A Thought Occurred To Me About The Franken Fiasco.

[Collimator]

The current upswell of recognition and concern over the issue of sexual harassment started with the exposure of powerful men who were using their positions to access women for sexual abuse and then intimidate them into keeping quiet about it.

The #MeToo has moved beyond those first revelations about famous men to encourage women to open up about the persistance of sexual harassment/abuse/ assault in everyday life.

This is clearly to the good, because it stinks that one half of the human race has to go around living in fear of the other half of the human race.

We are acknowledging that it is not just famous men who make women's lives difficult by meting out such treatment. But fame and power extend a man's reach to do greater harm by putting him beyond the reach of consequences.

Enter Al Franken. This is not a man who used his power and position to seek out victims for his personal satisfaction and then furthered the use of his power to keep his victims quiet.

Franken's power did not intimidate women into suffering through unwanted sexual behavior and remaining silent out of fear of retaliation should their stories not be believed.

These women weren't freed from humilation and fear by the #MeToo movement to come forth and reclaim their personal power. Franken's power was never a threat to them, it was a threat to the people who already have power. Those individuals have no desire to give up what they have. And until Franken became a threat to them, there was no roll call of violated, demeaned, or offended women whispering in support networks, waiting for the day when Franken could be exposed without risking their careers or reputations.

The power being exercised here is not about victims finding their voice. It is about finding "victims" of minor gaffes or misunderstandings and tweaking their narratives to silence Franken's voice and growing political power.

If Al Franken had never become a Senator--if he had continued in his career as an entertainer, it is very unlikely that these women would have bothered to include their experiences with him in the chronicles of #MeToo declarations.

Franken's power made him a target; he did not use his power to target others.

Franken's actions fall into the spectrum of social improprieties if intentional and extend into the realm of misunderstandings that occur between people all the time.

Unfortunately for those who look toward a progressive future, there are people who understand very well how to take advantage of a misunderstanding to bring down a powerful person.