#metoo people, supporters please take note..
'What is involved here? Setting aside the superficiality and frenzy of the media, what is the politics of the Weinstein scandal?
Unquestionably, something more is involved than simply Weinstein’s behavior. We hold no brief for the Hollywood producer, a renowned bully and abuser of his employees, if nothing else, nor vouch for his morality. If only a fraction of the sexual harassment allegations are true, his conduct has been repugnant and perhaps criminal.
Of course, boorishness and crudity are not illegal and the allegations of assault and rape remain just allegations at this juncture. Like everyone else, Weinstein has constitutional rights, including due process and the presumption of innocence. If there is evidence of criminality, he should be prosecuted.
However, when a lynch mob begins to gather, it is always wise not to jump in and participate. Everyone deserves a trial in which he or she can mount a self defence.
On the basis of bitter experience, one certainly has the right, even obligation, to be suspicious of the Times, theNew Yorker and the pressure-cooker atmosphere that has been almost instantaneously generated, or summoned up.
There is a lengthy history of sex scandals in America (and Hollywood—Charlie Chaplin and others), none of which has led in a progressive direction. The sex scandal is a mechanism through which other issues are resolved, often to the satisfaction of powerful economic interests and generally with the result that politics is pushed to the right. The Clinton-Lewinsky affair, manipulated by the right wing and a subservient media, took center stage in American political life for nearly two years and almost led, in what was an attempted coup d’état, to the removal of a twice-elected president.
The Times and the New Yorker went to some pains to pursue the Weinstein issue. Farrow claims his article required ten months of investigation.
Rumors about Weinstein have apparently been circulating for decades. Veteran publicist Cari Ross, writing inVariety, confesses that “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t hear stories about Harvey and his behavior as a sexual predator.” If the charges against Weinstein are true, and such people knew about them, their present actions are all the more disreputable.
Why the decision to go after Weinstein now? Of course, if the accusations are true, it could be argued, we should simply be pleased that his conduct has come to light, whether this month or a decade ago. But, again, that would be to assume only the highest, most disinterested motives on the part of the Times and the media as a whole—a reckless assumption.
Those who have made accusations have the right to tell their stories. However, the demand being made by the media and certain prominent figures, that people who don’t know anything must issue denunciations, is simply foul.
Frankly, aside from the alleged victims, no one comes out of this looking well. Nearly everyone seems to be acting out of cold-blooded business calculations. Actress Meryl Streep, who once called Weinstein a “god,” has issued her mandatory verbal attack.
Even assuming that much of what has been alleged is true, one would have to have a heart of stone not to see an element of tragedy in this affair. It does not excuse anything, but to the extent that there has been any life in the mainstream American film industry in recent decades, Weinstein has had some hand in it. He hasn’t produced great films, but he has done some interesting work. Now he has been thrown to the wolves, by his own brother, by his wife …
Let’s say he is guilty of reprehensible conduct—and there is still a line between harassment and rape—nonetheless the commentaries that have been published, the bloodthirsty comments, the ridiculous tirades against “men,” are all rather disgusting and even frightening to read.
And what about the role of the Times? As the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war, and a madman shoots and kills or wounds hundreds of people in Las Vegas, this is what the “newspaper of record” zeroes in on. TheTimes has thrown considerable resources into this investigation for reasons it has not explained.
The sanctimonious comments of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the Times editorialists et al, expressing their outrage and amazement over Weinstein’s activities reek of hypocrisy. These are people responsible for, or who lost no sleep over, drone strikes, illegal bombings and assassinations and the murderous activities of the American military and CIA in every corner of the globe.
It is also not pleasant to read the comments, in theTimes, of complacent petty bourgeois like Lena Dunham, the brains behind the television series Girls, moralizing about Weinstein. The latter may well be a first-class swine, but he is not a war criminal like Clinton, up to her elbows in the blood of thousands of Libyans, Syrians and other defenseless peoples, who Dunham vehemently supported in 2016.
In any event, it may not be possible for us to determine, at this point, which particular accounts are being settled and whose interests are being advanced. It is not necessarily the case that such articles are written with a fully worked out plan, although the Times is unquestionably pushing its identity politics agenda. It is safe, however, to assume that the scandal will have consequences.
We would issue a warning: a process has been set in motion that some of those now piling on may live to regret. Predictably, the fascistic Breitbart News, a breeding ground for anti-Semites and other scoundrels, is making a meal of the Weinstein affair. “Liberal Hollywood” can still reap a whirlwind.
The hysterical atmosphere, the recriminations, the new opportunities for feuding and name-calling, have produced an intimidating climate in Hollywood.
And who is next?
It is not that difficult to envision a new round of Congressional hearings, this time on sexual practices or harassment in Hollywood, which has ‘polluted our culture’ and ‘corrupted the nation’s morals,’ instead of producing ‘healthy Christian films’—hearings run by the House Un-American Sexual Activities Committee. And writers, directors, producers and actors, sadly, would be too terrified not to testify.
The middle class moralists never stop to think about the convulsive political context in which the scandal has erupted, and which it has helped to deepen. The victory of Donald Trump—an enormous shock to the affluent upper echelons of the entertainment industry—has been followed by a series of vicious conflicts within the ruling elite itself over foreign policy, including the dishonest, malicious anti-Russia campaign (spearheaded by theNew York Times). The phony drive against “fake news” has now become the pretext for escalated, McCarthyite attacks on dissent and freedom of speech.'
Exactly. "Liberal Hollywood" may indeed "reap the whirlwind". Sown by such "liberal" papers as NYT. The Right wing, Breitbart etc, stands poised to take over all such scandals, if it doesn't start them. The level of right-wing figures (Roy Moore) caught up in such scandals will always be kept below that of the left. The Bill Clinton impeachment affair proves that.
What, indeed, if all sorts of left-liberal figures get caught up in this supposedly "feminist" witch-hunt?? Kevin Spacey is only the first of many. As McCarthyism shows, things might start with "the usual suspects", but they never stay there... The web of accusations spreads and spreads... Things like this develop an insatiable life all their own.
😏👎
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