Demagogue

Reader BPH reminds me that there's a new Bedsworth column up. Remarkably, the title of this post is a fair description of the topic of the column. It deals with a lawsuit brought by former employees of a gorilla research center who claim they were ordered to bear their breasts to Koko, the female gorilla who can allegedly communicate with sign language. I thought about posting on this case when I read about it a few weeks ago; as usual, I wouldn't have done nearly as good a job as Justice Bedsworth did.

The case was filed in San Francisco, leading to this reaction from Justice Bedsworth, an appellate judge whose district is in Southern California.

The story has a San Francisco dateline and the headline says, “Suit: Women fired for not flashing gorilla.” You can see how that might cause one to put down his spoonful of flattened corn products and gape. You can also see how it might cause him to leap from the table, pumping his fist and cheering, exulting that such a lawsuit had been filed in a jurisdiction far-removed from his own.

Bedsworth also reveals that his love of the law has a lot in common with mine:

There is a part of me that just loves this kind of case. Cases like this reassure me there is just no end to the number of lunatic ways in which we humans can mess up our heads.

And, in a remarkable coincidence given my post of yesterday evening (Holland time) and the comments that ensued, Bedsworth continues:

And they demonstrate to me the folly of any hope that getting older might impart to me the wisdom necessary to do my job. I can put down Proust and C. S. Lewis, which are clearly never going to make me wise enough to unravel conundrums like this, and go back to my favorite author, Robert B. Parker.

Go read the whole thing. The closing paragraphs, about Koko's deposition and Bedsworth's pity for his northern colleagues who have to decide the case, are hilarious.