The purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement is to educate individuals and governments about institutional racism in the judicial system and law enforcement and to get the government to do something about it. Whether you sympathize with the movement or not (I do), you can’t say there is anything illogical about their goals or tactics.
#MeToo is a different matter. The movement seems to consist primarily of rich and famous women appearing on TV to denounce sexual harassment by rich and powerful men. Who is the audience for this, and what can it accomplish? Here are some possibilities:
- If the point is to send a message to men who don’t engage in that kind of behavior, it’s irritating and pointless. As I’ve said previously, I don’t need to be told that sexual harassment is wrong any more than I need to be told that robbing banks is wrong.
- If the point is to reform the harassers, chances are that they don’t even recognize themselves as harassers. That battle needs to be won by affected individuals fighting back in the trenches on a day-to-day basis, not by celebrities wearing pins or flowers on TV.
- If the point is to speak to other, similarly-situated women, that is a very small universe, and why inflict the message on everyone else?
- If the point is to inspire women who are not rich and famous to fight back against their oppressors, do celebrities really have a right to speak for them?
In my opinion, #MeToo is just about aimlessly blowing off steam. That’s understandable, but it doesn’t accomplish anything in the long run.