A Paris-dwelling potential (?) USR member posts something about a supposed transgression of a USR MEP in a USR private forum, the screenshots are leaked to the media, and the tabloids are milking it for all that it’s worth. The complainant tries to have it both ways, claiming some kind of allegiance to the party and desire to keep the story private, while maintaining the right to “privacy”.

I started writing about something else USR, to be published tomorrow, but now that it’s out there, let’s briefly consider the “monster-scandal” first.

According to Radu Andone’s article in Capital (ca-usrlibi), Mariana Rada, a [potential?] USR member and Paris resident, posted in a private forum of USR apparently named after a classical Romanian piece, “Pădurea spânzuraților 3.0”, a posting about having taken shots with USR MEP Cristian Ghinea, who then grabbed or just touched her butt and whispered something in her ear which she found insulting. The screenshots were posted in a number of tabloids. In a subsequent post, Ms Rada appears to backpedal and is trying to score brownie points as part of #metoo.

To me, as described, this is a minor trespass and far less consequential than Ghinea’s (and USR PR’s) failure to adequately interact with and represent voters. The MEP may have been led to believe that his advances were welcome and the posting as such does not indicate that this guy did anything that may have been unwanted. There is a mistaken belief among some idiots that in a social situation people engaged in flirting should read each other’s minds or people should be signing a sex contract with ILA before any words or touching happens, and that’s just absurd. If something unwanted happens, the person disliking it must make it known; it’s criminal only if the behavior continues after you made it clear that it’s unwanted and/or that person holds some power over you, such as a boss. But if you’re not even a party member, a MEP is definitely not in a position of power, unless you’re vraiment bête.

LE: Actually, I vaguely remember having written before that in some jurisdictions sexual assault is defined (whether aspirationally or canonically) as the absence of continuously and enthusiastically expressed consent. By that definition, the above may be “sexual harassment” or even sexual assault. Anyway, I am not discussing legality but rather common sense expectations. I do not believe that it’s reasonable to expect that even while I myself have been following such rules. Additionally, I do not consider Ms Rada a victim but rather a victim-status-seeking opportunist. As for the MEP Cristian Ghinea, I consider him a failure and not worthy of being in the European Parliament for having failed to answer questions, whether or not he is guilty of sexual improprieties. I recommend everybody plays it safe, but I find this situation absurd. 

Personally, I never take chances (which, of course, doesn’t mean that I’m immune to demented accusations). I stopped drinking alcohol years ago. I give warnings before I offer to hug someone. I don’t think that the aforementioned behavior should be illegal, but I don’t dare testing such limits. I did my lifeguarding course partly in response to an earlier sex partner’s request to engage in erotic asphyxiation (i.e., choking), but even having that knowledge, I don’t really do that anymore because it’s just not worth the risk. Many of the women who are “courageously” describing situations that are not assault or anything of that nature don’t seem to realize or care that by complaining about behaviors that are not “assault”, they are destroying lives and reputations, are often inflicting punishments disproportionate to the purported “crime” and changing behaviors in a direction that they themselves may later on find overly sanitized.

Rather than focusing on the perceived personal failings of politicians, we need to look into their ability to represent others and move toward semi-direct democracy so that nobody, and especially voters, think of them as holding power over them.

And now, the USR article I had on the pipeline.

Sources / More info: ca-usrlibi