The news this week has given me a faint glimmer of hope. There has been a certain repudiation of Trumpism in the Virginia gubernatorial election. Karma started collecting some overdue bills: the state rep who was proud of his homophobia and wouldn't address his trans opponent as a human...lost to his trans opponent; a selectman who wondered if the women who marched against Trump would be home in time to cook dinner...lost his seat to a woman who was pissed off by his comment and so decided to run against him. There was a gratifying scattering of immigrants, minorities, and other voices that won in local elections.
There has also been a growing number of women (and men) calling out those men who committed sexual offenses as a way to assert power. The list of powerful people being undone by their own appetites keeps growing, adding show biz moguls and politicians daily.
I find myself wanting that number to grow. It is impossible to credit that there aren't many more people who have such a distorted view of how society works. I don't think that society will advance until more of their number are taken out of positions where they can do harm. The process is, hopefully, reaching a stage where it is autocatalytic, where revelation emboldens revelation.
It feels like we, as a society, may finally be lancing an abscess, one that has disfigured us for so long that we may account it as a normal part of our physiognomy. Lancing it will be disgusting, things will come to view that will make us gag and vomit. But, if we don't, we will grow ever sicker and the toxins will poison us.
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