The Guardian’s Arwa Mahdawi on Matt Gaetz 9 months ago

[NotBadConsidering]

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/20/florida-matt-gaetz-son-sexist-assumptions-parenthood

Which raises the question: why does it seem easier for some people to believe that Gaetz is a pedophile or a human trafficker rather than just a man who took a teenage boy under his wing and lovingly raised him as his own? [my bold]

How it’s going:

www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/politics/matt-gaetz-sex-trafficking-investigation.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, the people said. A variety of federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under 18 to travel over state lines to engage in sex in exchange for money or something of value. The Justice Department regularly prosecutes such cases, and offenders often receive severe sentences.

I look forward to the reverse ferret in this week’s The Week in Patriarchy.

That makes me queasy.

Appeal on behalf of people committing the worst crimes by using sentimental narratives. It's a familiar story.

It points to how low journalistic standards have fallen there. Did no one look at this article 9 months ago before it was published, and what was circulating around Gaetz at that time and think that maybe just hang on for a bit? They gave Jamie Shupe a column about being the USA’s first legal non-binary person. He later wrote an article admitting it was AGP. They gave Hannah Mouncey a column, only for team mates to advise they were uncomfortable changing in Mouncey’s presence. They talked up Aimee Challenor .

Which raises the question: why does it seem easier for some people to believe that Gaetz is a pedophile or a human trafficker rather than just a man who took a teenage boy under his wing and lovingly raised him as his own?

God, she's thick. The reason it's easier to believe that is Occam's razor: if a middle-aged man takes a teenage boy into his home, is it more likely to be because he has strong paternal instincts or because he has a sexual interest in teenage boys? I mean, what does history teach us, ffs?

And this is the reason why liberal feminists like Mahdawi are so hopeless on the trans issue. They trust men implicitly. They think allowing men who identify as female into women's changing rooms is fine, because there are literally no men who would abuse that. There aren't any male sexual predators. And even if they were, it wouldn't cross their minds to take advantage of the opportunity to be in a room full of women undressing!

You wonder if these women have spent their entire lives in a cave or something.

Why would a progressive say one needs to suspend critical thinking over this relationship? Spend some time pondering that and you end up in some dark places.

You wonder if these women have spent their entire lives in a cave or something.

Been there, done that.

They're worried about being sexist. Every time they have concerns, they ask themselves whether they would be worried if it was a woman, not a man, and then flagellate themselves for being sexist.

Every time they have concerns, they ask themselves whether they would be worried if it was a woman, not a man, and then flagellate themselves for being sexist.

You're absolutely right. I've seen similar comments about Caroline Flack and domestic abuse, and whether people would be so ready to excuse her if she was a man...The thing is, men and women aren't the same because we are social creatures, brought up differently, with differential access to power, different attitudes to sex and so on. Men are far more likely to be sex offenders than women. Women are far more likely to be nurturing towards children. There are arguments about whether those are natural or learnt behaviours, but the point is, they exist. Stop pretending that men aren't abusers, ffs!

Anyway, you know all that.

It's the typical progressive paranoia about being seen to have been judgemental about someone*. I suspect in this case Arwa Mahdawi managed to hopelessly befuddle herself by wanting to avoid any suggestion of being homophobic.

• There are certain exceptions where progressives are permitted to judge certain people to damnation.

The Guardian is a bad joke. Dont give them the clicks.

Well, well, well. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/03/matt-gaetz-scandal-week-in-patriarchy

Ha ha! And there it is! At least she had the semi-decency to acknowledge her previous article, although not till the end meaning the first part didn’t read as contrite as perhaps it should.