Are You Outraged? I am!

A couple of years ago, a new slogan was introduced in the United States - "Make America Great Again!"  Sounds like a nice sentiment.  Who doesn't want to live in an America that is great?  The issue with great is that it is subjective.  I want to know who's idea of great people were thinking about when they embraced the slogan.

I for one think that it would be great if we did a lot of things in the United States.  Let's find ways to raise the level of education in this country so we are not lagging behind so many other countries in the world.  I also think it would be great if people in this country did not so often have to choose between paying rent or receiving adequate healthcare.   I think it would be great if the President did not mock the disabled, a prisoner of war, a gold star family, or a survivor of sexual assault.

Wait, what? Yeah, I can't believe it either.  The man who is the President of the United States acts like a bully. We have all seen it through various news outlets.  The question is, are you outraged?  I am!  If you are not outraged, why not?  Explain to me how you can not be outraged at the way that the President treats people.  Did I say that you don't agree with his politics? No.  This is not an attack or partisan issue.  This is a human decency question and I'm very serious.

I am a woman, a mother, a daughter, a person.  How can you sit by and think that mocking someone who has stated that she is a survivor of sexual assault is ok?  Fact - the allegations have not been proven or discredited.  But how do you not see that the reaction that you have to the allegations have an impact on others.  My personal belief about Dr. Ford's testimony aside, how can this be a logical response in 2018 to someone's claim about sexual assault?  What example does it set to others?

Think! Some people were waiting to hear the testimony of both sides to form an opinion.  Some were waiting on the shame of a one week FBI investigation as they are not given enough time to delve into the facts.  If as a mom, dad, aunt, or uncle, you react and say that Dr. Ford is lying and this is all a ploy, what does this say to your daughter or niece?  This says that without any proof of lying that the behavior of assault is acceptable.  If you make fun of Dr. Ford or any other accuser, what are the chances that your loved one when assaulted will come to you?  What message are you sending to women everywhere?  This is the reason that approximately only 30% of sexual assault cases are ever even reported.  The survivors are less likely to report because they have seen how you and society treats those who step forward.

Maybe perhaps we have already grown accustomed to the tyrannical behavior of the President and some are now numb to his antics.  Perhaps we don't believe the survivors of sexual assault.  Even worse, perhaps someone believes that the behavior is acceptable because the actual act of rape did not occur. (The President himself has sexual assault allegations against him.)   I am outraged that these are the scenarios that I can come with why people would not be outraged.  So let's make America great again by having some compassion and holding the leaders of the country to a deeper level of respect that should accompany the positions that they hold.