging for 51% of the nation's population. Think pieces everywhere wrote how just about every woman was harmed by the failure to lend credence to her allegations reflexively. She was also heralded as a heroic historical figure. The media suggested that most women shared her experience. It was the peak of the #metoo era.
Was that concern ever legitimate? Can we question the entire #metoo phenomenon? We've seen this concern for believing women's stories magically disappear in 2020. Maybe it was merely a political cudgel.
Believe what? All women? Some women? Liberal women who accuse republicans?
The conflict we have in this case is Lindsey Boylan's affiliation with the Democratic party. She is another democrat—accusing a fellow democrat.
The theory of Utilitarianism would require Lindsey Boylan to be dismissed for the greater good of the Democratic party and the future of Andrew Cuomo as a possible Attorney General. Utilitarian morality requires democrats to turn their face away from the people they must sell out. Progressives seem to be escaping from the hard work of moral analysis. Better to just own up to what they are doing: sacrificing Linda Boylan for the good of the many future Democratic stars.
Thought-Provoking Articles:
“When do we start coming out of the COVID-19 mass hysteria” – Michael Fumento asks something we would all like to know for the AIER blog
“Blindly following every rule strips us of our humane and caring instincts” – A thought-provoking piece in the Guardian by Nicci Gerard, who founded the John’s Campaign for the right to stay with people with dementia
“Why this campaign of terror?” – Never in peacetime has there been such an onslaught of Government propaganda, writes Gillian Dymond in Off-Guardian
“Essential facts about COVID-19” – A thorough and skeptical summary of COVID-19 on the Watts Up With That blog
“2020 was especially deadly. COVID-19 was not the only culprit” – There have been 356,000 more deaths in the US than normal this year, more than a quarter of them from increased mortality in cases of diabetes, Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure, and pneumonia. An interesting feature for the New York Times
“Claire Craig’s talk on COVID-19 testing and T-cell immunity in children and young people” – Watch Dr. Claire Craig’s lecture to a large gathering of concerned parents
Jake could have asked me what my thoughts were. I have just as much expertise as this guy. Thank GOD I use Apple products. Bill Gates predicts that even with the mass rollout of Covid vaccines, it is still “sadly” appropriate for bars and restaurants to be closed for the next four to six months. Is he paying for everyone to not work? If not, he needs to get back to giving his money away:
Clayton Craddock is an independent thinker, father of two beautiful children in New York City. He is the drummer of the hit broadway musical Ain't Too Proud. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University's School of Business and is a 28 year veteran of the fast-paced New York City music scene. He has played drums in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including "Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, and Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill. Also, Clayton has worked on: Footloose, Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Spongebob Squarepants The Musical, Evita, Cats, and Avenue Q.
#meetoo is dead.