Date: 5/25/2021
G. Michael Dobbs’ characterization of Holyoke as “really a village” (5/13-19 column) speaks to fears I’ve had for Alex Morse since a fracas erupted, conveniently, on 8/7/2020, just weeks before the 9/1/2020 vote to decide who would be our U.S. Representative.
The movie, “Ryan’s Daughter,” may be more complex than I understood in watching it as a young person. What I understood from the film, back then, was the force of public shaming in early 20th century Ireland. No legal process was required for a village to administer its own version of justice. I believe Richie Neal, a proud son of Ireland, would know of village retributions. As the novelist William Faulkner once wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
Neal claimed to have no connection with the scandal-mongering against Morse, and said he opposed homophobia. Apparently it was just coincidence that the chief instigator of the accusations had enrolled in a class Neal taught at UMass, and that the instigator looked forward to an internship with Neal. Neal’s staff claimed innocence, although they had predicted a sex scandal about Morse would emerge at an opportune time. It can be difficult to sue anyone for defamation of character. What happened in 2020 may be termed the rough and tumble of politics. This was more than rough, though: It was brutal.
Now that legally obtainable birth control and abortion have shifted traditional patterns of behavior, old rules of etiquette are due for an update. A documentary, “The Hunting Ground,” shows many college guys are using seriously underhanded strategies in order to ‘score.’ Such predatory schemings have derailed many young women’s life trajectories. In my view, this is something different from gay hook-ups in which both parties know the ground rules.
If people shamed Morse after the sex fracas, it’s unlikely they will publicly express regret. That Morse did not recycle his campaign funds into a Gateway City that could use every penny suggests to me that Holyoke village justice visited upon Morse may not have been pretty, or nice.
Mary Hall
Holyoke
