Like many, I never understood why the tattoo and online comments from his past weren’t enough. Supposedly it was ‘redemption’-who amongst us didn’t do stupid things in our pasts? But I never saw the redemption. He defended the tattoo by saying he didn’t know its significance. He didn’t remove it. You don’t need history to identify the symbol as a sign of aggression and dominance. It was obvious that there were people in his past who would attest to him living out those core values, since if the opposite were true, he would have been quick to showcase the opposite.
Giving a candidate your vote because he/she talks positively about policies you like, without manifesting service characteristics, is a fool’s errand. Mamdani is popular in his city because his heart is in it: his love for NYC and its people is obvious and he acts on that. A politician can and will drop policy promises once in office, and can survive. Collins is exhibit A. Although it’s hard to discern true character during the campaign of someone with no track record, you can make an educated guess.
People say to trust Mainers, but why? This senate seat affects the entire country. This isn’t a policy calculus. You’re voting for a person. Would you trust this person in another context, if you saw the tattoos and heard the noxious comments?
He’s driven by ego and arrogance, not service to his state. Otherwise, he would have stepped aside long ago.
So NOW can we tell Bernie to STFU when it comes to Dem Party candidates? Better yet, ignore him. His early support for a rapist mouthing Progressive policy was instrumental in setting the Planter boulder rolling. Bernie has a decades long history of fcking up Democratic races them glibly walking away.
I was a Planter stan. I agreed with the Progressive platform but I what kept me on board after the 1st revelations aired was I wanted his Redemption story to be true. Sure, as an angry young man he fcked up royally but after some honest soul searching he grew up. I wanted him to show we don't have to be what we have been, we can be better. I wanted him to prove redemption for even the worst sinner was possible. Boy, was I wrong. So very wrong. Now I have to figure out how I tricked myself into being so wrong. This essay has helped.
We put way too much emphasis on redemption arcs. They never seem to work out in real life. Anyone who needs to say "I've been redeemed" hasn't.
If someone needs a redemption arc, they shouldn't be running for office. And I'm (not) sorry, but rapists don't get redeemed. They signed away that chance the second they attacked their victim.
fwiw, I think that people can change—even people who do really horrible things. you don't ever get a redemption card obviously, but people do try and make amends, repair relationships, do better with their lives going forward.
I think that we have poor models for what that looks like in the stories we tell ourselves. redemption narratives in pop culture generally look like, some white guy does some bad things, then is put in a situation where he can be a hero, and redeems himself by being heroic. they're empowerment fantasies.
that's what platner's fans saw in him, and I think what he saw in himself. he never was honest about what he'd done; never tried to make repairs to those he'd harmed; never considered that part of being a better person might mean not trying to make himself the Most Important Person in everyone's story.
so...yeah, I think the way we think about these things is really unhelpful, and you end up with people either getting invested in assholes like Platner or embracing the carceral logic of, no one ever changes punishment must be brutal and eternal, without much understanding of how people who have done wrong can get to a better place.
Some people do change, but the problem with this kind of thing is that the kind of person who does really horrific shit like platner did is simultaneously the least likely to even be able to recognize that they were wrong, much less be willing to change, and even less *want* to change.
Our cultural obsession with redemption for white guys (and let's be real, white guys are the only ones who get this level of BOTD and unwarranted good faith) is probably rooted in Christianity's fucked up version of easy forgiveness and aversion to accountability.
Better to be wary of people with a history like Platner's than to trust them on nothing stronger than "trust me, bro" and then have something like all this shit happen.
That baseless trust gets vulnerable people hurt and killed. Women have to make that judgement call every day. If we want a world where that *isn't* the case, that's going to require actual accountability, which takes a long ass time, and the knowledge that there are some things that don't get forgiven even if someone claims to have changed.
Hell, even if a rapist like platner did actually change that doesn't mean they're entitled to anyone's trust. Grace and forgiveness are for things like forgetting to do chores around the house or not following through on a promise to do something. Not the kind of shit platner did.
Serial sexual predator Bill Clinton still headlines events, while squeaky clean Carter got bounced for Palestinian advocacy. There *is* a double standard. That doesn't excuse Platner. It damns Clinton-excusing Dems.
Clinton should have been ejected from the party long ago. He should have resigned after the Lewinsky scandal, for that matter.
Carter didn't get bounced though? He wasn't as interested in being involved in D politics as Clinton, and he was older, obviously, but he was still cited and would show up at events.
The big thing about Carter was that his presidency was largely seen as a failure and it took some time for him to become a beloved figure—which he did in part by avoiding electoral politics.
Like many, I never understood why the tattoo and online comments from his past weren’t enough. Supposedly it was ‘redemption’-who amongst us didn’t do stupid things in our pasts? But I never saw the redemption. He defended the tattoo by saying he didn’t know its significance. He didn’t remove it. You don’t need history to identify the symbol as a sign of aggression and dominance. It was obvious that there were people in his past who would attest to him living out those core values, since if the opposite were true, he would have been quick to showcase the opposite.
