These people exist as symbols, sacrifices, really. I’m not thinking of them as fully formed, as that’s not the way they were received by the public. I make no equation between the women, either, I just think that the public, for it’s own inscrutable reasons, ended up treating them in a similar way. I think that’s interesting, but I don’t know exactly what it means.
I think Monica Lewinsky should be on a postage stamp. I have tremendous respect for her having survived that with as much grace and determination as she has. She was thrown under the bus, by everybody.
]]>By equating Lewinsky to Sanders, you villainize Lewinsky all over again, since someone that defends an abuser can quite rightly be considered a villain.
Maybe we should defer to someone who’s expert at handling these difficult moral dilemmas. Heidi definitely needs to weigh in here.
]]>Sharktooth:
You may be right, I don’t know.
I wasn’t really thinking about the culpability the women had in their fate, but in the blood in the water response. People seemed to be delighting in the humiliation of these women, and there seemed something unique in that. White, ambitious, privileged women who benefited or “sold out” to the patriarchy institution of the Presidency, and then were pilloried for it. It’s amazing to me in retrospect that Monica Lewinsky was seen as a villain, which is something I keep in mind today–which is to say that things don’t always look or feel the same four or five years down the road.
]]>While I do agree that the madly polarized mob response to the Red Hen is both scary and dangerous, I so no relationship between Lewinsky and Sanders. Lewinsky was abused by Clinton, and was powerless to defend herself. Sanders has chosen to defend an abuser, and does it proudly. Sanders has the power to walk away at any time, and fade off into obscurity. No such luck for Lewinsky. They are complete opposites.
You can’t really claim that Sanders is suffering because of gender. Her male predecessor was equally hated and mercilessly mocked, and is already forgotten.
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