Can Any Real Good Come of All This? : Harassment issue may be indelibly impressed on nation

As the extraordinary, explosive--and at times depressing--hearings into the character of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas go into a second day of historic overtime, much of the nation will return to watching the proceedings on television, mesmerized by the high drama and the low politics, caught up in the emotion of the moment and mindful of the stakes involved. For almost like one coast-to-coast electronic jury, America on Friday was sitting in judgment of one man and one woman--both now caught up in the vortex of history and buffeted by huge forces neither can control. The television was powerful, but ugly and disturbing as well.

THE INDIVIDUALS: Judge Thomas’ initial statement was as riveting and convincing as his accuser’s. Both are individuals with powerful personalities and deep reservoirs of composure. After all, how many of us could have stood up so well under those withering Senate hearing-room lights? That capacity for grace under pressure by itself speaks well of both these Americans: How wrong it would be for any of us, right now, to rush to final judgment about either. It is hard to believe that Prof. Anita Faye Hill made up all those vivid details; it was hard not to be impressed by the vigor and passion of Thomas’ denials.

Even so, regardless of the truth of either Hill’s or Thomas’ perception and recollection of their contact, the hearings are a personal tragedy for both of them--but most particularly for Thomas. No matter whether he ultimately is confirmed, is defeated or withdraws, his professional and personal reputation will never be the same. And Hill, by all accounts an intensely private person, has forever lost the anonymity and privacy she obviously wanted to maintain.

THE ISSUE: On the plus side--and let’s hope there is one--is the complete, if soap-opera-like, explication of the complex and serious issue of sexual harassment.

How many women in America now feel at least a little relieved that this neglected and misunderstood issue is finally getting a thorough (if highly melodramatic) airing? And how many men in America found themselves reflecting on their own office deportment in the past and wondering, closeted in the loneliness of their own consciences, if they had always behaved as properly, fairly and professionally as they should to the women in their departments?

So perhaps the one great advantage of this unexpected and tumultuous turn in the nomination process of Clarence Thomas is its hugely educative value.

Television talk shows and Op-Ed pages could not take up the topic of sexual harassment quickly enough. Office chatter has been about almost nothing else. Even the top man in the White House had to stop what he was doing and watch television along with the rest of us.

It is hard to imagine that a few days from now (if not before), when the question of the nomination presumably is settled, the issue would recede into the background, rarely to be referred to again. On the contrary, it is possible to believe, and very much desirable to hope, that the nation’s consciousness--and especially the male consciousness--has been changed on this issue forevermore.

It is possible to believe, and very much desirable to hope, that it is now a wholly accepted and deeply embedded value of American culture that sexual harassment, especially of a subordinate by a supervisor, is strictly, totally, without exception forbidden. That everyone agrees it is an insult to women. That it is ugly, degrading, horrifying and morally wrong. And that our daughters and their daughters must be allowed to grow up and enjoy careers in an atmosphere wholly purified of this poison. If so, that is the one huge plus to so far come out of this remarkably historic--and deeply disturbing--hearing.