Impaired Judgement

I don’t know Garrison Keillor personally. I listened to A Prairie Home Companion most Saturday evenings for a few years and grew to appreciate his sense of humor and storytelling acumen. I’ve read a couple of his books, and discovered that he has a knack for speaking to the beauty and heartbreak of being human.

I don’t know the details of the circumstances surrounding the parting of ways between Keillor and MPR back in 2016, nor do I have any idea of what went on between him and the woman who accused him of sexual harassment. In a fairly recent interview I came across, with CBS, Keillor appeared to exhibit a lingering mix of defiance and regret over that episode.

What sticks in my craw is the usual thing— Keillor undoubtedly possessed a certain amount of power and influence as a result of who he was, who he had become. He had to be careful in his interactions with the opposite sex. On the other hand, what is the motivation of someone who decides that the only course of action is a lawsuit and, who knows, maybe an aching desire to act on “taking someone down?”

What about what some may consider an equally “adult” course of action– taking a person aside and letting him know that, in your estimation, he crossed a line and he must not do it again? Such a scenario is more often seen as untenable, and laughable.

Of course I’m speaking without having all the details, but it’s difficult for me to disregard the role and allure of money, the tantalizing enrichment dangled in front of someone who, at the strong urging of an attorney who stands to benefit in the event of a settlement, convinces a client to sue, because that would somehow send a louder and clearer message than simply having a conversation—no doubt a difficult conversation—in which the parties arrive at a workable understanding. Pie in the sky, I guess. Naïve as all get-out, because of an unworkable power imbalance?

I get stuck on the allure of a pay-out, though. Who doesn’t like money? A love of money does its own share of diminishing and sullying, and clouding one’s vision.