When Heroes Break

The #metoo-movement has had a bit of a week, hasn’t it? One of the original Harvey Weinstein accusers, Italian actress Asia Argento, was herself accused of sexual assault on a minor. And that’s so very inconvenient for an increasingly politicised movement of feminist empowerment.

It is hard to come to grips with supporting a victim that isn’t herself innocent. It’s hard to have a sinner as a figurehead. Victimization and innocence goes so well together. People are shit at nuanced perceptions of each other. And when you make a political movement all about the immaculate morals of a demographic of victims, it is so very, very hard to disassociate the cause from the often not-so-innocent humans at the head of it.

A big argument among the #metoo:ers has been that specifically men have been poorly taught how to act appropriately toward women. A few men tried to include themselves as victims of sexual harassment in the work place, but they were quickly booted out of the #metoo-movement by the more misandrist elements thereof. Men were supposed to be the villains. It was supposed to be a systemic issue of male predations, of women standing up against the amorphous patriarchy. If people would begin to nuance the subject, claim that sexual harassment wasn’t solely a gender-issue, but a people-issue, then maybe the more radical feminist side of the outrage would have to share the thunder. Then they would have to come to terms with the fact that women aren’t a priori morally superior to men. That women aren’t the only victims. And that women aren’t all innocent. And infinitely more important, that you can be both a sinner and a victim.

”An eye for an eye” is still a prevalent sentiment in the reptilian core of the human psyche. We’ll probably never be rid of it. People keep musing that rapists should be raped themselves. That child molesters should have their genitalia removed. Morbid, poetic, almost Dante-esque, punishments to sate our need for vindication.

So, now that it is coming to light that one of the originators of the #metoo-movement is a pedophile and child molester, would it make it less heinous that she was sexually assaulted herself by the monster Weinstein? Isn’t that what the public, what large parts of the #metoo-movement thinks? Isn’t that why feminists and activists come crawling out of the woodwork to try and defend their disgraced idols? Isn’t that why academics and professors have flocked to the aid of another accused sexual abuser, Avital Ronell, professor at NYU and prolific feminist and humanitarian writer, implying that Avital Ronell should be ”excused” for her sexual misconduct due to her sizeable academic work? Because a villain can’t be a victim, and you can’t let your cause be tarnished by the moral compromise when your heroes break.

This is all so very wrong. A victim does not have to be an innocent. Sexual abuse, or abuse of any other sort for that matter, does not only befall the saints and the virtuous. It’s always ugly. It is always an affront to our society whenever, wherever, and to whomever it happens. Be they men, or women, or molesters themselves.

For as long as you keep putting mere people up on a pedestal, politicise them to suit your agenda, you’re going to keep being disappointed. Because eventually, everyone becomes a victim. And no one is innocent.

/Sebastian Lindberg 28/8-2018

Triaging the World

“Fossil fuels help prevent sexual assault.”

Supposedly. According to the US Energy Secretary, and long time Texan Governor, Rick Perry.

The Texan had been on a visit in South Africa, and retold the story of a woman describing the sense of danger as soon as the lights were turned off, due to energy shortages. So, by cranking up the use of fossil fuels, lights would stay on, and this woman would be safer from sexual predators. Because monsters mostly come out at night. Mostly.

This is where I pause and let the story and statement sink in with you, dear reader. Just, roll it on your withered tongue for a moment. The very idea that fossil fuels, and the use thereof, will prevent sexual assault. Then, let’s take a look at the components here.

Rick Perry, a fourteen year veteran governor of Texas, a state that has proliferated fossil fuels since the year of ever. South Africa, a country that already derives some 87% of its power from fossil fuels (mainly coal), being referred to as safer if only it burnt more fossil fuels. And then we have that little gem once again, that the statement and story refers to a sense of safety. Not actual safety itself. And we’ve already discussed the problem with confusing the two.

So, already on the surface, we have a biased person, making an in-context irrelevant observation in favour of an unsubstantiated achievement. And thus, finally, we can get into the heart of the matter.

Riddle me this… How many of you set fire to your bathroom to kill a spider? How many of you cut off your foot so that you won’t stub your toe? How many presently still reading ever blow their brains out with a shotgun so that they’ll cure their migraine? No one? Really? Excellent. Then maybe you’ll also understand why it’s a bad idea to wreck your habitat to deal with societal problems.

Now, hold on. I’m not saying that societal issues aren’t important to talk about. Not important to fix. Sexual assault, domestic and otherwise, needs to become an obsolete behavioural pattern in the human race. I agree wholeheartedly with that. But when you propose that we should ruin our world to do it… Well, first off I’ll applaud your misanthropic gumption. Secondly, I’ll tell you that you’re an idiot.

Now, I want to make this absolutely clear: No subjective vindication, no demographic or ethnic injustice, is more important than our environmental concerns. The preservation of a healthy habitat (alternatively the execution of a successful exodus from a wasted world) is the single most important issue that our generation need concern ourselves with. Everything else should be subject to potentially taking a back seat until we solve the bigger riddle. For example, that includes (in no particular order of magnitude) sexual violence, gender-based socio-economical divides, racism or your precious retirement fund.

And yes, I realize that that sentiment will sound privileged. It doesn’t make it any less true. Because the fear you feel of sexual predators when walking home at night isn’t particularly worthwhile when you can’t breathe the air or grow non-toxic food. When the world is on fire, the waters are rising, the storms are coming, then the reliability of the street lights on your way from work will not be your main concern.

The restoration and suspension of a healthy environment, for all ecosystems, triumphs over all other issues. And anyone that tells you differently, that tries to lure you with the promise of snake-oil safety or comfort in lieu of sustainability, is not only a liar but an intellectual cancer, and is probably one of those aforementioned monsters that do not mind, but thrive, in the light.

/Sebastian Lindberg 7/11-2017