There is nothing wrong with being young and drunk

[malaise]

I'll go further and say there is nothing wrong with being young and getting into brawls.
On the other hand there is a lot wrong with sexually assaulting women.
When you then pretend that you were a choir boy and not a young drunk who got into brawls, you strengthen the cases of those accusing you of sexual assault. I believe the women.

[rzemanfl]

1. Brawls? Are you related to a dentist? K&R. n/t

[malaise]

3. LOL

But since you ask - my maternal grandfather was a Howard U trained dentist

[rzemanfl]

4. K. Why isn't there a missing front teeth emoticon? n/t

[malaise]

10. Hahahahahhaa

[LakeSuperiorView]

19. This is about as as close as one gets.

I think one has to define brawls though - pushing and shoving, wrestling - yeah, school ground fights happen. Punching is on the edge, using weapons is over the line.

My $0.02

My altercations usually ended with me pinning the person attacking me to the ground or against a bus seat. I then told them I would let them go when they calmed down. I didn't have any interest in fighting them.

[HopeAgain]

2. ????

Having trouble following that logic. Drunken brawls are completely excusable?

[lunatica]

5. They don't sink to the level of sexual assault and attempted rape.

Sorry. They just don’t.

[HopeAgain]

8. So a drunk, violent man is fine for the Court

as long as he doesn't assault women. I'm sorry, I didn't realize the bar had been set so low.

[lunatica]

11. Have you ever experienced sexual assault?

Men who do it will continue doing it long after they stop getting themselves beaten up in drunken brawls.

No matter how much you want them to be equal they aren’t.

[HopeAgain]

12. I never said they were equal

but I don't think drunken brawling is so excusable. Especially when we need someone with the utmost judicial demeanor for the highest court in the land.

[lunatica]

13. The OP said there is nothing wrong with youthful drunken brawls

Of which, as far as we know, Kavanaugh was part of once. He certainly seems to have the facial scars to show some sort of physical violence, but he must have learned something that made him stop. Misogyny on the other hand has stuck with him in his normal thinking.

[Nitram]

25. The fact that they don't "sink to the level of sexual assault and attempted rape" does

not mean it is socially acceptable behavior. Shoplifting doesn't sink to the level of sexual assault, either.

[malaise]

7. No but young men get into brawls

and move on. When you're an out of control drunk who gets into brawls and also sexually assaults teenage girls and young women, you're a fucking criminal with serious problems and you should be nowhere near any court appointment.

[bigtree]

6. right

...Kavanaugh's denials are an attempt to deny the characterization that he may not have remembered assaulting Dr. Ford.

It's extremely relevant because, as she described of his attack on her, Kavanaugh was extremely inebriated at the time.

[malaise]

9. Precisely

Pretend to be a choir boy to mask the drunk monster.

[Nitram]

14. No, there is something very wrong with getting drunk and getting into brawls.

When did that become something that was okay?

[llmart]

16. +1 I agree!

As a woman who has raised both a son and a daughter, I would never say it's OK to get drunk and get into brawls. Once you lower the bar, it will only keep getting lower and I say the bar has been lowered way too much in this country as it is.

As a parent I was always one who advocated that if you set your expectations for your children low, then that's what they'll aim for. Not me. I set my expectations for my children's behavior high. I expected them to obey laws and be kind, courteous, hard working and contribute something to those who were less fortunate. Guess what? They both turned out to be amazing adults.

[malaise]

17. It's not anymore disqualifying than

an on the field or off the field brawl at a sporting event. What makes it disqualifying are all the other anti-social and criminal acts that were part of the persona.

[MyOwnPeace]

15. I'm not even going to.........

begin to argue about his past (lord knows this can and has gone on already!), but JUST HIS DISPLAY on his Thursday session with the Senate committee should disqualify him.
This whiny, irate, blubbering, sniffling, conspiracy-minded, revenge-driven idiot showed in that one session that he is SO NOT QUALIFIED to have a seat on the highest court of this great land.
ANYBODY supporting him after that display does not love our country and our freedom (SUCK ON THAT, IQ45!!!).

[malaise]

18. I agree.but his past suggests he should never have been a judge at any level

[Caliman73]

20. Actually, there is a good deal wrong with being young and drunk, and being young and brawling.

I agree that sexual assault is a much more serious issue and in relation to Kavanaugh and others seeking offices of power and prestige, sexual assault should be immediately disqualifying. Continually lying about said activities and trying to misrepresent yourself is definitely a further damaging aspect.

