The once mighty emerge from the muck, mud

Looks like the male chauvinist pigs have emerged from their hiding places in the mud.

In a series of recent shocking revelations, a seemingly endless march of icons from media, film and politics have slogged their way out of the slop for all to see after being branded for their alleged horrible behavior towards women.

Men who have previously held supposed places on pedestals in society are now generally hidden away in shameful embarrassment.

Some of those are ones we are supposed to trust to deliver the daily news, like Matt Lauer or Charlie Rose. Yet they have held onto secrets for years on horrendous behavior with women co-workers.

Producer Harvey Weinstein, comic Louis CK, and even Dustin Hoffman — the man made famous for his line in the movie, “The Graduate,” ironically asking if Mrs. Robinson was trying to seduce him — are part of a cabal of men accused of sexual harassment and assault.

In the political realm, Sen. Al Franken from Minnesota watched likely in horror as a compromising photo of him surfaced, wiping the smile it showed off his face in recent weeks. And a history of questionable behavior has forced John Conyers, one of the longest serving members of the House of Representatives from Michigan not to seek reelection.

That just scratches the surface of a list which, unfortunately, is way too long. And there’s no reason to doubt it will only get more lengthy.

The whole situation begs for answers. Why do they do it and why do those victims not come forward to make it stop? But more importantly, how can it be stopped in the future?

Why do powerful men expose themselves and act in other awful ways towards women? Simply put, it’s often about power clinical psychologist Steve Graubard said. They are acting out a fantasy based on needs for attention.

With 10s of millions of fans, they still need attention?

Equally as complex might be asking why has it taken so long for those victims to come out of the shadows?

One notion is that some things that happen in one’s life are just too painful to revisit.

Priest abuse issues in the Catholic Church that were hidden for so long come to mind. But a groundswell of victims began to emerge a couple of decades ago that helped expose the dastardly deeds.

The overwhelming reason why the behavior of the Lauers’ or Roses’ or Weinsteins’ of the world was kept under wraps was the power they held over career advancement.

NBC has vowed they knew nothing of Lauer’s behavior until just rcently. But his former Today Show co-anchor Katie Couric spoke on a recorded interview in 2012 that the most annoying thing Lauer did while they two were teammates was he used to pinch me “on my ass a lot.”

It’s sad to think Couric was well established and could have “exposed” Lauer years ago.

The problem that has emerged in recent weeks with the reprobate revelation is a symptom of our society. The ends justify the means.

Alabama judge and Senate candidate Roy Moore for instance can espouse any number of stands for righteous causes in light of the sudden cascade of women coming forward to accuse him of bad behavior decades ago. Yet he maintains a solid lead in polls in advance of the Dec. 12 election.

When epidemics like this have outbreaks, one of the first vaccines mentioned is the need for further training. The only ones who likely benefit from this are those who do the training and collect the fees.

The simple fix is all one needs to do is treat employees/co-workers the same way you would want your wife/significant other/children to be treated by their boss/co-workers. Keep that in mind it pretty much takes care of itself.

It is said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Now hopefully with all the doors opening to expose what’s been hiding in so many closets for so many years it will also serve as a dose of preventative medicine.