Politics April 19, 2017
"Great men sometimes do bad things."
Look, I don’t care if he was a swimming prodigy, a medical marvel or a comedian TV dad who “practically raised you.” If he raped someone, he is a rapist.
He doesn’t get to shed that horrible label for the better one. This is not “one bad thing,” a little mistake that we won’t bother tarnishing his sterling reputation over. No. We’ll forgive a lot of things – the writers for that terrible ending to “Dexter,” whoever was responsible for that awful haircut that ruined “Felicity,” and Viola Davis for “Suicide Squad.”
But you don’t get a pass on a violent, traumatizing crime. And don’t think I don’t realize the gendered nature of this rebranding, either.
Hell, Hillary Clinton helped save the lives of countless kids through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and all I heard about her throughout the election was those goddamn emails.
And it never ends. Now Judge Thomas Low in Utah is coming under fire for praising convicted rapist Keith Robert Vallejo.
The former Mormon bishop was convicted of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape involving two victims, and THIS is how the judge referred to him — “The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man… but great men sometimes do bad things.”
Really?! The court has *no* doubt that he’s an “extraordinarily good man”… not even a little? And that’s a lot of descriptors for a man who just got convicted of TEN counts of sexual abuse. I don’t think you’re speaking for everyone there, Mr. Low.
Also, how convenient for “great” men that when they commit horrifying and traumatic offenses it’s shrugged off as kind of an expected side effect of their power and position. Oh, you know – “Great men sometimes do bad things.” Boys will be boys. Etc.
Barf. Luckily, the judge did not let his ludicrous views of Vallejo impact sentencing. Vallejo was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years and up to life, with sentences to run concurrently.
One of the victims was understandably disheartened, telling Utah’s Deseret News that the judge’s comments “sent a message not just to me but to other people… that not everyone is going to listen to you… so why even bother?”
She said she plans to lodge a complaint against the judge. And can you blame her? This is getting way out of hand.
