I don’t know why it was the Harvey Weinstein thing that finally tipped the scales for me, but I figured maybe it’s worth writing about, because hey, it’s something worth talking about.
There was a point where I thought, “Christ, are all men in power just fucking awful?”
Whether it’s Weinstein, or Cosby, or Louis CK (dammit), or half the staff (probably more) at Fox News, or 45, or blah blah blah – let’s face it, at some point it’s going to be nearly *every single man in power* before the scales finally tipped and harassment finally became not ok – it seems like no man who wields a significant amount of power is safe from accusation. And not because “money-hungry accusers” are coming forward, but because when given unlimited power to use people, powerful people *use people*.
Whether it’s Terry Crews (!!!) or any number of the thousands upon thousands of women whose accusations get ignored, or shoved under the table, or publicly mocked and humiliated, there’s some moment where the accusations start to gain momentum, where it’s *obvious* they’re true (listen to the Weinstein audio tapes), and that it’s clearly just an extension of unchecked power, where you’re faced with the reality that if these accusations are true, it extends to almost *everyone*, and the realization isn’t that the accusations must not be all true but that instead they almost all ARE true and the reality is that this kind of abuse and harassment are everywhere, *particularly* among the rich and powerful and then two conclusions become clear:
1.) It makes a LOT more sense why 45 is President
2.) Just like BLM & systemic racism, there’s a fucking huge-ass culture problem that’s about to start turning over (finally) because it’s becoming *inescapable*. You’re either going to have to start believing the accusers and accepting that there’s a massive, pervasive, systemic abuse of power, or you’re a willfully oblivious *asshole*.
In general, I’ve believed women who have come forward with accusations of abuse. But I don’t believe them all, because so often the narrative of “powerful person is target of false allegations for $$$” makes *sense*. But I think it’s high time what we say makes *more sense* is “rich and powerful person thinks they can get away with whatever the fuck they want without consequence.” Because at some point, without that shift in narrative, everything’s really starting to get absurd.