I have said that the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are suspicious, dubious, and unsubstantiated. In response, many people have asked me how I would feel if it were my daughter claiming she’d been sexually assaulted. This is a very common kind of “argument” these days. Whatever the topic — immigration, health care, rape accusations, etc. — we are told that we should imagine ourselves or our children personally affected by the matter.
This, of course, is the exact wrong way of approaching an issue. We should strive to be objective and rational, and that is only possible because we are not personally connected to, or affected by, the issue. Yes, obviously if my daughter came to me and said that a boy had just tried to rape her, I would hop in the car, drive to the alleged perpetrator’s house, drag him outside by the neck and beat him senseless. I would react like a furious, irrational, vengeful, protective father. I would have precisely the mindset that we, as detached observers, should not have.
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