midclown120boos:

plum-soup:

Re: the new Kavanaugh accuser who said that him and his other high school (or was it college) friends would get girls drunk and run a train on them (like literal gang r*pe lets be clear about that) 

At this point I’m beginning to wonder if the people hired to investigate Kavanaugh actually knew about all of this stuff and just passed it over because they didn’t think it was important. Like I’m 100% sure they spoke to people that told them he regularly attending these kinda parties were people got drunk and vague Bad Things sometimes happened (nearly always involving boys forcing themselves on inebriated girls) but they just didn’t even see it as important because that kinda shit is more than likely extremely common in the background of Federal Judges and other Influential People. The fact is that even today, people who came up in that highly insular east coast WASP prep school bougie  society still view experiences like the one i described as “normal” and “part of growing up” for both the girls and the guys. and more than often, if the girl does speak up, she is ostracized by her former friends and schoolmates. This has happened more than once. 

The same fraternities that gang rape drunk women are the ones that produce your judges, CEOs, congressmen, etc. Remember that.

I don’t even doubt that even in full light of all these accusations, with the accusers literally begging for an FBI investigation, the rest of the GOP genuinely still thinks Kavanaugh is a great normal dude cause they are all exactly like him.

Also, I honestly have to wonder if this type of behavior doesn’t go beyond that “normal” and “part of growing up” among a certain social set, and into the same kind of territory that helped make the Piggate accusations so satisfying.

(Where, bizarre as it was? That was possibly the least actually harmful shit that group of horrible people ever got up to as a weird bonding thing.)

See also: What #PigGate Really Says About the State of British Politics

I would add that especially in certain circles:

Bearing witness to one another doing embarrassing things, usually if not always under the influence of alcohol, is a fairly standard part of the socialization process, especially for young men. It may not be quite as ritualized or organized as ceremonial events which require very specific orders from local butchers, but moments of embarrassment or transgression shared with close friends are a basic building block of many of our relationships…

Consider this scenario: At elite institutions, those earmarked — by wealth, title, connections — for future leadership roles are forced, as impressionable young people, to carry out humiliating acts in order to gain acceptance by an in-group. That same in-group will, over the course of their lives, help advance their careers massively in ways both overt and covert; membership in that group essentially secures their success in life. The cost of entry, paid by all members of the group, is participation in humiliating acts which will forever wed them to the group. Because should they later act in a way contrary to the group’s interests or desires, their indiscretions can be brought back to destroy their careers or personal lives.

Which isn’t how it necessarily plays out in every case, AFAICT including this one. And I don’t know that this particular example would have taken much/any pushing for them to participate.

But, not even considering behavior like that relevant unless you’re currently aiming to use it against the person yourself? Totally consistent. Unfortunately. That’s just “normal” and “part of growing up”–and nobody is supposed to talk about it unless it’s the right people trying to exert control.