"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Saturday 14 October 2017

THE NATURE OF MAN ........???????

The picnic table had a mound of snow. On top, the owners had scattered seeds and nuts.Three handsome big pine grosbeaks were feeding greedily and noisily. Darting quietly in at the sides, to steal a seed or two ,were a dozen smaller, less green females of the species .They were getting their share but the bigger,stronger males raced down squawking and threatening every time. 

Looked like a simple lesson in survival. Four times as many females at the feeding station. 

This morning's New York Times has a story about harassment and intimidation  in the US Park
 Service. Horrendous reading. 

Similar problems in the US armed services are regularly reported despite their stated  role of protecting 
women and children .

Women of the Toronto Fire Service have made the same complaints recently. 

In TV family shows ,fathers of daughters, are hostile to boyfriends for clearly enunciated reasons.
And a laugh. Dad's always know what boys have in mind. 

Considering consistency of the message of the same complaints in similar circumstances,
a reasonable conclusion might be, every institution, public or private,shared by the sexes
shares the same problem. 

After years in Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein is hounded like an animal for his transgressions.  

But in politics ,the acknowledged lecher gets elected to the highest office in the land. 

The woman with a lifetime of working to advance the cause of women and children and the disadvantaged , has her reputation chopped up in small pieces and ground into the dirt by 
male dominated media with the voice of women conspicuous in absence. . 

Back in the day, in rural areas, a  sign on a farm fence warned  "Beware of the Bull" 

Nowadays farmers purchase the product. 

When I was a child, in Scotland, men and women sat on different sides of the church aisle
on Sunday. I never understood why. Still don't. Maybe they knew something. 

Women were not allowed to mix with men in public bars.

But the only thing women sought was the right to vote. And not until men got "Universal 
Suffrage" which wasn't until 1924 or thereabouts. 

There's a pattern .

When women were not in the armed services, .. park services...fire services and every other service that employs males, women were not being harassed or intimidated or sexually assaulted . 

Ever since Hollywood came to be ,women in that industry have been used and abused. It's an 
Occupational hazard. 

So, what's the lesson?

Wherever men have power, it seems women are at risk. 

Can it be fixed ? 

 It hasn't so far and it doesn't look promising. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...


In your post perhaps it might have been more correct to report that the wife of a lecher almost made it to the top job. Many of Bill Clinton's antics are documented. In fact, he pleaded no contest at one point to avoid a public court battle with one woman.

Our friend Hillary knew all about it and as far as I know played along.

To change the subject to something more local,the JOC has been on my mind. What could have gone wrong? Seems it is now realized it was a very difficult piece of land. Did anyone know about this at the time? External auditors on the taxpayers' dime might be needed to figure it out.

I would love for you to refresh our memory here and perhaps in a letter to the editor on your advice at the Council table when the project was proposed.



Anonymous said...

They will always be at risk. Just like racism will forever be around. You can have more laws and continue with all the punishments for breaking those laws and there will be people who will continue breaking the law. People continue to look at the justice system to fix it. People have to learn that we don't have a justice system. We have a legal system.The Hollywood sandbox has been corrupt since the beginning of time. They all just act like everyone is playing nice. That being said, there's no difference in any other industry, including politics. Both men and women have to be careful of the snakes and wolves roaming around looking for the naive and vulnerable. They will be forever around.