Today, Louis C.K. owned it.
As
of this writing, five women have accused the actor/comedian of sexual
misconduct, making him a veritable piker compared to Harvey
Weinstein, and unlike Weinstein, Louis C.K. said Yeah. I did it.
Every day it seems there's some new revelation of an old wound, some allegation made against a figure from the sports world, the world of entertainment or politics, and usually, a swift denial follows.
So hooray for Louis C.K. and shame on Harvey Weinstein, and double-shame
on Roy Moore. Politician and constitutional conservative Roy Stewart
Moore has also been in the headlines, of late.
Moore
is the Republican nominee in Alabama for a U.S. Senate seat; in 2001,
Judge Roy Moore had a monument of the Ten Commandments erected in the
Alabama Supreme Court building. So you'd think he would be familiar
with the spirit as well as the letter of those biblical injunctions.
Apparently
not, according to a 14-year old girl who caught the eye of
then-District Attorney Moore. The girl and her mother were in court one day for a custody hearing. Trying circumstances, to be sure, so
you can imagine how relieved, and possibly indebted, that mother must
have felt when Moore offered to sit with the child outside the courtroom.
Moore
arranged a “date” with the girl a few days later. He took her to
his home, momentarily excused himself, then re-appeared dressed in
only his tightie-whities.
The offer of aid and comfort to the distraught mother and daughter was
the first step of a process called “grooming”. I doubt that Roy
Moore knows that, but like all predators, he understands it
intuitively, and something else Roy Moore understands intuitively is
his constituency. Reporters and pundits are shocked to find that not
only do most of the Alabamians they interview continue to support
Moore, they also think the timing is suspicious.
That
was thirty years ago, they say. Why is she talking about it now?
Three
other women have come forward with similar stories about Moore's proclivities, Moore continues crying “untrue” and “fake news”,
and the majority of people in Alabama continue to rally around him,
the tales of sexual impropriety written off as the handiwork of Democrats and other detractors.
No
one is owning it. Except, of course, the victims, and I think I know
why.
In
1995, in Union, S.C., Susan Smith rolled her car into a lake with her
3-year old son, Michael, and her 14-month old son, Alex, strapped
into their car seats inside. The case received international attention, and Smith could have been given the death penalty. But
Smith's attorney, David Bruck, decided not to ask for a change of
venue.
A
wise choice, as it turns out. The good people of Union spared Susan
Smith's life. They owned her; you
might say someone close to you is a so-and-so many times over,
but if someone else says it, you'll rush to your loved one's side.
Roy Moore
knows that. He also knows there's no way now to prove what did or did
not happen more than thirty years ago.
Moore continues to deny any sexual misconduct. He has,
as someone once said, the gift all grifters must have, the courage of their convictions. Even if those convictions are based on
absolute falsehoods.
But the girl
he molested remembers. In detail, and with specificity.
Nothing
in the Commandments prohibits what Moore allegedly did. Alabama state
law does, though; in Alabama, the age of consent is sixteen.
God's law or man's, the victims own it. So does Louis C.K., and if
the God of the Old Testament exists, they will all be in heaven long
before Roy Moore.