Stephen Brandon
Member
- Sep 16, 2018
- 78
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I wish we could all be shown a cat scan of Christine Blasey-Ford's hippocanthus and see those memories of the laughter of her attackers that she says are there. I don't know yet what the truth is. I don't know if any of us will ever know. All I can do is amuse myself by writing fictional conjecture.
The other day I wrote a reply to a post on the Kavanaugh hearing thread with one theory of why Dr. Ford's testimony might be false, but not through malice of intent on her part. Not through mistaken identity either, but through a series of neuroses and a defense mechanism her mind has unconsciously used over the years to deal with a traumatic attack.
Today, I would like to provide another theory to answer this question that has been asked over and over. The question is "if she is lying, why would she subject herself to all of this?"
To answer this, I refer to the true story of Tim Dechristopher. Tim was an ordinary student at the University of Utah where, out of intellectual curiosity he attended a presentation on the crisis of climate change. A short time later he heard about a controversial auction being held by the GW Bush Administration of public lands in Utah. He decided to go to the protest, possibly moved by the speech he heard at his school. Once there, with no premeditation, he made his way into the auction and registered as a bidder. He drove up the price on most parcels of land sold mainly to oil and gas companies, and he succeeded in outbidding everyone on 14 parcels. When it was found out that he had neither the means or the intention to pay, he was taken into custody and later served 21 months in prison. The auction was declared invalid and for reasons of timing it was never rescheduled.
Dechristopher was not a tree-hugging, bulldozer-sitting liberal up until the day he took radical action and gave up his freedom. He most likely believed it was his "civic duty" to do this.
It is not at all uncommon for people to do this, regardless of the cause. Chelsea Manning, Reality Winner, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange have all given up freedom, indelibly changing their lives for their "civic duty." Rosa Parks was also arrested for doing her civic duty.
Why then, would it be so outside the realm of possibility for Dr. Ford, thinking that this was what she needed to do to stop an injustice, to do the same?
The other day I wrote a reply to a post on the Kavanaugh hearing thread with one theory of why Dr. Ford's testimony might be false, but not through malice of intent on her part. Not through mistaken identity either, but through a series of neuroses and a defense mechanism her mind has unconsciously used over the years to deal with a traumatic attack.
Today, I would like to provide another theory to answer this question that has been asked over and over. The question is "if she is lying, why would she subject herself to all of this?"
To answer this, I refer to the true story of Tim Dechristopher. Tim was an ordinary student at the University of Utah where, out of intellectual curiosity he attended a presentation on the crisis of climate change. A short time later he heard about a controversial auction being held by the GW Bush Administration of public lands in Utah. He decided to go to the protest, possibly moved by the speech he heard at his school. Once there, with no premeditation, he made his way into the auction and registered as a bidder. He drove up the price on most parcels of land sold mainly to oil and gas companies, and he succeeded in outbidding everyone on 14 parcels. When it was found out that he had neither the means or the intention to pay, he was taken into custody and later served 21 months in prison. The auction was declared invalid and for reasons of timing it was never rescheduled.
Dechristopher was not a tree-hugging, bulldozer-sitting liberal up until the day he took radical action and gave up his freedom. He most likely believed it was his "civic duty" to do this.
It is not at all uncommon for people to do this, regardless of the cause. Chelsea Manning, Reality Winner, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange have all given up freedom, indelibly changing their lives for their "civic duty." Rosa Parks was also arrested for doing her civic duty.
Why then, would it be so outside the realm of possibility for Dr. Ford, thinking that this was what she needed to do to stop an injustice, to do the same?
