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So I was not going to talk about Brett Kavanaugh, politics, or the charges against him, and by “charges” I mean charges in the court of public opinion. I am still not going to talk about Kavanaugh directly because both proclaiming his innocence or pronouncing his guilt all about the intertoobz is just stoopid.

There is a much larger issue here that is far more important, and that is how the chattering conservative class never seem to realize they are actually much like cats at the mercy of a little red dot. Seriously, quiver that laser light to the right and all the little chattering cats will run to the right. Or if you’d like to see them try to climb up the wall, point it towards the wall. It’s almost like having a remote control in your hands.

In politics the goal is not to prove some guy’s guilt or innocence. Trust me, all but a tiny handful of faithful advocates even care if Judge Moore is a serial abuser or if Kavanaugh raped a woman in high school. Nobody really cares! I’m sorry, that’s very jaded and cynical, but just trust me on that. The goal in politics is actually to use your little laser dot to herd all your cats in the direction you want them to go.

You want to collect negative quotes and talking points for the next election. You want to be able to taint people’s perception of a political party. Every time someone hears “conservative,” or “Republican” you want them to think of #Metoo, sexual assault, cover ups, and leadership that just doesn’t care about women.

You want them to remember every appalling thing they ever heard a conservative on the internet say. You want to be able to run video clips and copy tweets of people reacting poorly to sexual abuse allegations.

And much like cats compulsively chasing a laser dot, the chattering class always provides plenty of ammo in which to use against them. So many useful idiots, so little time.

So Pastor Wilson wrote a post called, The Man with the Quivering Red Laser Dot on His Chest. I’m using him as an example because well, because Wilson is the last person whose quotes you want anywhere near your political campaign. He is such easy pickings because he is in love with his own words and so there are often many catchy (and vile)  phrases to choose from.

I agree with him from time to time, but I also can see the other side, like how he posts a picture that implies women who are sexually abused, are just bratty children objecting to a little boy kissing them. Like how he says, “So why are we good with everybody feeling up Lady Justice?”

Or like how he says, “We need to stop thinking that miscarriages of justice will somehow right themselves,” and he seems to a have absolutely no awareness of the irony! The only “miscarriage of justice” he can imagine in a rape case, is the injustice of some man not able to receive his full entitlement, a promotion or a political nomination. He does not see or even acknowledge that there can also be a victim who may have suffered four decades of injustice already.

“We need to stop thinking that miscarriages of justice will somehow right themselves,” is the very lesson behind the entire #Metoo movement. Wilson’s idea of a “miscarriages of justice” is that a victim spoke up and someone was inconvenienced in some way.

I am, or at least I was, a sexual assault advocate for many years, and I read Pastor Wilson’s and many other conservative’s words with a sinking feeling in the pit my stomach, a keen awareness of what is really being said here.

Boys will be boys. Women always lie. Women have no worth and value. They are all just like Potiphar’s wife. It’s not actually a crime to rape one, she was probably just asking for it anyway. A man’s career is far more important than a woman’s right to justice. Our values are totally subjective and based exclusively on power, not on morality….

Listen, your words really matter, your words shape the very narrative and influence the politics of those around you, for good or for ill.  More than half the voters in this country are women, the vast majority who have had experiences with some form of sexual abuse,  and in general they tend to vote for leadership they believe cares about them, and wants to protect them.

I have spent literally years trying to get Christians and conservatives, on the front lines of the sexual abuse crisis. Decades before #Metoo there was this talking donkey, (that would be me,) braying,  “incoming!” Not only is educating yourself about sexual assault a great way to break the cycle, to protect children, and help to heal victims, it’s good politics, too!

Try to remember the politics here are not actually about  Judge Moore or Judge Kavanaugh’s guilt or innocence, the politics are about writing a narrative, based on your opponent’s very own words. In other words, the facts are irrelevant, the intent and purpose is to trigger an emotional reaction that will influence what lever people decide to pull in the voting booth.

Pastor Wilson attempts to use the story of the adulteress about to be stoned as an example of how Jesus handled allegations of sexual misconduct. He does not perceive her as a victim of injustice, or as a woman about to be outright murdered by  a bunch of self-righteous pharisee. Instead he portrays her as the perpetrator of a crime, the equivalent of a pedophile, a rapist, a sexual abuser, a bad guy we should apparently not condemn, because Jesus Himself said, neither do I condemn you.

And this folks, is why you never read the bible through the lens of your own politics, seeking to make it conform to your own preconceived notions. Our politics will soon be forgotten, washed away, but the Lord’s word is forever.

I admit complete defeat, total surrender on this matter. I just give up. It will never happen. Most conservatives will never get it! And for those who don’t know, when a woman admits complete defeat, that means you actually lost the whole battle. The way conservatives react to sexual abuse really is their Achilles heel, their one weakness that leads them to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, over and over and over and again, because some people just never learn.

And ironically, I guess that really is justice.

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