Matt Lauer and the emails: How accused harassers conjured a fake Hillary scandal

[ehrnst]

"At this point in the campaign, Lauer’s obvious sexism is not simply a problem of unfairness in the treatment of the individual candidates; such performances have serious consequences for the fate of the nation," Adele Stan of the American Prospect argued at the time, noting that Lauer also spoke to Clinton condescendingly while letting Trump walk all over him.

It wasn't just Lauer, either. When one looks down the lengthening list of prominent male journalists who have been credibly accused of sexual harassment, one thing that sticks out is that they were all obsessed with those godforsaken emails. Charlie Rose, Glenn Thrush, Mark Halperin, Bill O'Reilly: Besides being apparent sleazeballs, they were all big fans of the idea that the thousands of Democratic emails, some released by Clinton herself and some stolen by presumed Russian agents and leaked on WikiLeaks, would somehow turn into an earth-shattering scandal. WikiLeaks is, of course, an operation run by Julian Assange, an accused rapist who spent the election leaking emails that somehow never had the shocking revelations he insinuated readers would find.

.............................................
Now we find out that many of these journalists who seemed convinced that Clinton had a deep, dark secret were likely harboring guilty secrets of their own. Their baseless campaign of persecution led, directly or otherwise, to the election of a man so full of deep, dark secrets that he's under federal investigation and still won't release his tax returns.
.............................................
It may not be obvious at first glance, but the email non-scandal was fueled by sexism, which was evident even before these sexual harassment accusations. At its heart, the whole story -- which often verged on conspiracy theory -- was rooted in misogynist myths about the inherently deceitful nature of women. This paranoia is why women are usually subject to more chaperoning and control than men. It's why religious conservatives have spent four decades in a rage because the Supreme Court found in Roe v. Wade that women have a right to privacy. In the 19th century, fear about what women might get up to if shielded from prying eyes led to widespread condemnation of letting women use the postal system.

https://www.salon.com/2017/11/29/matt-lauer-and-the-emails-how-accused-harassers-conjured-a-fake-hillary-scandal/

[LisaM]

1. Ugh.

This is an incisive analysis, particularly where it points out that the people most fixated on the emails had secrets of their own to hide.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. Incisive analysis! Ditto

[ChiTownDenny]

11. Indeed!

I had attributed Lauer's (and the rest) performance to their political bias. I'm appreciative to being made aware of how misogyny was clearly at play.

[PatSeg]

14. Yep

Just like liars and cheaters are the quickest to accuse others of the same thing. They often assume that everyone is as dishonest as they are.

[LiberalBrooke]

3. Thank you.

This was just what I was telling my daughter. You said it much better than I did. I am still sad and amazed that so many women fell for the blatant sexism.

[bronxiteforever]

4. Greatest page recommendation! Kick and Recommend!

[betsuni]

5. K&R

[ariadne0614]

6. Misogyny is deeply rooted in every system of human culture.

Now that the worm has turned and the ugly, messy, destructive truth is finally being exposed to the light, some will want to bury it again and move on. That’s why this:
[link:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/opinion/im-not-ready-for-the-redemption-of-men.html?emc=edit_tnt_20171130&nlid=56823741&tntemail0=y|

[rainin]

20. I didn't see an desire to bury,

but it may happen. Especially, if we fail to look at each case separately. We need to consider degrees of harm.

One really obvious consideration is whether the victim is underage. Another obvious one is whether or not subterfuge was used (lured into office on false pretenses). Another one is, was there threat, implied or stated? Can we also make a disctinction between penetration and a butt-brush? And lastly, did the man stop when the woman/man said "no"?

Those are just the ones I can think of. There are likely many more considerations. (And none of them include what she was wearing or whether she was drinking!!!)

I fear that refusing to introduce nuance into the discussion will absolutely have the effect your mentioned. Many people will begin to think this is a witchhunt and it will lose support.

[mreilly]

7. This article makes a good point...

... I was listening the DJs on the radio discuss the Lauer topic yesterday and some self-absorbed blowhard called in, gloating. "I love it," he said. "I love how all the Democrats and journalists are being brought down after they were so outraged over Donald's Trump's Access Hollywood comments-"

I changed the station since it was obvious he was nothing more than a right-wing crybaby about to engage in a piteous round of sobbing over how horrible it was that wonderful, precious little Donnie Two Scoops should ever be criticized about anything by those mean hateful liberal mean bullying meanies.

This article presents a great point - these same people insisted there was a "there" there to Hillary's emails (and so would our right-wing crybaby friend described above, whom I'm sure would shriek on end for hours about private email server OMG so awful so terrible end of the world private email server OMG so awful so terrible end of the world private email server OMG so awful so terrible end of the world private email server OMG so awful so terrible end of the world private email server OMG so awful so terrible end of the world private email server OMG so awful so terrible end of the world.

