Like Brett Kavanaugh, I’m part of the “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” generation. I’m also a 51-year-old man who grew up in a rich neighborhood, where incidents like those alleged by Dr. Ford often took place at parties.
I first heard the expression “running a train on a girl” while in junior high. It had happened to some girl at a party, and everyone at school had heard about it. The girl was branded a “drunken slut,” not a victim of gang rape. Rape only happened in dark alleys back then, not at your friends’ parties.
While I was swayed by Dr. Ford’s testimony last week, I also couldn’t help feeling seduced by the arguments in defense of Judge Kavanaugh. But being reminded of what I experienced in my teens gave me pause to ask myself: “Was that stuff OK?” It was not!
Keggers, beer bongs, ralphing, passing out—we all remember high school, yes?
I have little doubt that Brett Kavanaugh assaulted Dr. Ford. It’s also easy to imagine that he has no memory of it.
His defense? A weepy, angry, indignant and self-serving diatribe—what you might expect from an adult Biff Tanen from “Back to the Future,” the proverbial self-entitled jock/bad guy character lampooned in the movies who, although a trope, epitomizes something very real—white male privilege.
The current group of grumpy old men in the Senate would dismiss attempted rape as a teenage indiscretion. “Boys will be boys,” they might argue. And perhaps therein lies the root of our problem—these “boys” grow up and become the grumpy old men that have always been in charge.
The results of their tenure are self-evident, as are their biases.
It’s time for a change. We can start here and now.
The Malibu City Council and its Planning Commission are currently comprised almost exclusively of older white men, with the brilliant and fair-minded Council Member Rosenthal being the sole exception. But her term ends soon and the majority of candidates running to replace her are older white males.
Enough with the grumpy old men. Where are the women?!
Max Acosta-Rubio