Bad people do bad things, get tripped up doing it, and bad results happen. C'est la vie.
With so much talk going on in the media now it was almost certain that someone would pen the ultimate in twisted logic pieces to justify their support of a bad person. With that in mind, I give you...
I'm a feminist, I study rape culture, I don't want Al Franken to resign. Kate Harding, Washington Post.
In the linked piece above Ms. Harding goes on to explain that she doesn't want Franken to resign BECAUSE he's a Democrat, and Democrats are good, even though Mr. Franken might be bad his votes are good therefore his behavior gets a pass.
The piece is remarkably refreshing in it's honesty and it's total lack of self-awareness.
It also brings to light another problem, the problem that we tend to feign outrage at transgressions by the other tribe while ignoring those of our own. For Republicans, especially ones in Alabama, the current example is Roy Moore. For Democrats its Sen. Franken. I would posit that it will be hard for the Senate to expel Moore would that the body had any sense of shame left in it given the Franken issue.
But I won't, because the Senate has no remaining sense of shame.
Closer to Texas we find out that ugly people sometimes do ugly things, often to their regret...
Woman with crude anti-Trump truck decal arrested for fraud. CBSNews
The woman in question placed a decal on the back of her truck saying "FUCK TRUMP, and Fuck you for voting for him." Pretty standard "I'm angry that my tribe lost the election" stuff TBH, probably more effective than screaming at the sky for instance, but probably not the smartest thing to do if you have an outstanding warrant for fraud.
Of course, the lady in question blames "Republicans" for her problems ignoring the fact that it was her stupid actions that brought all of this attention down upon her in the first place. People with ugly attitudes are often among the more dense in our society.
The two stories, taken separately, probably don't say all that much about society as a whole but when viewed in the context of what we're currently witnessing in America they speak volumes.
Our sense of outrage is almost purely tribal today. Where before reasonable people would agree that sexual harassment is wrong and should be discouraged, today it's become a political tool whose punishment should only be doled out to the other tribe and not to one's own. In reality, both Roy Moore and Al Franken have no place in the United States Senate. Trump, for that matter, has displayed a litany of actions that would make him unworthy of the office of the President of the United States.
But we live in a Democratic-Republic, where the people are allowed to elect, and blindly support, a Rogue's Gallery of clowns, fools and straight-up bad people regardless of their personal failings. If you think being a bad person and an elected official is either a new or partisan phenomenon, read up on your history.
What is a relatively new thing is the curious practice of people having the chutzpah to openly admit that they're sense of justice is linked to their tribe. Winning is more important than being right, destroying the enemy (and, make no mistake about it, the greatest enemy to partisans on both sides is the other party) more important than being able to look in the mirror every morning without insulting the mirror.
American society, such as it is, will eventually crumble in upon itself as all great societies do. I've a feeling that future human sociologists will look back on the events of today and determine these were the moments that made it all start to unravel. Once we lose the ability to police ourselves, we lose the moral authority to police others.
In an America where there is a giant leadership vacuum at every level of government I think that moral authority is gone, possibly for good.
That fact alone should be slightly depressing.