Giving a candidate your vote because he/she talks positively about policies you like, without manifesting service characteristics, is a fool’s errand. Mamdani is popular in his city because his heart is in it: his love for NYC and its people is obvious and he acts on that. A politician can and will drop policy promises once in office, and can survive. Collins is exhibit A. Although it’s hard to discern true character during the campaign of someone with no track record, you can make an educated guess.
People say to trust Mainers, but why? This senate seat affects the entire country. This isn’t a policy calculus. You’re voting for a person. Would you trust this person in another context, if you saw the tattoos and heard the noxious comments?
He’s driven by ego and arrogance, not service to his state. Otherwise, he would have stepped aside long ago.
"People say to trust Mainers, but why?" Exactly. They keep electing Collins.
So NOW can we tell Bernie to STFU when it comes to Dem Party candidates? Better yet, ignore him. His early support for a rapist mouthing Progressive policy was instrumental in setting the Planter boulder rolling. Bernie has a decades long history of fcking up Democratic races them glibly walking away.
I was a Planter stan. I agreed with the Progressive platform but I what kept me on board after the 1st revelations aired was I wanted his Redemption story to be true. Sure, as an angry young man he fcked up royally but after some honest soul searching he grew up. I wanted him to show we don't have to be what we have been, we can be better. I wanted him to prove redemption for even the worst sinner was possible. Boy, was I wrong. So very wrong. Now I have to figure out how I tricked myself into being so wrong. This essay has helped.
a lot of people put a lot of hope in him, and he methodically betrayed them all.
We put way too much emphasis on redemption arcs. They never seem to work out in real life. Anyone who needs to say "I've been redeemed" hasn't.
If someone needs a redemption arc, they shouldn't be running for office. And I'm (not) sorry, but rapists don't get redeemed. They signed away that chance the second they attacked their victim.
fwiw, I think that people can change—even people who do really horrible things. you don't ever get a redemption card obviously, but people do try and make amends, repair relationships, do better with their lives going forward.
I think that we have poor models for what that looks like in the stories we tell ourselves. redemption narratives in pop culture generally look like, some white guy does some bad things, then is put in a situation where he can be a hero, and redeems himself by being heroic. they're empowerment fantasies.
that's what platner's fans saw in him, and I think what he saw in himself. he never was honest about what he'd done; never tried to make repairs to those he'd harmed; never considered that part of being a better person might mean not trying to make himself the Most Important Person in everyone's story.
so...yeah, I think the way we think about these things is really unhelpful, and you end up with people either getting invested in assholes like Platner or embracing the carceral logic of, no one ever changes punishment must be brutal and eternal, without much understanding of how people who have done wrong can get to a better place.
Some people do change, but the problem with this kind of thing is that the kind of person who does really horrific shit like platner did is simultaneously the least likely to even be able to recognize that they were wrong, much less be willing to change, and even less *want* to change.
Our cultural obsession with redemption for white guys (and let's be real, white guys are the only ones who get this level of BOTD and unwarranted good faith) is probably rooted in Christianity's fucked up version of easy forgiveness and aversion to accountability.
That is a bleak world view. One revenge, retribution, brutality & hopelessness. I wish you well but that sounds like a living Hell to me.
Better to be wary of people with a history like Platner's than to trust them on nothing stronger than "trust me, bro" and then have something like all this shit happen.
That baseless trust gets vulnerable people hurt and killed. Women have to make that judgement call every day. If we want a world where that *isn't* the case, that's going to require actual accountability, which takes a long ass time, and the knowledge that there are some things that don't get forgiven even if someone claims to have changed.
Hell, even if a rapist like platner did actually change that doesn't mean they're entitled to anyone's trust. Grace and forgiveness are for things like forgetting to do chores around the house or not following through on a promise to do something. Not the kind of shit platner did.
Thank you for this. It was the palate cleanser I needed after Ken Klippenstein's non-apology yesterday. 😖
I couldn't bear to look at that. I had enough of him in trump 1.
This one is fire. Thank you.
Thank you for the honest, thoughtful writing.
Serial sexual predator Bill Clinton still headlines events, while squeaky clean Carter got bounced for Palestinian advocacy. There *is* a double standard. That doesn't excuse Platner. It damns Clinton-excusing Dems.
Clinton should have been ejected from the party long ago. He should have resigned after the Lewinsky scandal, for that matter.
Carter didn't get bounced though? He wasn't as interested in being involved in D politics as Clinton, and he was older, obviously, but he was still cited and would show up at events.
The big thing about Carter was that his presidency was largely seen as a failure and it took some time for him to become a beloved figure—which he did in part by avoiding electoral politics.
This was directly in response to his book, Palestine: Peace not Aparthied.
https://forward.com/news/14110/jimmy-carter-conspicuously-absent-from-podium-02450/
Well done.