Double Standards

The lawsuit would gain and lose from that meeting. It would gain a woman who, because of her sex, knew discrimination and its effects, since so many aspects between men and women are unequal in society. Women’s suffrage isn’t that far back. Compare that to the rights and privileges afforded to a man, simply because of his sex. This passion it would gain, one unknown to men. What it would lose, however, was a passion that was the key element an attorney must possess to pursue the case properly. That ingredient only Brent Barnwell or another male attorney would possess because of being male.

Only a man, once he has become aware, could understand the insidious mind games society plays on him. Only a man who, because of his sex, was placed in a bridle, a noose, at an early age, either by his parents, school, or both. Only a man would voluntarily do this later in life in order to succeed. Only a male lawyer could know, could understand, comprehend, the ultimate injustice of tethering a child’s body and mind. He has been taught himself at an early age that this tie that binds him everyday, will bind him to the proper society, this unwritten rule. Without the early training, that you must conform in order to function, a man would have a hard time looking at himself in the mirror each morning, pulling that ridiculous piece of cloth up tightly around his neck. At an early age he becomes a drone for the corporate American way of life. He becomes mindless! He gives up a part of himself he didn’t know existed at so early an age--his spirit. He has allowed society to harness his soul. He pays homage daily. Caught in the web of their ignorance, they vainly display that homage, they show respect to their earthly gods.

Old Billy boy had been chief of security at Hoosier Tel. for seven years before being placed as a supervisor in Yellow Pages advertising.  In that earlier capacity he had had access to a private listening room, where in his words, “I’d let any law enforcement people listen to any conversation, involving anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time of the day or night.”

“No court order?”

“No court order.”

If anyone in any branch of law enforcement wanted to tap into a suspect’s phone, Bill would do it.  “I’m a patriot,” he had said.

“Hey, Bill, what I’m hearing here is about a bunch of illegal wiretapping, on a lot of unsuspecting folks, not patriotism.  Patriotism is making sure some bastards aren’t prying into our lives, listening to our conversations.

If all the chief security officers of all the telephone companies are like you, then some bunch of creeps somewhere is listening to anyone, anytime, any moment they feel like it.  That’s scary, and that’s coming from a patriot.”

“Grow up, Antonio.  Court orders are a joke. 

“Bill, you really don’t understand.  You really don’t understand that you, and every law enforcement officer that you ‘help’ is guilty of a crime.  I’m sure not a lawyer, but I have a sneaky suspicion that what you have done, and I’m sure are still doing, in practice, is illegal, and you could all be prosecuted.”

Craig was sharp. He was clean-cut, had that Harvard lawyer look, and felt as I did about the freedom a man should have to regulate the way he dresses. He said it was an important question I had raised–one he had always wondered about himself. Why did a man have to always wear a tie? Why were women given the freedom to wear anything they choose? Who set these standards in society? Who had the right to enforce them? He said it would be one of the greatest legal challenges he had encountered, and welcomed it. He was excited.

He said he would be stepping on a lot of toes by debating that question, but he agreed it was a question that had gone unanswered too long by modern society. This was going to be a grand experience for both of us.