2 Problems - 2 Solutions

4 of the over 50 women with assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein

There are 2 things dominating the current news cycle. One shows how the moral fiber of this country has deteriorated. The other is the coarsening of public discourse.

I can’t believe how many women have come forward in recent days saying they have been sexually assaulted by men in power. It seems that ever since the Harvey Weinstein story broke – it has opened up the floodgates. I don’t know what the actual numbers are. But it seems that the incidences of it are far greater than I could have ever imagined. At this point, it is almost as though we have to assume that every woman in the workforce is subjected to sexual harassment unless proven otherwise!

Why is this happening? And why haven’t we been cognizant of the extent of it until now? Has it always been this way?

I really can’t answer those questions definitively - although I do think the sexual revolution of the sixties has contributed mightily to it. As a result of that, societal standards of modesty have been lowered. Attitudes about casual sex have changed to the point of it being not much different than eating a candy bar. I realize of course that illicit sexual behavior wasn’t invented in the sixties. It’s been around since the beginning of human existence.  But I can’t help feeling that the lowering of our standards has had a major impact on how men and women interact in civilized society today.

Not that it needs any justification from me -  but I believe this justifies Halacha with regard to behavior between the sexes. It may not be foolproof.. But it surely does help most of the time when adhered to.

If we would follow the laws of Yichud for example, how often would any of these sexual crimes take place? There are those that laugh at religious men (even non Jewish ones) who insist on never being secluded alone with a woman other than their wives under any circumstances.  Feminists say that this practice is unfair to women since it would preclude a woman from doing her job when it requires engaging with a man in the privacy of a corporate office. I wonder though how all of the women who have ever been taken advantage of under those conditions feel about it?

True, men have to behave and act in a civilized respectful manner when alone with a woman. Most men do. But sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.

Chazal tell us, Ein Apitropus L’Arayos – there is no guardian for sexual matters. When alone, even people that are ordinarily scrupulous in their Mitzvah observance, might in some cases be overcome by their desires and act inappropriately. In the current cultural climate where casual sex is treated so lightly, is it so surprising that a man might make sexual advances towards an attractive woman in the privacy of a corporate boardroom - or his office? 

Just because it is the obligation of men to behave themselves around women under any and all circumstances that doesn’t mean they always will. Especially in our world today. Isn’t an ounce of prevention via observing Hilchos Yichud worth the pound of cure that is needed after a woman is sexually harassed or worse?

Arizona Senator, Jeff Flake

The other thing that has changed for the worse is the level of public discourse. And I have to lay a large part of the blame for this at the feet of the current President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

I agree with Arizona Senator Jeff Flake. Having announced that he will not seek re-election to the senate, he is now free to speak his mind without political consequences. Speaking about the President, here in part is what he said. From CNN: 

"We must never regard as 'normal' the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals. We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country -- the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons, reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with the fortunes of the people that we have all been elected to serve." 

And from US News: 

"We are excusing undignified and outrageous and reckless speech and behavior as 'telling it like it is.'.... That's not right," Flake said Wednesday on MSNBC. 

Indeed! The irony is that these comments are being made by a Conservative Republican, Flake supported much of the Trump agenda. Which is for the most part a conservative one. It isn’t Trump’s politics that he objects to. It is his demeanor. His behavior. The President is an unequivocal embarrassment to this country.

Trump’s constant tweeting and personal attacks are often disgusting, and undermine his political agenda. His tweets are fodder for a media that loves to pile on. If one didn’t know these tweets were being made by the President of the United States, one would think it was coming from some high school sophomore raised by parents that have no clue and don’t care about what their kids are doing. 

To cite some examples of this: His remarks the election denigrating  Senator John McCain’s sacrifices as a prisoner of war in Viet Nam for 5 years;  his mocking of a disabled reporter; his belittling world leaders and his political opponents; his comments about how a celebrity like him can sexually assault women with impunity, his characterization of illegal Mexican immigrants as rapists and murders...  all of this and much much more has contributed to the coarseness of public discourse.  

President Trump cannot handle criticism. He sees it as being attacked. So he responds in kind - explaining that if he is going to be hit, he is going to hit back twice as hard. These are the words of a petulant teenager! Not a man that is supposed to be a statesman - restrained by the dignity of his office. A man who is supposed to be the leader of the free world. Imagine the impact this has on young people. ‘If the President is doing it, why can’t I?’

Some of us thought the President would change and become more presidential once in office. We were wrong. He hasn’t changed one bit.

Recalling the McCarthy era, Flake has urged his colleagues to act: 

"you can't continue to just remain silent" about President Donald Trump's politics and behavior. "There is a tipping point. ... I hope we're reaching that tipping point," Flake told NBC's "Today." 

Back in the 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy headed a congressional committee  that persecuted many people he believed had even the remotest connection to communism. He ruined the careers of many innocent people in the entertainment industry. It was during the Army-McCarthy hearings that Joseph Welch, the attorney representing the Army reacted and said to him: 

Have you left no sense of decency, Senator McCarthy? 

That was the tipping point. People began speaking out against MCarthy’s abuses that eventually  ended that era of persecution. Flake has implored his colleagues to do the same… to speak out and hopefully put enough pressure on the President to change his behavior.

I don’t think the President will change. But at least congress can be unified in their contempt for the way the President behaves. Because even if it doesn’t change his behavior, it might change the way the rest of the world perceives us. If we continue to remain silent, the perception of the United States as a world leader and as any kind of moral authority will continue to erode. At least until the next election.