How America Came to Canonize Predators and Criminalize Saints

You must shake off the conditioned impulse to take the easy path of denial over our shared civic duty to demand accountability

Marginalized groups are routinely the target of hatred in the United States. This is true today, and it has been true throughout the history of this country. This is a fact that should make every American citizen ashamed. But rather than accept the existence of a corrupt system that allows these transgressions to continue, the majority of the people prefer to adopt a philosophy of denial.

They claim there is no such thing as racism. They claim there is no such thing as white supremacy. They claim there is no institutionalized discrimination. They claim there is no wealth gap. They claim there is no such thing as misogyny or rape culture or toxic masculinity.

Everything is perfect and pure and true and if you say otherwise you’re “ungrateful.”

It’s always easier to deny there is a problem than to take on the diligent and responsible mindset that is required to forge a better world. Until we learn to collectively shoulder the shared duty of civic responsibility, our society will be condemned to dwell in a cesspool of perpetual oppression.

Denial is never a solution

We see the mentality of denial in every interaction. We see it in our homes and around our own dining tables. We have all met people who refuse to acknowledge they have a drinking problem. We’ve had work friends who deny they have a gambling problem. We’ve talked to police officers who deny they have a corruption problem. We’ve talked to church officials who deny they have a pedophile problem. We’ve listened to politicians who deny they have a lying problem.

Deny, deny, deny, deny.

Denial is only a distraction, it’s never a solution. The problems that are covered up by denial don’t go away. Most people prefer not to break the courtesy clause in the unwritten social contract, so they relent when the opposition begins to bristle. The strategy of denial leverages our better impulses and exploits them to inflict maximum damage.

It’s uncomfortable to tell somebody they are an alcoholic. It’s uncomfortable to label somebody a con artist. It’s uncomfortable to call out an individual for spreading misinformation. All of these actions represent an inherent civic obligation, but we don’t follow through because it makes us uncomfortable to recognize the existence of these issues.

So, we seek solace in the intoxication of denial.

But today, our prolonged abdication of responsibility has pushed our society to the brink of ruin. We can no longer afford to take the easy path. It’s time to muster up the courage to make a stand for what is right.

Resist the temptation to trivialize assault

We live in a society where prominent individuals attempt to defend themselves by emphasizing the difference between sexual assault and rape. We live in a society where the voting public is content with a politician who promises he will be a dictator as long as it’s only for one day.

“Don’t blow it out of proportion, it’s only one day!”

That’s like saying you’ll only be a murderer for one day. The damage you inflict on that day is going to torment human beings forever.

Recently, I related a story about how my daughter was assaulted in school last year. We’re an immigrant family, and my daughter was spit on in Spanish class. I absolutely attribute this awful act to the fact that the Republican party has been committed to inciting violence against immigrants throughout their history, but especially over the last 10 years.

Still, whenever I try to embark on honest discussions regarding the consequences of unchecked hate rhetoric, I encounter immediate resistance.

Reverse victim and aggressor

One reader informed me that my use of the word “assault” was inappropriate because he interpreted it as “sexual assault.” He suggested that I should change the word to avoid confusion.

I thought about that comment for a long time. Eventually, I concluded that most people have tragically programmed themselves to find an equivalency between the use of an excessive description and an actual, physical attack.

It’s an effective defensive strategy that manages to reverse victim and aggressor.

Lawyers will often employ diversionary tactics designed to trivialize an accusation in pursuit of a more lenient sentence. Prosecutors will settle for lesser charges that are easier to prove. However, an extension of this concept appears to have expanded beyond the courtroom and into the realm of normalized discourse.

Do not sanitize descriptions of assault

Today, the general public routinely seeks out examples of overstatement in order to dismiss issues entirely. There are many examples of sanitized language in our media. For example, a meaningless phrase like “underage women” is often used in place of “children” when it comes to articles on the topic of sex trafficking.

Why is our society compelled to participate in mass denial over the horrific extent to which abuses are inflicted upon our children? Are we so desperate to cling to our delusion of a perfect society that we’re indifferent to the suffering that comes as a consequence of our deliberate blindness?

“I don’t want to believe that children get assaulted in public schools, so I’ll pretend you said ‘sexually’ assaulted, and then I’ll forget about the whole thing because you’re guilty of using inciting language that is verifiably false.”

It’s always easier to blame the innocent than it is to hold the true oppressors accountable.

Fabricating wrongdoing on the part of the victim

My original text said “assault,” but it did not say “sexual assault.” I shouldn’t be held responsible for a word that did not appear in my article. Yet, the mechanism to find a way to deny any flaws in our society and blame the victim is so strong that people add in extra words often without any awareness.

This tactic works because we’re all stuck in a mechanism that has normalized a variety of arguments designed to trivialize acts of aggression.

If you try to have a discussion about how Thomas Jefferson raped Sally Hemings, the general public finds itself compelled to defend Jefferson without even listening to the facts.

“Well, we can’t use modern sensibilities to judge people from the past,” they’ll say without a hint of self-awareness.

The problem is, the people of the past were the ones who wrote the laws that currently dictate our lives. If we can objectively recognize that these people were driven by a deplorable sense of morality, then there is no further obligation to regard their legacies with unwavering reverence.

Parents shouldn’t be expected to sacrifice their children in order to preserve their immature and idealized perception of historical heroes. Let the false heroes fall so that our children may have an opportunity to rise.

Truth is sacrificed to preserve a lie

A trend that we have to reverse in our society is our tendency to canonize predators and criminalize the innocent victims of unprovoked aggression. Yes, it entails more complexity to hold powerful people accountable, but the stakes are higher because predators in a position of privilege have a terrible ability to inflict pain.

We can begin our effort to implement social responsibility by focusing on the criminals of the past. If we develop the habit of perceiving the transgressions of yesterday’s tyrants, then we arm ourselves to battle against the tyrants of today. If there’s one thing that history shows with disturbing clarity it is that tyrants never go away. They are always waiting in the wings in search of any opportunity to rush in and seize what is not theirs.

The other thing history demonstrates is that tyrants will never stop taking. Dictators are never dictators “just for one day.”

They’ll take everything you love. They’ll take everything you own. They’ll take everything you believe. They’ll take your past, present, and future labor. They’ll take your body. They’ll take your children. They’ll take your life. They’ll take your legacy. If they can think of more things to take and the means of doing so, they will. Nothing will ever be enough.

Reverence doesn’t turn predators into heroes

If there’s anything the last two election cycles have shown it’s that the American public has allowed itself to become conditioned to justify and enable predators. That’s been our past, and it is certainly our present.

The general public is so trained not to hold abusive people accountable that, upon hearing of a reported transgression, they will withhold their rage and instead spend their energy fabricating flaws in the accusation.

Lies are seen as absolute and all evidence of truth is denounced as a form of deception. Bullies, cheats, liars, and con artists are showered with adoration. A large part of the voting public is deaf to any valid criticism against any predator they’ve been conditioned to admire.

The rest of us should not be content to live in a society that trivializes and even celebrates aggressions against our children. It’s time to abandon the passive lethargy that comes from recognizing society could be worse, and embrace the productive industry of acknowledging that we have the power to make the world a whole lot better.

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