What has occurred to Herman Cain is rather common in the private sector. It is less common in the public sector since it’s been at least thirty years that males have been seen wearing pants over there.
Yes, some people have paid attention, and taken note of how America’s office cultures have changed, and how everyone has been dancing on the head of pins around Druzilla, afraid that she might slap a restraining order on them if they so much as offer to open the front door for her.
I got out of the corporate world before all this got out of hand, but Herman and I are the same age, and came up through much of the same corporate social customs.
Twice I was complained about, once for using the word “damn” as in “Can’t spell worth a…” to a secretary, the sister of a vice president, a strutting peafowl but a fine Baptist whose ears must’ve been twice as pure as her heart. The offended shrew simply took her complaint directly to her brother, who took it to my boss, who called me in and said “You know better than that. So go and apologize.” Which I did.
The other time was for calling a female “Darlin'”, a term common to my time and used by me almost daily. This complaint was anonymous, could have been from one of hundreds, management or worker, that’s how often I still use it. How the complaint came to be made, I have no idea, and all I was advised was to dial the familiarity back.
Of the two, the anonymous complaint is always the worst, as you never know exactly what you did wrong, and find yourself always looking over your shoulder…you know how men used to do when telling a dirty joke, to first look around to see if a lady was within hearing distance?
But all this was a time before complaints were made in writing and the accused dragged before some grand inquisitor..
..to be pilloried and scolded and humiliated. And to leave a permanent record, which our society seems obsessed to maintain in all human interactions these days.
An Oppressive Masculine Environment
All a male has to do is create an oppressive masculine environment and he’s guilty, keeping in mind that there is no such thing as an oppressive feminine environment… since that is what all of America already has become.
In other words, almost as a matter of law, sexual harassment does not have to have anything to do with sex. A male doesn’t have to touch or leer at a pretty women or ask her out for a date. In fact, if statistics were kept, you’ll find the far larger number of complaintants to be anything but. It is all in the perception of the offended.
You can see this in almost every office or service environment, that people now keep one another at arm’s length (a thing I noticed in Communist office culture years ago, “Yes, Comrade Sourpuss,” “No, Comrade Wormtongue.”). Even postal clerks are given warnings now if they speak too friendly and cordially with patrons. They must remain aloof and at a distance, like they do down at the driver license bureau. They know they are being watched.
The oppressive masculine environment is always in the eye of the beholder, so take heed, ye of little understanding, of the oppressive religious environment, while already with us, is not far from getting its own office and filing cabinet and Grand Inquisitor down the hall as well.
As for Herman
Anyone who has even seen Herman Cain talking to crowds knows that Herman don’t play that kind of stand-back, officious game. It’s part of his popularity that getting close to people is just one more of the political molds he’s breaking.
The intentional misinformation out there is thick and heavy, but Herman and his staff are not helping matters. The story was never intended to tell the world that Herman is a sexual harasser but rather to catch him in some inconsistencies that might leave a lingering doubt that he is hiding something among some RINO minds who might be wavering in favor of Herman. (Yes, that is is my theory of the game here…the media, the Democrats and RINOs, all can appear to be working in tandem when they all see the same potential enemy. And I can see no conservative flipping to Romney over this affair.)
Herman stated unequivocally that he did not sexually harass those babes. The rest, quite frankly, he has only on second hand knowledge and he should have referred the media to the source, i.e., whoever handled the internal inquiry at the Restaurant Association. Just like a judge who recuses himself from a case in which he had been involved as a lawyer, any manager, senior or otherwise, would be recused from any inquiry, other than to provide a statement. There would be no formal adversarial confrontation with witnesses or accusers, nor any participation in deliberations.
Of course Herman would be sketchy on those details. He can’t possibly have known them firsthand. And sometimes the simplest answer is the best.
Nor could he, as a local radio host suggested, refuse to allow the board to “settle out of court” inasmuch as the case was never in any court. The severance, and package offered these babes was never within Herman’s power to decide.
Better luck next time, Politico.
