Editor, The Times:
The outrageous Trump video and the recent RCMP apology for male employees’ longstanding abusive behavior toward women are a call for a response from good men everywhere.
Here is mine: These abusive men are sick and they do not represent me. They represent a sickness of arrogant entitlement that is surviving today in a certain segment of the patriarchal power structure, but I assure you they are not at all representative of all men. I am not like that, and I do not know, or want to know or be around, any man who is.
When I hear of abusers like Trump or Bill Clinton, or these anonymous RCMP men, I am saddened by their failure to come to terms with their own sickness and then be able to use their prominence to create something positive by finding and engaging in a very public recovery/healing process that could help show other sick people that change is possible.
I apologize on behalf of such sick men to all women, and to all healthy, caring men — those men who understand the immense value of respectful, healthy relationships, and when appropriate, of healthy, committed, loving relationships. Perhaps the abusers will some day get to a healthier place and be able to take care of this kind of apology themselves.
Our society is now to be a far healthier place, thanks to those courageous women who spoke the truth about their experience with the RCMP abusers. “Bravo!” to these fine women, they are my heroes, they have hastened the healing process. Too bad it had to be forced on the RCMP, but this is not surprising to me.
I have observed the lack of integrity in this organization for many years with its failure to do its duty by enforcing international and domestic laws strictly forbidding complicity in torture of Afghan detainees and others by responsible Canadian officials (including RCMP officials.)
This is all well documented on the public record. Possibly someone like the International Criminal Court will force the RCMP to do the right (legally correct) thing here as well, correcting another very sick situation that hurts us all.
John McNamer
Kamloops, B.C.
