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[–]SanityIsGC 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

To attack him is so cruel. Coleman was a 12 year old boy when he acted out. Both parents were mentally ill. He grew up dirt poor and because Kansas spends no money on mental health for kids or enough on education, teachers would lock him in a closet because they couldn't cope with all he was going through. Please listen to Glen Greenwald's interview with him before damning him.

[–][deleted] 17 insightful - 1 fun17 insightful - 0 fun18 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Minimizing the torment he inflicted on his victims and having to see him represent them as an elected official is more cruel. Facing criticism and scrutiny is part of running for public office. From the intercept Greenwald interview and parts of the video, it's hard to say if he changed or he's become well-versed in woke, apologetic rhetoric or maybe a bit of both. If the KS article is true however he recently expressed that the victim should get over it for themselves, because he has.
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article244930027.html

12 year old boy

By your article, it says over the ages of 12 and 13.

The Aaron Coleman for Kansas Facebook page more specifically addressed his past misdeeds in a June 17 post, saying, “The charges include: bullying, revenge porn, and blackmail — I just want to make clear all these allegations are both true and occurred only digitally. I denounce these actions and they are the actions of a sick and troubled 14-yo boy.”

He grew up dirt poor and because Kansas spends no money on mental health for kids or enough on education, teachers would lock him in a closet because they couldn't cope with all he was going through.

"But five years later, has the presumptive lawmaker fully left that abusive boy behind? It certainly appears not. Coleman told one Republican during the campaign that he’d “laugh and giggle when you get COVID and die.” And when his primary opponent, state Rep. Stan Frownfelter, took note on social media of Coleman’s past abuse of girls — supporting the women while disavowing any involvement in telling their stories — Frownfelter says Coleman threatened to retaliate with unspecified allegations against him. None ever came.

Further indicating a failure to grasp the gravity of his past actions, Coleman recently and callously wrote a relative of the young woman who attempted suicide, saying, “I’ve moved on. They call the past the past for a reason, because that’s where you are supposed to leave things. At this point you shouldn’t move on for me, you should move on for yourself.”

“How can you mansplain to your victim ‘Get over it’? That’s ridiculous,” Rivera says. “It’s not something that’s ever going to go away for them. You can’t just apologize that away. It’s always going to be there for these girls.” Coleman’s apparent victory, she adds, “is another form of abuse to them.”

For the young woman who says she attempted suicide, Coleman’s election win has left her with fresh wounds.

“I feel good about speaking my truth, but I’m still very upset because he’s going to have some form of power. And I don’t think he has a right to have any kind of power.

”I don’t know why he’s not being held accountable,” she says.

[–]SanityIsGC 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Under no circumstances do I blame him. If that is the case then why do I, you and others care about young girls taking testosterone and transitioning? If those girls are vulnerable, impulsive. troubled and in need of protection so did the 12 yr old Coleman.

[–][deleted] 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

You're free to your opinion. Because banning children from consuming substances like tobacco and alcohol or powerful life-altering drugs for their health is different from absolving someone who through the ages of 12-14 targeted girls with with sexual harassment of any responsibility. He said he was diagnosed with PTSD at 15. If he punched someone during episodes, sure. What about PTSD excuses him trying to extort nudes from his classmate and going through with his threat to share the one he had when she refused? This doesn't mean that he doesn't have the capacity for change, but this will always rightfully follow him as long as he is a public figure.