Why Verity did not Testify against Abner

Vacuum County is, when superficially described, a story of a young woman who is falsely accused of DWI, because she refused the sexual advances of a crooked sheriff in a backward Texas community.

 We all agree that sexual harassment is bad. We all know that it happens. Frequently. We know that blaming the victim is not right. And that's quite possibly where what we all agree on ends. And because that's all we agree on, the practice will live on, long after all the present victims and perpetrators have died.

This is true, despite the fact that every so often a great and powerful man (like  Harvey Weinstein) will be brought low when the evidence against him is made public  -- evidence that everybody knew about for years, but that could not be acknowledged until some political events behind the scenes suddenly make the transgressor vulnerable.

We know why victims, like Verity Lackland in Vacuum County, don't testify in open court against their oppressors. We know they often make peace with the situation, because they are threatened with dire consequences if they do speak up.

A excerpt from Vacuum County

In Verity's case, her lawyer, David Smith, advised her to plead no contest to the false charges, because a Vacuum County jury would have ruled against her.Was it right of Verity to take her lawyer's advice?  Was she a coward not to speak up?

An excerpt from Vacuum County

Nabal thought so. Sometimes it takes a victim to know a victim. Sometimes it takes a truth speaker to recognize another true witness. Sometimes everybody who is nice to us and takes our weaknesses for granted is in league with our oppressors, while the only person who makes us feel ashamed is the one who knows we have a soul.

The reason Abner was untouchable at the time was that he served as the right hand man of the County Judge, Saul Jones. But as soon as David Smith was the new County Judge, Abner became vulnerable. By then, Verity had already made her peace with situation, and was serving as Nabal's slut.  When she was asked to testify against Abner, she was reluctant, but for a different reason from the one she had had before.

An excerpt from Vacuum County

There is a time when testifying against a perpetrator would be brave. That time is when he has the whole power of the establishment behind him, and toppling him would also make a dent in the power of those who put him in a position to hurt others. When he is alone and vulnerable, and the people in power just want to use your testimony to bring him low, because it suits their plans, then it is no longer brave.

An excerpt from Vacuum County

There is a time when we can make a difference by speaking up. Doing so at that time would be brave. There is a time when we can be a tool in powerful people's hands, just like a skewer at a barbecue, and then testifying becomes not so brave. In the end, Verity didn't have to testify, because Joe found another way to get rid of Abner, so that he could become the new sheriff.

Sometimes a Democrat is in power, and he uses that power to abuse people, including women. Sometimes a Republican is in power, and he uses that power to abuse people, including women. Sometimes it's just a rich man who has a stranglehold on an industry you want to work in. And some will submit to get in. When the person in power changes, or when somebody is brought low for reasons that have nothing to do with justice, that is probably not the time to revel in exposing him, especially if you got something out of submitting. Why? Because at that time, it is no longer brave. It can be just plain sadistic.

As for telling our personal story of being abused to others, there are times when people do that just to relieve their emotional suffering or to let off steam. It's okay to do that. It's your story, and you can tell it wherever and whenever you want. But if you don't name names, it's not brave. And if you do name names, then you have to be prepared to prove it.

Yes, the history of mankind is full of slavery and abuse and rape and bending the knee to an oppressor, because we are scared. There is shame in that -- for all of us. We need to find the courage in ourselves and in each other to put an end to it. But it's not helpful when we are just making a display of it, and business as usual is what is actually afoot.

Honor and Love

Today, on my Facebook feed, I saw a post that really annoyed me.

http://www.beyondmoi.com/my-anger-problem/

The writer is complaining that strange men are sexually harassing his wife and daughters, and this makes him angry. He thinks it is because men objectify women, He thinks they should be educated not to objectify women, and then everything will be okay. Then, for some reason he starts talking about human trafficking and selling little girls into slavery. He thinks this, too, will stop as soon as men stop objectifying women. His plan of action is to do nothing except write about it, so that people will be educated into not objectifying women.

A young Chinese woman after being liberated by the Allies from serving as a "comfort woman" for the Japanese

Please, understand, I am against rape. I am against child molestation. I also think strangers should treat each other with courtesy and that unpermitted, offensive sexual touching is the crime of battery. It's battery when a man you don't know in a dark alley does it, and it's battery when a TSA agent  (of either sex) does it to a traveler (of either sex) at the airport. It's battery because it is an unpermitted touching. And the only thing that would make it not battery is consent.

But what on earth has that got to do with men regarding women as sex objects? How did this man come by his six daughters if he never regarded his wife as a sex object? Were they all conceived by artificial insemination? Does he hope that none of them ever meet a man who sees them as a sex object and proceeds to court them until they consent to be that sex object for him? What sort of sterile world does he want to live in?

If he wants his wife and daughters to be treated with courtesy and respect as they make their way through life he should:

1) Protect them when they are together. Stand up for them if he feels their honor is being challenged.

2) Stand up for other men's wives and daughters if he sees them being harassed, so that other men will also do the same for his wife and daughters when he is not there to stand up for them.

3) Teach his wife and daughters self defense techniques and arm them, so they can stand up for themselves and each other and for all other people, men or women, who are being attacked.

4) Vote against any laws that disarm citizens, and stand up for any stranger who needs his help when attacked not only by a civilian, but also by a police officer or Federal Agent or a TSA officer.


And here's what he -- and all of us -- can do about the trafficking of children as sex slaves:

1) Don't sell your children into slavery.
2) Don't buy slaves, unless you plan to set them free.
3) Respect other people's rights to consent to arrangements they find acceptable.
4) Recognize the difference between consensual relations and rape and act to defend the innocent whenever you see rape or battery.

 Nobody saved anyone from rape by writing a diatribe against rape. Never in the history of mankind has that worked. But many men, such as Jean Laffite, for instance, did prevent rape and molestation by flogging and hanging any man under them who committed those crimes.

There is nothing more shameful than a man who stands by and does nothing when a woman's honor is at stake. This is one way that women judge men. In both Theodosia and the Pirates books, there are examples of exactly how this works.

A woman can never respect a man who will not fight for her honor. She will fight for his, too, to the extent that she can. And as long as he is honorable and brave, most women will gladly be a sex object at the end of the day for the man they have chosen as their own.