The 'Me Too' movement

Two major issues have exploded in America over the last few weeks and they are the Me Too movement and yet another school shooting. I’m not going to write a column about the latest school shooting because I think most people know what my feelings are and my feelings aren’t likely to change the feelings of anyone else in this part of the country.

The fact that we are a nation gone mad is obvious. When a person walks into a school armed to the teeth with weapons designed to kill others and then carries out that action, America has lost. We’re the only country in the world who suffers the number and severity of school shootings we do and there doesn’t appear to be an end or even a slowing down of the number of annual occurrences. To defend a principle that has cost more lives in the U.S. than were lost in the Vietnam War makes no sense at all. But we continue to do it every day.

Something I do want to write about, however, is the latest example of social awareness sweeping the nation called the Me Too movement. This is something that affects every human being in his country, whether they’re male or female because it involves women finally speaking out and accusing men of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The backlash to these claims comes from the men to contend the allegations are false.

There is no question in my mind that some of these allegations ARE false. The problem is determining which ones are. There has been such a rush to judgment that anyone accused of sexual harassment or assault is automatically assumed to have done what they’re being accused of. This denies the men an opportunity to be heard before minds are made up. Even though this is mainly outside the criminal justice and judicial system, we still have a concept that dictates a person is innocent until proven guilty. A person simply stating that another person took advantage of her does not meet that bar of responsibility.

We all know that some people are vindictive, both male and female. We know that some will take any action they deem fitting to get back at another person, regardless if that action has any foundation in truth or not. In fact, this is so common, there are few of us it hasn’t happened to.

The problem with sexual harassment is that it almost always amounts to a “she said, he said” kind of scenario. In other words, when the supposed act or acts occur, they are done in private with only the two principals present. So then it becomes a matter of who is believed. Because we know that men have used their wealth, prestige and power to get what they want in the past, it’s no great leap of faith to believe they’re still doing it, even when it comes to requiring women to respond to sexual suggestions they typically wouldn’t respond to if the playing field was level.

We’re all sure this happens. We just don’t know when it happens or who does it when it does happen. So the current trend is to throw all men under the bus and assume that they’re all guilty. This is a dangerous precedent to take and one that is fraught with problems because we can safely assume that all the men are NOT guilty and those who aren’t are losing their jobs, their status, their income, their prestige and often their families because of false rumors being spread about them.

In a nation built upon laws, probable cause, reasonable belief and the concept that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, this simply cannot stand.