The Banality Of Brett Kavanaugh (And Many Men In Power)

The Kavanaugh hearings this past week mobilized people on all sides but despite the many tangents, the attention and applause should be for the survivors.

While Dr. Christine Blasey Ford went beyond her trauma to be the voice that the people need to hear before Judge Brett Kavanaugh is deemed appropriate for the Supreme Court, most remained focussed on who expresses the truth or on what the next political maneuver should be.

However, Dr. Ford’s bravery and responsibility as a citizen have led others to come forward with their stories such as Padma Lakshmi's opinion piece for the New York Times. Moreover, they allowed the discussion to delve deeper as in the NPR article that examines the effects of trauma on memory (where research indicates “it’s even more likely to be encoded in the brain”).

But, what we need to acknowledge are the power players—the ones who not only support Kavanaugh, but are just like him: white, male and privileged—as Meagan Day points out in her sharp piece:

Kavanaugh is probably guilty of sexual assault. That’s my read, after reviewing the available testimonies and also thirty years of experience with people. But what’s really sticking for me isn’t the exceptional brutality of powerful men — the cruelty of Kavanaugh or his prep-school friends or of the fulminating Republicans who protested his mistreatment yesterday, referring to the investigation of sexual abuse allegations against a Supreme Court nominee as “unfair” and “innuendo.” No, it’s not their monstrosity that stands out. It’s their ordinary pettiness, their desperate desire to impress each other and, when the shit hits the fan, to save face together.

Regardless of their mediocrity, the bonds of these men are tight and the code of their “boys’ club” discriminates against the rest, especially those most vulnerable. As one can see, even when a woman presents confirmed evidence and answers every question, a powerful man just needs the sympathy of other powerful men to be believed.