[Buddha-l] Another One Bites the Dust

[Richard Hayes]

On Mar 4, 2013, at 12:50 , Lidewij Niezink <lidewij at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm also thinking that we are living in a time where this type of statement
> by Batchelor either needs to be conclusively backed up or seriously
> questioned: "2. Wherever people are in a position of power over other
> people, it is inevitable that some will use that power to pursue and
> fulfill their own sexual desires." Seriously?! Where does that 'inevitable'
> come from other than conviction and (research) to confirm or justify that
> conviction?

I think Batchelor is stating one of the axioms of our times, which is not so much an evidence-based claim as a caution to people in positions of power that they would do well not to assume that they are immune to temptations. What may seem to a person in a position of authority as a consensual liaison between adults may be seen by others as a person in power feeling entitled to use that power for personal advantage. I see Batchelor deliberately overstating his case as a reminder to men (who are the usual offenders) that power will be more than *some* can handle gracefully. I think it's safe, because platitudinous, to say that it's inevitable that *some* people will succumb to temptation. If he had said that it's inevitable that *all* or *most* men will succumb, then I would agree completely with Lidewij, but I might want to add that it's good to err on the side of caution. Like her, I too resonate with James Ford's careful statement.

> And I am thinking Sita sings the Blues

Thanks for the reference. 

Richard