I'm trying to reframe my opinion of Al Franken.
Did you ever meet someone famous and find you were disappointed in the human being in front of you? Disenfranchised? Disconnected with the golden image you had of them? And then they were human.
That's how I feel about Al Franken right now. I wanted to continue to like him, but when the woman described how he allegedly put his arm around her waist and grabbed a hunk of her flesh, it made me groan out loud.
It sounded less invasive than what Roy Moore did with the teenage girls, but still.
Ugh.
The story no longer sounded like it was about a man who was maybe socially awkward and trying to be funny. It sounded like a man who understood his power to take hold of what wasn't his, especially when the cameras were rolling.
Everybody knows that Al Franken is the martyr here, intended to shame the Republicans into getting rid of Roy Moore, a pedophile if you believe his accusers. And I most certainly believe them. He was banned from going into the mall. That doesn't happen to a man unless he's a total creep.
Al Franken's actions were nothing compared to those of Donald Trump. Trump walked into beauty contest changing rooms where teenage girls stood naked. He bragged about grabbing women by the crotch. There are a dozen or more women who accused Trump of assaulting them. I believe those women too.
I so badly want to continue to respect Al Franken. I still respect that he apologized when the first woman came forward. I do.
Years ago, when I was the only female engineer in a department of eighty engineers, I got a lot of attention, some of it unwanted. Generally, this company was a good one. Generally, the men behaved honorably. I met my husband at this job.
Yet, I had to argue that they shouldn't have nudes posted on the wall of the workshop. Suddenly, the formerly friendly technicians didn't like me as much as they had before. I argued that I didn't want to see the naked photos when I needed to go in there to get something done.
That didn't work.
I argued that they wouldn't want their daughters to have to look at photos like that at their jobs.
That didn't work.
The photos finally came down when I posted a Chippendales calendar next to the nudes. The men argued with me, said they didn't want to look at naked men while they did their jobs.
"These men aren't even nude," I said. "Those women are nude, spread-eagle. Do you want me to find photos of men who are actually naked and tape them up on the wall next to yours? I don't. And I don't want to have to look at these when I need to work in here."
The technicians went all surly and quiet. I argued to the technician's bosses, my bosses and finally, the photos came down.
These weren't bad men. They were married, had children, behaved fairly well in my company. They didn't grab my crotch or walk into the ladies bathroom. But they wanted that lab to be a place where I couldn't come in, especially if I was going to make a fuss about the pictures they'd taped to the walls. I had to go into the workshop to get my own work done, so staying out wasn't an option.
Eventually, we got along fine, but I was always going to be that girl who changed the atmosphere of their lab, who made them act like they would in their living rooms instead of their locker rooms. I made that lab a public space.
These men were simply socially awkward, not quite getting the gist of my perspective until I turned the tables on them. They eventually got over it and we had a fine relationship. When I needed someone to build something for me on the lathe, especially since I told them it looked like so much fun to operate, they relented and let go of their resentment. They got to explaining how they did their jobs, what an artform it was.
I wonder if Al Franken's movement through time hasn't been similar. Were we talking about something he did in the eighties, the nineties? Those days, certain behaviors, unwanted kissing, squeezing someone's waist, were more acceptable, not good, but not the worst thing that happened to us women.
And what about Roy Moore? There has never been a time in my lifetime when a thirty-two year old man was allowed to trick teenage girls into getting into his car so he could pressure them into having sex. And I've never lived through a time when reaching out and just grabbing a woman's crotch was acceptable, even if he was famous as Trump said in the Access Hollywood tape.
So yes, I believe that Al Franken was pushing the limits. If he'd done that to me as a young girl, I'd have wrestled to get away from him. I might have said, "Cut it out, won't you?" Or my opinion of the funny guy would have become tainted like it did with his accusers.
But you have to admit that there is a difference in the level of abuse between what Al Franken did and what Roy Moore and Donald Trump did. It's a significant difference.
I may not like Al Franken as much as I once did, but I am sure that he's being hacked down into the 'no tolerance' zone as a message to the GOP.
I'm pretty sure that the GOP isn't going to get the message. What happened to all their family values? Huh?
