The left is eating each other with the #MeToo movement.

Aziz Ansari. David Shankbone. 

As you are certainly aware, the #MeToo movement which was spawned from the Harvey Weinstein accusations and concerns sexual abuse and harassment continues. So far it has claimed many scalps, including Hollywood celebrities like Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K., politicians like John Conyers and Al Franken and probably cost Roy Moore the Alabama senate race. The main idea was that celebrities, politicians and men in general were treating women horribly. This was undoubtedly true in many cases but some felt that the movement was going too far. Anyone that questioned the narrative was denounced as a rape apologist or misogynist. 

The cracks in the #MeToo movement started with Al Franken and Louis CK. In both cases the accusations were minor and both of the accused were popular with the left. There was some half hearted attempts to defend both but most agreed on the left that despite the minor nature of the incidents in question, they still deserved to lose their jobs and did so. 

Something has changed with the latest accusations though. Comedian Aziz Ansari is the latest person to be called out by #MeToo movement. To recap for those who might not have kept up with the incident, Ansari went on a date with a woman and brought her back to his apartment. She was reluctant but she and Ansari had oral sex with each other and the accuser never said no until after several sex acts were completed and once she did Ansari sent her home. She then posted her story on a feminist website and then the backlash began. I won't link to the website here as I don't want to give them any traffic but if you google Aziz Ansari and babe.net, you will find it. 

An honest reading of the woman's account shows nothing non-consensual happened. It was, fairly obviously, a case of bad, awkward sex. There wasn't anything close to legal or civil charges that could be filed because of this case. He didn't commit any crime and he had no real power over the accuser since she was just a random person, not his employee. The only thing Ansari did that was wrong was that he was kinda creepy and that he didn't live up the very standards he judges others with. 

That's right, Ansari is a very vocal feminist and a supporter of the #MeToo movement. He's a huge liberal and by his own purported beliefs he's an abuser of women. Never mind that he didn't do anything legal or even immoral. It's still evil by their standards. Ansari's only sin here is not living up to the very unrealistic standards he would impose on others. 

But other then those of us amused by this on the right and a few hardcore feminists, Ansari is largely not being held to those standards by the media. In liberal outlets like The Atlantic and the New York Times Ansari's accuser have been bashed publicly. CNN's Ashliegh Banfield bashed the accuser and essentially threatened her. 

I don't disagree with a thing that Ashleigh Banfield said there. But it rings so hollow. Because the very people attacking Aziz Ansari's accuser are the very same people that say we should always "listen and believe" people that accuse others of sexual misconduct. And they are the same people that never question people that have accused GOP politicians like Donald Trump and Roy Moore, despite there being evidence of malfeasance and dishonesty from all of them. To see people that have, until now, said that the worst thing you could do is attack a woman who accuses someone of rape attack a woman who accused someone of rape, is, to say the least, shocking.

And I can't help but to think that the race, religion and politics of Aziz Ansari plays a role in this as well. Ansari was born in America but he is of Indian Muslim descent. He's also a huge liberal and a favorite of the left. Had Ansari been a white guy, or even a black guy, he would have been screwed. Had he not been Muslim, he would also have been fine. But since he's an Indian Muslim he gets the benefit of the doubt. And, of course, he is a liberal darling and if he was a conservative comedian (as if those exist) he would be crucified. 

Awhile ago I gave the left some advice. I said that they didn't know what they were calling up with the #MeToo movement and it was going to be inevitable that they were going to lose some talented and important people to it. To be fair, many of those people deserved to go down for their deplorable behavior. But Aziz Ansari is not one of him. He might be an awkward beta male that has no idea what he is doing, but that isn't a crime. But his career is likely over because he had one bad date. How many people can say that they have never had one bad date? Maybe a few ultra religious people like Mike Pence? How many of us want to follow his rules where he doesn't even enter a room with a woman who isn't his wife? 

I was expecting a backlash eventually. Sooner or later people were going to realize that holding men to the standard that they literally have to be mind readers wasn't going to work. And believing accusers without due process was eventually going to lead bad outcomes for normal people. Aziz Ansari isn't normal but his behavior was common enough. Indeed, other than being rather crude, I can't see anything that he did wrong other than not being able to read someone's mind. Since nobody on earth is a mindreader, these kinds of interactions are going to happen. It's annoying and awkward but it is going to happen.  

To be fair, as disturbing as the extension of the #MeToo movement has been, I still have to be amused by this. Though to be fair I do support actual abusers getting called out, I do have to say it is hilarious to see someone like Ansari go down. He doesn't deserve what he is getting here, but it couldn't happen to someone who deserves it more. He got hoisted by his own petard. And the outright hypocrisy of the left, who are defending an Indian Muslim but at the same time throwing a white woman under the bus only because of that fact, is hilarious.

Still, I hope this means that the left will dial it back a bit. I don't mind when actual abusers are called out but a bad date is just a bad date. We don't need to move towards a society where any incident involving bad sex or even awkwardness is put in the same league as sexual assault. 

I do have to say that if anything else is to be learned from this incident it is this. Communication is key, and not just in sexual matters. Everyone should always make sure that their communication is as clear and concise as possible. If Ansari's accuser had simply spoken up sooner, none of this would have happened...