Imaginary Spiders
Aug. 4th, 2021 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraThe creepiest detail in the Cuomo harassment files is one that hadn’t come out before.
He copped a feel! A breast!
And then he told the woman, I’m gonna say I saw a spider.
Imaginary spiders make intent absolutely clear.
Previously, I had been on the fence about Cuomo. A lot of what he was being accused of doing sounded to me like clumsy passes by an old guy with Lavoris breath and antediluvian social skills.
I don’t fault people for making passes so long as they can take, “No,” for an answer and only do it once. Yeah, yeah, yeah—inappropriate in a workplace! Inappropriate by someone in a position of power! But, you know what? People do it in workplaces. And I know many, many people whose romantic life has bridged those power gaps. Sometimes, even happily.
But imaginary spiders?
NO. Just NO.
Cuomo’s rebuttal video is pretty hilarious. Andrew kisses politicians! Andrew kisses movie stars! Andrew kisses midget veterans! Men, women, children! Andrew kisses them all!
I don’t know who’s doing his damage control. His creepy brother, maybe? But they will be showing this video in Advanced Management 101 classes as an example of what not to do well into the next decade.
Of course, Cuomo’s also right: This is all politically motivated. Neighbor Ed, who spent his professional career as a midlevel functionary in Albany’s vast administrative bureaucracy, has many Cuomo stories to tell, and none of them are flattering. Cuomo is universally loathed as a bully and as someone who’s skated around the edges of outright corruption for a long, long time. Some of his closest political allies—notice, I don’t use the word “friends;” Cuomo has no friends—are now serving long prison terms.
They’ve been wanting to go gunning for Cuomo for a long, long time, but the moment hasn’t been right.
Because Cuomo is also an extremely adept administrator.
He’s done a good job steering New York State for the past 10 years, and that ain’t easy.
When he resigns—‘cause I can’t imagine with an all-but-certain impeachment pending, it’s a matter of if— Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will succeed him. This will bring the total number of female U.S. governors to nine. Seems to me the female U.S. governors currently holding office are also adept administrators. I’m a big, big fan of Gretchen Witmar and Gina Raimondo (okay, okay—she stepped down), and even Kristi Noem, whose politics I most emphatically do not agree with, seems to be doing a good job (and, of course, she’s under an obligation to reflect the political stances of her constituents.)
It’s interesting to contrast and compare the political styles of male administrators and female administrators.
Raimondo, true, was a bit of a bully. But mostly, it seems to me, the males bully while the females try for consensus.
###
What else?
We’re entering into the second day of a pale, grey, featureless sky that arches like the underside of some sort of snow globe within which we’re all trapped. I find it a bit terrifying, frankly. Like a Twilight Zone episode: We’ve all been transported to some sort of alien zoo; there are creatures on the other side of that sky, watching, pointing, laughing.
Is it clouds, or is it smoke?
I don’t know, but I don’t like it.
He copped a feel! A breast!
And then he told the woman, I’m gonna say I saw a spider.
Imaginary spiders make intent absolutely clear.
Previously, I had been on the fence about Cuomo. A lot of what he was being accused of doing sounded to me like clumsy passes by an old guy with Lavoris breath and antediluvian social skills.
I don’t fault people for making passes so long as they can take, “No,” for an answer and only do it once. Yeah, yeah, yeah—inappropriate in a workplace! Inappropriate by someone in a position of power! But, you know what? People do it in workplaces. And I know many, many people whose romantic life has bridged those power gaps. Sometimes, even happily.
But imaginary spiders?
NO. Just NO.
Cuomo’s rebuttal video is pretty hilarious. Andrew kisses politicians! Andrew kisses movie stars! Andrew kisses midget veterans! Men, women, children! Andrew kisses them all!
I don’t know who’s doing his damage control. His creepy brother, maybe? But they will be showing this video in Advanced Management 101 classes as an example of what not to do well into the next decade.
Of course, Cuomo’s also right: This is all politically motivated. Neighbor Ed, who spent his professional career as a midlevel functionary in Albany’s vast administrative bureaucracy, has many Cuomo stories to tell, and none of them are flattering. Cuomo is universally loathed as a bully and as someone who’s skated around the edges of outright corruption for a long, long time. Some of his closest political allies—notice, I don’t use the word “friends;” Cuomo has no friends—are now serving long prison terms.
They’ve been wanting to go gunning for Cuomo for a long, long time, but the moment hasn’t been right.
Because Cuomo is also an extremely adept administrator.
He’s done a good job steering New York State for the past 10 years, and that ain’t easy.
When he resigns—‘cause I can’t imagine with an all-but-certain impeachment pending, it’s a matter of if— Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will succeed him. This will bring the total number of female U.S. governors to nine. Seems to me the female U.S. governors currently holding office are also adept administrators. I’m a big, big fan of Gretchen Witmar and Gina Raimondo (okay, okay—she stepped down), and even Kristi Noem, whose politics I most emphatically do not agree with, seems to be doing a good job (and, of course, she’s under an obligation to reflect the political stances of her constituents.)
It’s interesting to contrast and compare the political styles of male administrators and female administrators.
Raimondo, true, was a bit of a bully. But mostly, it seems to me, the males bully while the females try for consensus.
###
What else?
We’re entering into the second day of a pale, grey, featureless sky that arches like the underside of some sort of snow globe within which we’re all trapped. I find it a bit terrifying, frankly. Like a Twilight Zone episode: We’ve all been transported to some sort of alien zoo; there are creatures on the other side of that sky, watching, pointing, laughing.
Is it clouds, or is it smoke?
I don’t know, but I don’t like it.
