OT: Sex scandal sweeping the world

Didn't you just say in this thread not to believe everything you read on the internet? Aren't OVERWHELMINGLY most of these sick rapeo freaks liberals? So basically you're a rape apologist unless some person you're bigoted against is accused then you're ready to lynch them.  

A bit hypocritical and more than a bit creepy, innit? 

Dude that story has been out there for years.  Odd that nobody gave a shit about it until now.  

Louis does look like a pervert to be fair.

Agreed,  I've pretty much done a 180 on this since we talked about it a few weeks ago.  All of this could've been avoided if any of these accusers had come forward and told the police instead of their publicist.  Maybe they were concerned for their careers, but jesus, there's a line you simply shouldn't cross when it comes to that stuff.  And for all we know at this point it's a witch hunt, where anyone with an ax to grind in Hollywood can accuse anyone of anything and the public will believe it because apparently it's an epidemic.  

Let's be clear, the creeps that have been doing this stuff for years deserve whatever is coming to them; but I have little sympathy for those who essentially enabled them all this time.  This isn't victim blaming, it's a shame the accusers had to go through this.  But so many people had an opportunity to do something about this problem years ago and chose to go with the flow until it became convenient (and even trendy) to do otherwise.

For that matter, shame on the machine that is the relationship between the media and the general public.  I've heard comedians talk about the accusations against Louis CK for years-- yet somehow it's only now gaining traction?  Now that it's trending on twitter it's an issue we're willing to accept?  That, I think, is the biggest tragedy of all here.        

That attitude I think is problematic though.  There's such a wide variety of stuff that we're talking about.  Why don't people care what the details are, and why do they seem to categorically be morally and perhaps legally opposed, so (close-to-)unanimously, to all of it regardless of the details?

It seems like an aversion to critical and independent thought to me.

You're a good man Rey, but I don't think I would be quite so quick to be judgemental about these people who didn't come forward.

Earlier in this thread I made a 'stolen bike' analogy, which I realise was crass, but there was a serious point behind it.  I don't think it is that easy walking into a police station to report a crime or make an allegation, especially when there is little or no evidence except for your word.  And especially when you feel you might be partly to blame (like I was when I didn't lock my bike up), then you feel you'll be the joke of the cop shop if you walk in there and tell them what an idiot you've been.  It would be humiliating, and women who have been raped  have to go through the extra ordeal of having their genitals poked around with.

And also, there are a few people in this thread who seem to be taking "their career (or future career) could be ruined" thing quite lightly.  I dunno, but I think if you were in two minds over whether to report something to the police in the first place, and knowing that your career might well be left in tatters if you did so, I think that would be enough to sway you into the "not going to the police" camp.

I'm reminded of the harrowing stories either earlier on this year or last year of the mountain of ex-footballers who came on British television tearfully making accusations against some specific coaches who abused and raped them when they were teenagers.  Almost all of them said the same thing, first of all they froze when the abuse started, then they thought they wouldn't be believed if they did tell someone, and even if they did come forward they knew their careers would likely be ruined.  It is interesting, that no one blamed these guys for thinking of their careers, no one blamed them for not coming forward, and there wasn't even a murmur that any of them were making it up (to be honest, it would be impossible not to believe them, they would have to be the greatest actors of all time if they were making it up!).

Okay, we can say it might be different for guys who are abused, that it might be harder to come forward, but I doubt it would be easy for anyone to come forward.  And I'm not saying that every person  who comes forward is telling the truth, of course there are false accusations, too many, and even when the accusations are essentially true there might be a temptation to lie about certain events to cast yourself in a better light.  But the legal process is there for a reason, and we can't drop the standard of proof just to get more convictions, as we don't want innocent people going to prison, so there is no way round it unfortunately so a lot of men are going to get away with it.  I mean you look at Donald Trump, the recorded tape admissions of grabbing pussies and sneaking into women's dressing rooms alone should have been enough to finish any politician, but now he is the President of the United States.  So that shows how seriously certain people are taking sexual assault.  Large segments of the population actually.

And also, I do think it is a different world today compared to just 20 years ago.  20 years ago I was a teenager at school, and we used to have these one hour lessons once a week, where we'd go over sex education, safe sex, drugs, bullying, all that kind of shit, and I'm pretty sure the headline back then was rape was when a women said 'no'.  That definition has clearly changed somewhat in the past 20 years, both legally and in most people's perceptions, so if you were a woman who was abused or raped 20 years ago, and you were one of those who just froze, like the boys did in the football coach allegations, I think you might have been a little less forthcoming in coming forward.

Anyway, sorry, look at Stan getting all serious on a Friday afternoon, tl;dr etc.

Some very, very weird news involving Smallville actress Allison Mack...

metro.co.uk/2017/11/09/smallville-star-allison-mack-second-in-command-of-sex-cult-which-brands-members-7065725/

I hear where you're coming from, it's pretty much what I was saying to painbow a couple weeks ago.  If you get laughed out of the police station or your agent's office, where do you go from there?  You either accept the garbage that comes with the job or you give up and go home; neither seem particularly enticing when you're trying to advance your career.  But there has to be a limit, and in many of these cases people are saying, 'Everyone knew so and so was a creep.'  Seems to me somebody with real clout could take a stand if everyone knew.  One of these big name actresses could've outed these guys years ago when they achieved star status, instead they chose to keep their heads down and let it happen to who knows how many more.  Hell, surely there are a group of A-list directors and actors who knew about Weinstein or Spacey or whomever and decided to do nothing about it.  If it's Weinstein or Spacey vs. some no name actor or production assistant or whatever, the odds are against the nobody.  But if it's a group of A-listers coming out against one of those guys, I think people take notice.    



It's fascinating to me that it took a platform like social media to bring real change.  The upside is these aren't just whispers anymore; victims now have an entire support group on social media where they've found out they're not alone.  The public as well as the industry can no longer turn a blind eye to these issues.  The downside as I discussed earlier is that anyone can hurl accusations for everyone to see, and soon people will stop concerning themselves with the validity of these accusations.