#MeToo and False Equivalence

I wrote the following post last fall when #metoo hit its full stride, when Harvey Weinstein went into hiding and Matt Lauer was dethroned. I didn’t post it then but I feel the #metoo movement continues to be a run-away train. So here is my very personal #metoo rage. Apologies in advance to those who thought they knew me.

“Republicans are embracing this pedophile, Roy Moore, but won’t accept gay marriage” asserted ABC’s political pundit, Matthew Dowd, and then he alleged that “Republicans are hypocrites because they believe Harvey Weinstein’s accusers but defend Roy Moore against his accusers.” He said all the #metoo accusers MUST be believed. Then he smiled like he’d just won the game.

After that my head exploded. This is NOT a game.

Matthew Dowd, you seem to know something about pedophiles? Hey, me too! I have met a few. The most innocuous was my grade school teacher who used to take me to the cloak room pretending he was swatting me. I was just a little girl standing in the cloak room holding my own tiny ankles. My grade school teacher didn’t look very much like Roy Moore. None of the pedophiles I ever met did.

Matthew, have you ever been drugged and raped like some of the women who have accused Harvey Weinstein? How about that? Me too! When I was 18, my boss was living in a hotel room, separated from his wife. He asked me to pick him up from there for a business appointment. He offered me a glass of water and I woke up with him inside me. So, I met Harvey Weinstein that day and I met another Weinstein years later in an OKC bar. Neither of them looked like Roy Moore.

Mr. Dowd, did you once fall for the charms of an older man when you were a teen? Well, these coincidences are downright eerie because, me too! When I was just 16 I dated a 24 year old (which made me feel sophisticated). This man stole my youth but he was not a monster like the pedophile or the bad boss. I will say though he—and the high school teacher who made an unwanted pass at me—looked a lot like Roy Moore.

Nah. I am not joining the #metoo movement and not one of my perpetrators shall be named. I just won’t sit idly by listening to these false equivalencies. There is a spectrum that ranges from inappropriate (like the woman who appeared on Megan Kelly to “out” her fifteen-years-former co-worker who had told her she looked hot) to downright evil (like Harvey Weinstein). Somewhere on that spectrum sits Roy Moore. I am not a fan of Roy Moore but I take vehement exception to Matthew Dowd’s remarks that he is a pedophile or that he is like Harvey Weinstein.

As to Mr. Dowd’s dangerous suggestion that all these women coming forward must be believed and deserve airtime and that all the men being accused of anything must be punished equally. No. Even if most of the #metoo ladies are truthful and aggrieved, any accusation that can ruin or change someone’s life forever should at least be substantiated. I want the damn Blue Dress.

To Matthew Dowd and anyone else who has bastardized the #metoo message: Sit down and shut up because this is NOT a game.

Because, me too.