Comments
  1. The Baffler2/11/2011 min
    7 reads6 comments
    8.6
    The Baffler
    7 reads
    8.6
    You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • Pegeen
      Top reader this weekReading streakScoutScribe
      4 years ago

      Interesting discussion. I am sitting here thinking about how some men of power, like the Kennedys and Clinton, were more easily let off the hook because they were perhaps more charming and good looking? They lied, they abused women. It’s certainly something to be aware of. I’m far from defending Trump and Weinstein, just recognizing how abuse can come in all kinds of disguises. Trump and Weinstein are reflections we don’t want to admit or look at. But it’s necessary if we are ever going to change this deep and ugly disease called patriarchy.

    • bill
      Top reader of all time
      4 years ago

      Wow.

      First thought: I know so many white men who have gotten away with stuff they shouldn't have gotten away with - including myself. If I sit down with pen and paper, I could make a crazy long list: literal "get out of jail free" cards, DUIs, cheating, stealing, sexual harassment - the list goes on and on and on.

      I'm reminded of a quote that is often wrongfully attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt but is actually Henry Thomas Buckle:

      Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas.

      The problem with the way we think and talk about Trump and Weinstein is that too often we forget that they are monsters that WE created. It's a million times easier to blame and attack them than it is to examine how and why they exist.

      Both are a direct result of our obsession with cheap entertainment that denigrates women and elevates the John Travoltas of the world. For decades, we consumers of media were sending them positive signals: Yes. What you are doing is right. We're watching, buying, and we approve. I'm not the only person who loved Pulp Fiction. I challenge anyone with a deep hatred for Harvey Weinstein to just walk into your local cinema with your eyes open. Misogyny is everywhere. Of course he doesn't think he did anything wrong.

      For a while, I loathed these men. But, more recently, that feeling is eclipsed by a general sense of confusion and loss. These men created literal nightmares for so many women for so long. Now they're living in their own nightmare.

      PS Excellent scouting by Alexa! And a strong save by SEnkey, who kept this one from falling into obscurity. Now, with crucial assists from vunderkind and chrissetiana, this one is a real contender for AOTD. I hope it wins.

    • chrissetiana
      Top reader of all time
      4 years ago

      "The test of power is always how much you can get away with it."

    • vunderkind4 years ago

      "The root of the word “privilege” is “private law”—you get to rewrite the rules to suit yourself, or flagrantly ignore them."

      What a piece.

    • Alexa4 years ago

      I love this kind of scathing, acid-tongued, fiery retributions of the way things are. I don't think these kind of pieces are helpful for making change, they're more as a "rah-rah" from people who share their views. But so many fist pumping sections for me...

      The root of the word “privilege” is “private law”—you get to rewrite the rules to suit yourself, or flagrantly ignore them. Where systems of privilege are robust, corruption, abuse, and sexual violence are not aberrations. They are enforcing mechanisms.

      The justice system has failed to protect women from male violence just as the democratic system has failed to protect citizens from unscrupulous grasping oligarchs who get off grabbing government power by the pussy and getting away with it.

      Unfortunately, the system was also designed on the basis that nobody would get carried away and do anything really, really stupid, like elect a deranged thug with the critical faculties of a rabid rottweiler barking at its own reflection and the self-control to match. Nobody would do anything that stupid.

      Men like Weinstein and Trump have figured out, you see, that if you just drive a throbbing golden juggernaut of white male confidence right through the rules, nine times out of ten people will look the other way—not because they like you, but because they like things to be orderly and comfortable.

      What a ride.

      • SEnkey4 years ago

        Thanks for posting this.