Showing posts with label Jian Ghomeshi trial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jian Ghomeshi trial. Show all posts

Thursday, May 12, 2016

The clearest path to the truth




Blogger's amen. Yes! Finally we hear the Truth about the whole sickening, sordid Ghomeshi disaster, and one would think there would be relief all around. But some of the commentary on this superb act of truth-telling is distinctly "off". Some journalists are writing about Kathryn Borel's statement as if it's a sadistic, deliberately ball-crushing act of malice, bitter vengeance for  Ghomeshi's near-total escape from legal consequences after his shit-eating, lawyer-ghosted "apology". 

I say "ghosted" because even after his 61 (count 'em! 61) therapy sessions, I have no illusions that this guy is doing anything but cover his own ass. This is a man who is just now, duhh, figuring out that, um, uh, er, groping and grabbing and choking women MIGHT just be a little bit disrespectful, particularly if it is done on the job. Might. Just. And this from a man nearing 50! He is 48 years old, and while waiting for trial, he was sent to live with his Mommy. There was nowhere else for him to go. No doubt she believes the sun rises and sets on him.




Ghomeshi has no friends, never has had any friends (this came out when the scandal first erupted and it was revealed that not one single person at the CBC liked him), and does not even have relationships with women in the usual, adult sense. And yet, and yet, look how much damage one slimy, narcissistic/opportunistic asshole can do. So desperate was the CBC for some sexing up that they took on this unshaven goat with the mind of a 14-year-old, then told women who worked under him (pun intended) that they had to put up with his humiliating grabs and gropes because "that's just the way he is". The whole place tiptoed around him, and it went on for years.

No, nay, never-no-more! I don't know HOW he is now, nor do I care. His life is over, as far as I am concerned - that is, if it ever began. 




There's a piece about all this that I find particularly obnoxious because it uses boxing metaphors. I find it insulting because Kathryn Borel was not boxing. She was setting the record straight. She is not Muhammed Ali doing that, whatever, rope-a-dope thing (who cares what it is anyway?). She's a person, a woman grievously wronged who, while not having her day in court, found another way to win. This, in my opinion, was heroism, so far beyond a mere boxing match that there is no comparison. She got up there, she told the truth, she was passionate and self-possessed. We all saw. We all heard. So perhaps truth does come out, perhaps shallow narcissists do eventually fall. Stick a fork in him, people are saying. He's done.

But. We'll see. 




P. S. When I first saw this photo, my scalp prickled. The stance of the hero is clear. Head up, back straight, her body posture dignified and confident. But there is also an indomitable spirit. She looks like a racehorse about to leap out of the gate. The archway over her head gives the whole scene the look of a classic battle. Victory sometimes comes in unexpected ways.


Friday, February 12, 2016

But Joe has a hotshot lawyer: an analogy




Jim Hagarty

February 6 at 4:59pm ·

Ghomeshi

So Joe stole money from me. I know he stole it, he knows he stole it. But I keep talking to Joe when I see him because I know he will never pay me back. That's just the way he is, the way it is. I could hate Joe for the rest of my life, but that would hurt me, not him. I like him, basically, and decide to not leave cash lying around when I am with him. Life goes on. Nobody's perfect. Then I hear something disturbing. Joe's been stealing a lot of money from a lot of people. Some of those people were caused hardship by the loss of their money. Joe didn't care. Then Joe is charged. This is more serious than Joe stealing from me. He's hurt a lot of people and will carry on hurting them. Police come to me, having heard Joe stole from me. They ask me to co-operate in an investigation. I do. I long ago got over having lost a few bucks to Joe but if I stay quiet, I will be helping him to hurt others. I agree to testify. But Joe has a hotshot lawyer. And I am made a mess of in court. Didn't I keep hanging around with Joe even though he stole from me? Isn't it true that I joked with Joe that we should rob a bank? Isn't it true that I am free and careless with my money and have been known to blow some of it at the casino? Isn't it true that I once stole some coins from my brother's dresser when I was a kid? Isn't it true that I like to watch crime movies where the bad guy keeps getting away with robbing trains? Isn't it true that I overcharged a buyer on kijiji for an old printer I was selling, a printer that doesn't work very well? Isn't it true that I have been to a psychologist for counselling? Isn't it true that the Canada Revenue Agency questioned my 2013 return where I made a $570 "mistake" calculating my medical expenses? Other witnesses face the same grilling from the brilliant lawyer. Joe walks. But I don't want to see him any more. Nor his lawyer. Because I have been robbed by both of them now. And the justice system.




Note.  This was posted by one of my Facebook friends. I believe the story is a good analogy for what happened with Ghomeshi. The fact that his case was all twined around male-female inequity/power games and trampled sexual boundaries made it that much more murky and emotionally-charged, but even simplifying it to something much-less-fraught highlights the lunacy of the courtroom and its shallow grasp of the human condition. "Yes, but courtroom justice is the law of the land, and as imperfect as it is, it's all we have," people cry.  But "all we have" can CHANGE if we have the will to change it! If we don't and it never does, then it's a hopeless relic and will serve no one. Ever.