Drinking when young is not a good thing, biologically or socially. The human brain does not fully develop until around the age of 25 and alcohol and drugs affect the structures in young people's brains to a much more significant degree than the developed brain.

Drinking to the point of intoxication creates situation where you can get into serious problems that can have life altering and long lasting effects.

Fights happen (mainly in boys and young men), that is true. However, a physical fight is a failure of social skills. If you are constantly getting into brawls and think that fighting enhances your image, then there are psychological/emotional problems that you should probably deal with.

That said, most people are probably not going to destroy their lives, or other people's lives by drinking or getting into an occasional fight. The attitude that "There is nothing wrong with... " however, plus other factors like money, a false sense of entitlement, and misogyny lead to the development of people like Brett Kavanaugh.

[malaise]

21. Lawrence O'Donnell is doing a great job

on this subject right now and he added that Bart letter that the NYT exposed.

[crazytown]

22. That's a tight intellectual argument

but it ignores reality.

[milestogo]

24. Thanks for a good response to this absurd post.

[kyburbonkid]

23. I was once young and drunk. Now I'm just drunk.

Sorry I couldn't help myself.

[olegramps]

26. You have to be kidding. Brawls are unacceptable regardless of the person's age.

[H2O Man]

27. Recommended.

I got drunk once, for a few decades. Participated in a number of fights (outside the ring). Looking back, I'm pretty sure that the majority of those fights were not justified.

[malaise]

28. I know many guys like you

I thought Lawrence dealt with this brilliantly last night

[H2O Man]

32. I do, too.

The majority of my male friends drank too much, and got into some fights. (The rest just got drunk and watched us fight.) Some of those fights were for noble purposes, and others seemed justifiable at the time. Some were just stupid. I wrestled some in junior and senior high school. There were some teams from towns that hadn't gotten along for generations. After a home meet, we would jump on their bus as it waited, and see how far we could get, slugging everyone on the way, until they kicked the shit out of us. This seemed fun at the time. Took pride in how many heads we punched. Seems strange now!

[LakeArenal]

29. I spent 25 years practically living with college students

I have security videos and witnessed thousands of over drinking “youth”. There is no upside or okay with over drinking. Ever. For anyone. One overdrinker sat on an edge of a 7th floor window and fell out waving to people. Another climbed a fence to balance beam the edge of a tenth floor sundeck and fell to their death.

Plenty of young girls come home falling down drunk. It’s scary and horrible

Some very “responsible” youth threw beer cans 9 stories and hit a star football player and his girlfriend and both had to be hospitalized.

We’ve picked up both sexes passed out in stairwells and elevators and seen them to the apartment. They remember nothing and actually laugh when they see the video. It’s again scary and saddening.

When kids go to parties, especially knowing certain troublemakers are there, they go.
Knowing how the party is bound to turn out.

There’s always hearts broken, injuries, and property damage at everyone. All when it is entirely illegal to drink one drink.

No way is this a defense of Kavanot or an indictment of any accusers.

It’s more a rant that the social okay for underage drinking is crazy. But these are crazy times.

Still a lot of crime, pain, guilt and shame is generated by this social “norm”.

Also parents would get a lot more for their
Education dollars without binge drinking.

[malaise]

30. In y part for the world there was nothing called under aged drinking

We had no bans on under aged drinking in my part of the planet. Indeed my father always allowed us a sip of beer and we learned to drink wine with our parents on special occasions. Since alcohol was not banned, it was a non-event.
I never saw drunk. Teenagers until I reached campus.
During the carnival season we did see lots of drunk students on campus. I never liked drunks but some were my classmates and. a few we're friends. Most of these folks went on to have productive lives. I saw more brawls linked to sports than alcohol.

[LakeArenal]

31. DU is all about different points of view.

This is mine and I do respect yours.

[Blue_true]

33. 1000% agree. He lies about everything. Why wouldn't he lie about sexual assault and rape? nt

[Vinca]

34. If Kavanaugh had fessed up that he was young and dumb and drank too much and

didn't remember everything that happened - and that he was very sorry if the Ford incident was true - he would have been seen in a more favorable light by many people. As it stands now, he comes off as an entitled, rich, frat boy who can grope anything he wants to grope anytime he wants and he'll just deny everything anyway. The guy's a first class creep who should be removed from the federal court . . . along with Trump's sister.