‘Twas always thus. Harvey Weinstein
should not feel so all alone. He is certainly not the first male feminist, beacon
of leftist and gender woke thinking, to be exposed as an abusive
misogynist, an accused rapist.
James Kirchick explains it all in
The Daily Beast:
Ever since second-wave feminism became part of
the political left, there have been men who, ostensibly enlightened in the
realm of gender relations, are in fact deeply misogynist and believe that their
progressive street cred somehow obviates their attitudes about women, attitudes
as regressive as those held by the Mad Men-era males who ruled the earth just
before the sexual revolution.
Male feminists are often hypocrites
who think that their adherence to the cause protects them from charges of
sexual abuse. And, women, including feminists, have allowed them to get away with it... seemingly forever.
Harvey Weinstein got the memo. Right now one expects that, as
he completes a week of rehab, he cannot understand why everyone is picking
on him… what happened to his feminist get-out-of-jail-free card:
What unites 60’s-era revolutionaries with Ted
Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Julian Assange, earnest “male feminists” and vulgar
Brooklyn podcasters is not political ideology per se (Assange and Clinton have
little in common politically, never mind the former’s contempt for the latter’s
wife), but rather the belief that commitment to particular progressive causes —
whether economic redistribution, abortion rights, an “anti-imperialist” foreign
policy, or exposing governmental surveillance — insulates then from being
misogynist pigs. In this view, anything – beginning with basic propriety and
respect for women and ending with fundamental individual rights like freedom of
speech and private property — can be excused if one has the “right”
politics.
Kirchick also regales us with
stories about Andreas Baader, Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton, Gerry Healey,
George Galloway, Jamey Kilstein, Hugo Schwyzer, Mark Ames and Sam Kriss.
Some of these people you have
heard of. Some you have not. They are all sympathetic to the feminist cause. And they all treated women appallinglyKirchick’s indictment is informative and
well-presented. It is well worth a read.
Perhaps Trump explained part of the problem "When you're a star, they let you do it," and peeking in dressing rooms of young women is just good fun.
ReplyDeleteYou almost have to blame corporations more than the perpetrators, since they're enabling the behavior. And it is almost more dignified to have hushed up cash settlements for misbehavior while having out in the open payments of millions of dollars makes the company look back, and with no image protection in the process, like with Fox News and O'Reilly.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/bill-oreilly-settled-sixth-sexual-harassment-claim-for-32-million/2017/10/21/ff34b24c-b68c-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html
Perhaps women will be taking the next step with lawsuits against Weinstein's company for their long negligence? And maybe that's what it really takes?
On the other hand, I recall back the story of Ralph Nader and the car companies tried to set up the life-long bachelor with compromising pictures when he was trying to pressure them to improve the safety our our cars, but it failed there because he is apparently asexual, which is perhaps the best women or feminism can hope for as an ally.
But the story about Nader also reminds why we should hold some skepticism over charges of sexual abuse/harassment or even rape, where women for their own reasons, or as paid provocateurs will always test the limits of powerful men to think with their brains in their heads rather than between their legs. Or in Assange's case where apparently his refusal to take a STD test, and the police required the women call unprotected sex as rape in order to pressure him. So even the law can be distorted, and the word "rape" does frequently cross over into the consensual sex domains.
I can see how Conservatives have to love it all, whether perpetrators are left or right, but its all more proof why Saudi Arabia was right all along to keep their women indoors, and otherwise escorted by male relatives. And once women leave the work force, except for the ugly old maids, all will be well again.
Roger Goodell belongs on that list.
ReplyDeleteHe LOVES women, especially the audience expansion ploy masquerading as a pink-merchandising breast cancer cause.
Then you see the NFL players beating women. Then they kneel for the national anthem because they're concerned about po-lice stuff going down in the hood. Meanwhile we're told football is destroying their brains.
This is all based on an old fashioned Marxist critique positing the players and their labor are what make up the NFL product... the belief that the players on the field are the brand.
It's nonsense.
For 17 weeks per year, plus the playoffs and Super Bowl, the NFL is an iconic reflection of American culture. An NFL franchise plays perfectly into a human society's tribal instinct... that of a city. THAT is the brand: the community element. It's about the merchandise, tailgating, cheering. It's secular Sunday liturgical rites of an American pastime of leisure and recreation.
And these billionaires who own these franchises are supposed to have made their fortunes being smart businessmen. Maybe the last generation of owners were, because they were entrepreneurs. Today's owners are a bunch of tame lapdogs who claim to love women and support their players causes.
And on top of this mockery is the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The man who guides the brand and is paid ridiculous sums of money to build and protect that brand. And he loves women! No doubt Goodell thinks himself a feminist.
The NFL has been ruined by politics because of the ridiculous BLM expressions over the national anthem. Is the national anthem a time for individual free expression or for standing up together as a nation? It's virtue signaling up the yin-yang, at the expense of nationhood. There is a political distortion field running NFL decision making at the moment. It's stupid, and very bad for business.
The NFL deserves to die. Look at the number of empty seats for 8 weeks now. But the NFL will be wearing pink for virtue signaling on their way down. Look at how we love women!
What a joke.
What I find most remarkable is that people seem shocked or surprised by Harvey Weinstein’s behavior — whether its perversion, longevity or pervasiveness. Believing the SJW stuff is like paying for mainstream media protection. It’s a racket.
ReplyDeleteIAC,
ReplyDeleteI have to laugh when I read the "stories" of various women stars going to meetings at Weinstein's agency. If his behavior was so well known (which I believe), these women also must have known and went anyway, but were still shocked and surprised, really!?!?!? All of these SOB's knew and were calculating what they would have to do to get what they wanted from the head SOB himself. The selling of oneself is such a tricky business.