Modern Day Defamation

The past few weeks I have been mulling over the whole E. Jean Carroll situation as it relates to the 45th President of The United States. The trial and retribution of E. Jean Carroll began last summer when she took the former president to court for allegedly defiling her in a dressing room in the Bergdorf Goodman Department Store.

Normally, I do not get involved in such high profile rhetoric. This one hits close to home and I felt who is more qualified to talk about defamation than myself. My frenemies and haters have taken great pains in dissecting my name in every possible way they were allowed to get away with.

When their salacious gossip did not work as well as they planned, they decided to block me every way imaginable preventing me from acquiring gainful employment. Another factor that made this case “interesting” was the fact that Ms. Carroll invited the former president to go lingerie shopping with her when they were not even dating seriously.

My granny would say, “If you dangle a carrot in front of a rabbit what do you suppose will happen?” First of all, the allegations make Bergdorf Goodman look as if they are some bargain basement establishment that would condone lewd and lascivious conduct no matter who the patrons are.

The retail store has an image to uphold and since mostly women work there, I find it hard to believe they would look the other way while such demeaning misconduct took place. Here is what I feel happened. I feel that Ms. Carroll may have harbored a crush for the former president.

She invited him to her day of lingerie shopping as a way of enticement. However, when the relationship did not take off in the manner she would have preferred, she decided she was going to put a cog in his wheel as a means of payback.

Now, I more than anyone else has endured my fair share of sexual harassment, unwanted attention and outright disrespect. Therefore, I am usually quick to take the woman’s side whenever a situation arises where one is taken advantage of physically.

Another reason why this particular situation resonated with me was because I had a similar scenario where I had a day all planned to myself to go lingerie shopping. A guy I casually dated rambunctiously invited himself along.

Since I knew I was not keen on him, I never tried any of my purchases on and just asked the sales person to wrap my selections up discreetly. I was in and out of the store within a half an hour because I did not want the fellow to get the wrong impression or any long term ideas about our relationship.

To me, he was company I enjoyed synonymous to way I felt about my girlfriends. I knew he wanted more so I made sure to declare boundaries. I was up front with him on how I was intending on spending my day and he did not mind. I did not use the opportunity to take advantage of him or entice him into thinking that our relationship could be anything more than a friendship.

I don’t know too many women who model lingerie for anyone other than their significant other or a crush that they would like to take to the next level. The action of having a male other than your husband or intended help you select or approve lingerie is preposterous to me.

I sense that E. Jean Carroll intended for fireworks to occur and when she did not get her desired results, it became hell’s bells and bacchanal. It is also natural that when a man thinks that even though you were not his type and does not intend to pursue a relationship, he will also assume all is copasetic and think things ended on good terms.

For sure, he will feel blindsided when slapped with rape charges. His first instinct is to say or think the woman is crazy. If every woman had a dime for each guy that called her nuts there would be tons of women billionaires milling about the planet.

I myself have been called every name in the book by my exes and one or two have crossed the line with bad behavior. But like I always say, “Unless you have dates, times, footage and receipts it is all conjecture and here say”. Mostly, they talk about me behind my back but never to me directly. They know I would simmer them down in a nano second. A woman who drags a man and her intimate life needlessly through court under “confusing” circumstances is looking for attention and is making a last ditch effort to be acknowledged.

Kind of like Glen Close in fatal attraction…”I will not be ignored!!!” What better way to get one’s message across by making the spurner pay 83 million dollars. If you are a woman who has been defamed incessantly, you get to the point where no amount of money would make you feel good about the libelous, derogatory and defaming things people have said about you.

At that point, you want a very public apology, especially if the caustic words of your antagonizer caused you to lose income, business prospects, friends and acquaintances. There is no price tag on a person’s good name.

My grandmother would counsel me as a child regarding malicious rumors. She would say, “He who steals my purse, steals nothing. He who steals my good name steals everything.” In this life all you need is one black mark against your name and you are done for professionally and personally. Sometimes it takes an eternity to rebuild what others have eroded.

To shake someone down for 83 million dollars because of unrequited attraction seems a bit severe to me. Even more concerning, is the powers that be that are allowing this type of extortion in modern day America.

The hypocrisy of it all boils down to the fact that if some unknown woman was truly ravaged by a punk they would give the punk the benefit of the doubt. The justice system would let him off scot free while the woman is further humiliated without justice.

The verdict that was deliberated today clearly confirms that all Americans First Amendment rights are under attack. God forbid if you have a few more zeros to your name. You will not stand a chance. You will be harassed non-stop and expected to pay dearly through your nose.