Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Thu Nov 16, 2017 12:31 pm
Harriet: if that's the first you've heard of the scandal I applaud you on maintaining a news blackout. The only newscast we listen to is the Canadian Broadcasting Radio News in the morning and again, on occasion at 6 p.m. while preparing dinner. And I heard of it on that. Now that wasn't my first place hearing it, but I listen to both right leaning and left leaning US political podcasts as well as NPR news so I'm well connected with any whiff of US political scandals.
LadyM: I agree about not knowing what I was doing 40 years ago and I know I can't remember all the names of people I knew from school so if someone made a claim against me, I'd be just as vague. But then again, in this case there's a certain amount of admission from the accused that while he can't remember specifics, the behaviour is in character. For instance, Moore said he doesn’t “remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother.” So it certainly sounds like he was dating young girls. With permission and technical consent even if due to power imbalance was full consent possible?
Which then takes us back to perception. To my ears, that's pretty creepy. But in other cultures it isn't necessarily so and the United States is a big country with many regional differences and cultures (as are many countries.) With the national media concentrated in two areas of the country, it is reporting through a lens that may not apply locally. That lens has caused many, many, 'political upsets' (i.e. media not reporting what the actual voters are feeling) from Bush 2's reelection, to Harper's re-election in my country (where the media is concentrated in just one area), to Trudeau's election in my country, to Brexit, and to the current president in the US. And those are just what I can think of off the top of my head.