Thank you for listening, jules
Did you ever meet someone famous and find you were disappointed in the human being in front of you? Disenfranchised? Disconnected with the golden image you had of them? And then they were human.
That's how I feel about Al Franken right now. I wanted to continue to like him, but when the woman described how he allegedly put his arm around her waist and grabbed a hunk of her flesh, it made me groan out loud.
It sounded less invasive than what Roy Moore did with the teenage girls, but still.
Ugh.
The story no longer sounded like it was about a man who was maybe socially awkward and trying to be funny. It sounded like a man who understood his power to take hold of what wasn't his, especially when the cameras were rolling.
Everybody knows that Al Franken is the martyr here, intended to shame the Republicans into getting rid of Roy Moore, a pedophile if you believe his accusers. And I most certainly believe them. He was banned from going into the mall. That doesn't happen to a man unless he's a total creep.
Al Franken's actions were nothing compared to those of Donald Trump. Trump walked into beauty contest changing rooms where teenage girls stood naked. He bragged about grabbing women by the crotch. There are a dozen or more women who accused Trump of assaulting them. I believe those women too.
I so badly want to continue to respect Al Franken. I still respect that he apologized when the first woman came forward. I do.
Years ago, when I was the only female engineer in a department of eighty engineers, I got a lot of attention, some of it unwanted. Generally, this company was a good one. Generally, the men behaved honorably. I met my husband at this job.
Yet, I had to argue that they shouldn't have nudes posted on the wall of the workshop. Suddenly, the formerly friendly technicians didn't like me as much as they had before. I argued that I didn't want to see the naked photos when I needed to go in there to get something done.
That didn't work.
I argued that they wouldn't want their daughters to have to look at photos like that at their jobs.
That didn't work.
The photos finally came down when I posted a Chippendales calendar next to the nudes. The men argued with me, said they didn't want to look at naked men while they did their jobs.
"These men aren't even nude," I said. "Those women are nude, spread-eagle. Do you want me to find photos of men who are actually naked and tape them up on the wall next to yours? I don't. And I don't want to have to look at these when I need to work in here."
The technicians went all surly and quiet. I argued to the technician's bosses, my bosses and finally, the photos came down.
These weren't bad men. They were married, had children, behaved fairly well in my company. They didn't grab my crotch or walk into the ladies bathroom. But they wanted that lab to be a place where I couldn't come in, especially if I was going to make a fuss about the pictures they'd taped to the walls. I had to go into the workshop to get my own work done, so staying out wasn't an option.
Eventually, we got along fine, but I was always going to be that girl who changed the atmosphere of their lab, who made them act like they would in their living rooms instead of their locker rooms. I made that lab a public space.
These men were simply socially awkward, not quite getting the gist of my perspective until I turned the tables on them. They eventually got over it and we had a fine relationship. When I needed someone to build something for me on the lathe, especially since I told them it looked like so much fun to operate, they relented and let go of their resentment. They got to explaining how they did their jobs, what an artform it was.
I wonder if Al Franken's movement through time hasn't been similar. Were we talking about something he did in the eighties, the nineties? Those days, certain behaviors, unwanted kissing, squeezing someone's waist, were more acceptable, not good, but not the worst thing that happened to us women.
And what about Roy Moore? There has never been a time in my lifetime when a thirty-two year old man was allowed to trick teenage girls into getting into his car so he could pressure them into having sex. And I've never lived through a time when reaching out and just grabbing a woman's crotch was acceptable, even if he was famous as Trump said in the Access Hollywood tape.
So yes, I believe that Al Franken was pushing the limits. If he'd done that to me as a young girl, I'd have wrestled to get away from him. I might have said, "Cut it out, won't you?" Or my opinion of the funny guy would have become tainted like it did with his accusers.
But you have to admit that there is a difference in the level of abuse between what Al Franken did and what Roy Moore and Donald Trump did. It's a significant difference.
I may not like Al Franken as much as I once did, but I am sure that he's being hacked down into the 'no tolerance' zone as a message to the GOP.
I'm pretty sure that the GOP isn't going to get the message. What happened to all their family values? Huh?
Thank you for listening, jules
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