Writer Accuses Trump Of Rape [Revised]

Dunno what to think about this,

Could be true, could be false.
I used to always believe such accusations. Before it was fashionable to believe all women, I basically believed all women...about this sort of thing. Then I grew up. I came to realize that people lie a lot, and they lie about sex all the time. And that includes women. And that includes rape and sexual assault. 

   When "#MeToo" explicitly formulated the principle Believe All Women, it really struck me how ridiculous that principle is. Note that its absurdity is thinly concealed by stating it as an imperative rather than a generalization. Why not say Women always tell the truth? Or Women always tell the truth about sexual assault? You know why.

   "Believe all women" is as absurd as "believe all men."

   Friend of mine in law enforcement, assigned to one of the back-wateriest Appalachian back-waters, tells me that two things they encounter there with great frequency are (a) rape and (b) false accusations of rape. There's basically a feud back in them thar hills, and false accusations of rape are, apparently, just another arrow in the quiver. They're used to cover up / excuse consensual sex, among other things. I'm in no way suggesting that's what's up in the case of Ms. Carroll's accusation. I'm merely pointing out that false accusations are a real phenomenon, contra current progressive feminist mythology.

   I'm somewhat inclined to believe at least some of Trump's accusers. I listened to some of the accusations pretty carefully, and I found some of accusations and some of the accusers credible.
   Also, of course, DJT more or less admitted to genital-grabbing.
   I was inclined to believe him too, incidentally.

   He is a bullshitter, though...so...hard to say. But when his account and the accounts of his accusers line up...that counts.
   As for the story in question...well...I just don't know. Again, my gut has historically believed sexual accusations by women. I think I was to some extent both born and raised that way. Experience seems to indicate that my inclination is unreliable, however. So I probably shouldn't draw a conclusion about this case.

   Anyway: if you "believe all women," that means believing people like Christine Blasey-Ford. Something I would not recommend, as I've made clear. (Not to mention some of the even less-credible Kavanaugh accusers... Not to mention the weeping, hysterically theatrical progressives pounding on the doors of the hearing room...)
   I basically don't believe anything the Denizens of the Cultural Superstructure say about Trump anymore. Ms. Carroll may very well be telling the truth. But she is a writer hawking a book, she didn't make the accusation public when it happened, and the social rewards on the left for torpedoing Trump are lavish. That seems to make it inadvisable to accept a 20 year old accusation. If the events she described actually happened, she should have turned him in at the time. Which is not to say that I don't understand why some women don't. 

   But now we're in a situation in which we can't really just accept her word. We swim in a sea of anti-Trump hysteria. Members of Carroll's tribe will do anything to sink the guy. Some people believe that the fate of the nation--the world!--hinges on getting rid of Trump. One little false accusation to save the world... 

  Though she does claim to have told two people immediately--so that could, it seems, be checked. And her claim that she's never had sex again is meaningful--because rather easily refuted if false.

   Anyway: is it rational to believe this accusation? As an isolated accusation, no. Against the background of other, plausibly credible accusations? Well, that's a different matter. In my own case, it's probably going to send me back to re-evaluate those other accusations. But, even ignoring everything else, numbers obviously matter.

   The whole thing is greatly complicated, of course, by the prevailing progressive hysteria-especially about Trump. Basically, committed progressives, as a group, have made it clear that nothing is too implausible for them to believe...or say...or say they believe...or semi-believe...for the sake of achieving political aims. Perhaps that just undermines any unverifiable accusations against Trump completely.

   Hm. Well, maybe that all simplifies things, actually.

   Though: that's part of what seemed credible about the testimony of previous sexual assault accusers--it didn't seem to be political. FWIW, those women--a couple of them, anyway--really came across as straight-shooters.