Sexual predation isn't the bottom

A man brags about assaulting women - and still gets elected to the presidency of the United States. Hollywood is awash in Harvey Weinstein accusations. And now...

Aly Raisman, the six-time Olympic medal winning gymnast, has called for sweeping change in USA Gymnastics in the wake of dozens of allegations of sexual abuse against former team doctor Larry Nassar, who she called a “monster”.

Nassar spent nearly 30 years as an osteopath with the USA Gymnastics program and is now in prison in Michigan after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.

  The Guardian

Not to mention, there are already whisperings of "the next" phase of Hollywood slime: child predators.

We're the best recruitment for Islamist extremists on the planet.

I hope the politicians cashing in on all this are going to be very, very careful, because the same culture has been evident in their circles for decades. It would be nice if the lid got blown off that, too, instead of just trickling out one by one.

But here's the thing. This is about sexual predation, sure. But beyond that, what it's about at the bottom of it is the cult of power. It's about a (predominantly white male) power culture that says exactly what Donald Trump said: when you're a celebrity (power holder), you can do anything you want. Anything, that is, to people who are less powerful than you: most often, but not exclusively, women and children. This is about the victimization of the powerless. It happens in Hollywood, in DC, in religious organizations, and in millions of workplaces and homes across the nation. And that's why you need to start thinking about police brutality in those terms, too. People who victimize people less powerful than themselves are sick or evil (or both), and our culture is swimming in this epidemic.