"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." - Socrates
They are dropping like flies. Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Ben Affleck, George H.W. Bush, Louis CK, Jeffrey Tambor, John Conyers, Garrison Keillor, Charlie Rose, Roy Moore, Al Franken, Matt Lauer and on and on and on. At first it was interesting to watch the stories unfold. The real pain started for me with Al Franken. I had just finished reading his book. I liked his politics and admired his passion. I didn't want to believe it but I could not deny the evidence I saw with my own eyes. The searing pain set in with the termination of Matt Lauer yesterday from his co-hosting job on NBC's Today. I've been watching Matt for the last twenty years. I felt like I knew him. Apparently not.
The past few days I've been questioning whether we really know anyone. It is not about whether at some point in their lives they have done anything we wouldn't think was okay. Every adult alive has a chapter of their book they wouldn't want read aloud. But rather, are the offenses a pattern that they are still living? I'm not that much interested in whether some man made a clumsy pass at a woman by touching her butt twenty years ago. I'm not saying that was okay but it was a different time. But did he do it last week, last month or last year? Did he do it to control her, intimidate her, scare her or just satisfy his own twisted urges? Is he a predator or just a creep? In the case of Mr. Lauer, it seems he was both.
I would like to think the revelations of impropriety are over. The last of them has been unmasked. I suspect not. More shoes to drop. Sigh.
No comments:
Post a Comment