Lost within the hue and cry about the expected collapse of the Strauss-Kahn case is this simple fact: There is indisputable evidence of a
sex act between Strauss-Kahn and his accuser.
It's that old Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky semen on the clothing thing.
Marx, aping Hegel, wrote: "All facts and personages of great importance in world history occur, as it were, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce."
Except here, I'm not sure which is tragedy, and which is farce.
Maybe it's both. Farcical in the circus atmosphere that has surrounded the case, and tragic if a rapist will go unpunished.
I think it's both farcical and tragic that we live in a culture where we collectively emit this sigh of relief: "It's only adultery."
Something similar happened a few years ago in the so-called Duke rape case. I have no doubt that the Duke lacrosse players were innocent of rape, and that the accuser was lying, and that the prosecutor was culpable of the misconduct of which he was charged.
But somehow that outcome left aside the fact that the Duke players had hired a stripper to perform at their party.
And somehow the apparent outcome of this case will leave aside the fact that Strauss-Kahn cheated on his wife, and has little respect for women or his marriage vows.
There seems to be some kind of attitude formation rule here: If an alleged criminal act is shown to be untrue, then we find relief when we are left with only a moral failing.
Not only are many finding relief here, but Strauss-Kahn can begin to make noise about running for the presidency of France again.
We like to say that even a prostitute or promiscuous woman can be raped, but when push comes to shove-so to speak-it sometimes seems that only the unimpeachably virtuous can be violated.
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My book,
Nasty, Brutish, and Long: Adventures In Eldercare (Avery/Penguin, 2009), was a Finalist for the 2010 Connecticut Book Award. Click
here to read the first chapter It provides a unique, insider's perspective on
aging in America. It is an account of my work as a psychologist in nursing homes, the story of
caregiving to my frail, elderly parents--all to the accompaniment of ruminations on my own mortality. Thomas Lynch, author of The Undertaking, calls it "A book for policy makers, caregivers, the halt and lame, the upright and unemcumbered: anyone who ever intends to get old."
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