[StevieM]

8. He was also condescending when he interviewed her about her book.

"Did you make enough mistakes that you would have lost even without Comey doing what he did?"

[Botany]

9. Hillary's email "scandal" is a perfect example of Goebbles' big lie theory.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

Nothing was there but "they" just kept repeating but what about the emails, Trump and the
RNC released and or talked about materials from the emails stolen by Russia, repugs held
endless unneeded hearings into nothing, and scum like Lauer kept the story going by
asking HRC about her emails.

[FailureToCommunicate]

10. K n R

[bullwinkle428]

12. Don't forget about Michael Flynn either. I know he's not being accused

of sexual misconduct, but the obsession over the e-mails was just ridiculous projection in light of the Russian connection revelations.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. Yes ! A mixture between glomming on to what they thought was a

successful campaign theme and projecting their own guilt onto someone else (Rovian)

[annabanana]

13. "In the 19th century, fear about what women might get up to if shielded from prying eyes,

led to widespread condemnation of letting women use the postal system."

This one sentence right here, as odd as it sounds to us now, mirrors the astonishment of young women today when told of the strictures, legal and by custom, of a time no longer ago than the early 60's.

The changes of women's status have been rapid (in human history time) and extensive.

We must resist the temptation to think of these improvements as "battles won". We are emptying the Great Lakes with a ladle.

[LiberalFighter]

15. Another person that comes to mind is Chris Matthews.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

18. And - it would be interesting to take a look at which newsmen are standing up and

are appalled by all the scandals and, more importantly, who is not.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

17. this is so interesting. And, it makes so much sense. It's the hidden bias of

newsmen that I had never thought of. If they had no respect for women privately - it would absolutely flavor their reporting.

But - mixed into all this is the "we protect/believe/overlook crimes of our own (and they of their own" reality. this is just part human nature.

[rainin]

19. BAM!!

Yes!! Who should we be looking at? Who is silent now? I totally agree about Chris Matthews. What about Joe Scarbrough? Are there no women who can stand up to Rush? There is no way he's not guilty. And Bannon, we've all heard stories about him. Who else treated Secretary Clinton poorly because of misogyny? I wish I could ask her.

I heard that Psychiatrists are getting an influx of concerned men worried about whether their past actions might come back to haunt them.

Are more guilty harassers influencing the outcomes of our elections by coming into our homes every day on our televisions?

[ehrnst]

22. So why didn't other Secretaries of State get hammered for doing that?

And her email server turned out to be much more secure than the State Department server.

And why wasn't it a non-starter for GWB or Jeb Bush get hammered for using a private server while in office?

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-republicans-who-did-exactly-what-hillary-did

She was ahead before Comey's fake scandal days before the election.

[niyad]

23. purely disgusted k and r--the damage these assholes have done is almost irreparable.

[byronius]

24. This article just rings true. Well-reasoned.

[ATL Ebony]

25. K&R Excellent analysis, Thank you for sharing.

[SunSeeker]

26. K & R

[world wide wally]

27. Quite a pick up.

noticing how Charlie Rose, Glenn Thrush, Mark Halperin, Bill O'Reilly and Matt Lauer all were obsessed with her emais.

[dawg day]

28. Rebecca Traister mentioned that also...

The last guy who told me he just couldn't vote for Clinton but he wasn't sexist, oh, no, I will have to email him this.

He was sure quick to believe every lie about the first major-party nominee with two X chromosomes. Wonder why.

[Guilded Lilly]

29. The larger picture: Females know and have lived with the fact millions of males...

(and some other females) are intimidated/threaten/afraid of strong females. Our society insidiously enables those males to behave with disrespect, patronizing mocking and disdain. The behavior is often practiced in very subtle ways, often brutally rude.
But it is deeply ingrained in society.
Females know this. They live and breathe it daily.
Males who are guilty of it are slowly learning that this is changing.
The more blatant and willing offenders will learn harsher lessons and rightly so.
The ones having a genuine “light bulb” moment are being educated and attempting to change the behavior.
The ones who will never acknowledge it will fight back in varying ugly degrees of vicious denial or ramped up attacks.
Females have to shift their own behavior/enabling/acceptance as well.
Age old behavioral problems take a very long time to be corrected.
We, as a society have some very serious growing pains to deal with, but it is an start. Extremely difficult and fraught with personal risk and more than a little craziness. But a start.

More specifically regarding “the emails”, those men will use ANYTHING to blame and divert focus away from their fear and insecurities regarding a woman with such potential power, as Hillary, rather than face their own flaws.
It is the lazy, cowardly, easier option.