• Tinidril@midwest.social
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    11 months ago

    If POTUS and and intern represent an iffy power balance, what does an actual power imbalance look like? Even in this post, you are still minimizing his culpability. And sure, you are spot on about those Republicans, but that’s irrelevant to the point you responded to.

    Yes, the overarching consensus among establishment friendly Democrats has been to completely ignore what we learned about Bill Clinton in that incident. Sure, leave him in office if the Republican option is worse (and they always are), but why is he still an influential member of the Democratic establishment? Why is he still a highly sought after speaker at Democratic party events? And yeah, I actually do recall arguing with his supporters on Reddit about whether this incident was even a stain on his character. Absolute hypocrisy.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      but why is he still an influential member of the Democratic establishment? Why is he still a highly sought after speaker at Democratic party events? And yeah, I actually do recall arguing with his supporters on Reddit about whether this incident was even a stain on his character. Absolute hypocrisy.

      I truly don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of seeming to defend bad actions, but, you are assuming coercion and non-consensual behavior though, are you not?

      If so, do we know this for a fact?

      Maybe others who judge them otherwise consider what they did as consensual and non-coerced activities.

      My point is just how other people judge the actions when judging the person, not if I personally thought the actions were correct or not. Personally I would have turned down a consensual offer in the work office.

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
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        11 months ago

        The whole point of the power imbalance is that true consent can never actually be communicated and, therefore, can never actually be known. If I offer to stick my dick in my secretary’s mouth, does she say “yes” because she’s into it, or because she’s afraid of retribution? How do I tell the difference? If HR finds out, they won’t try to tell the difference, they will show me the door.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        When a power imbalance is that large, consent cannot truly exist.

        Clinton was the Harvey Weinstein of Presidents.