Eddie’s recent reprise is pretty good, and also appropriate to this thread:
I will remember him in the same way as a bad piece of pork that caused me to get sick from food poisoning. I will remember him as someone who acted with malice aforethought.
When I talking with my mom the other day I mentioned the recent Isaac Asimov serial groping kerfuffle, and how I now need to ditch my collection of Isaac Asimov science essays.
She then told me how when the Bill Cosby thing broke loose, she had to purge her collection of Bill Cosby standup comedy records from the 70s–she tossed right out into the dumpster.
I guess creepy sex offender trumps amazing talent, at least in my little world. And that’s a good thing.
No, but it enabled him to easily be one.
I’m not inconsistent - I dislike them both. I also hate Roman Polanski, but two of the three have more than a few defenders on this board, and many more in real life.
I dislike how celebrity allows so many to escape any consequences of their actions. They either buy off justice or just ride their celebrity to an acquittal. They never lose their jobs, their endorsements, their fans. So to see everyone ganging up on Cosby like he’s somehow different from all the other celebrity rapists, abusers, and outright murderers that get excused here and in real life every day is galling. They’re ALL bad, equally. So let’s stop pretending Polanski was just misunderstood, and give him an Oscar, and that Ray Lewis deserved to keep his job and as long as he got his team a superbowl anything he does is A-OK.
Is this supposed to be a good thing? He “shook off” raping a woman, and kept his career? Whoo hoo for being famous.
Where did I say it was a good thing? Where did Annie say it was good that he only had one allegation against him?
Fatty Arbuckle was cleared of all charges (not just judged “not guilty” - the jury wrote a letter apologizing for the trial)
If my previous post seems overly harsh, I suggest you view the excellent documentary about Cosby and all the women he raped (and there were a huge number of them)
Bill Cosby: Fall of an American Hero
Then, I suggest you consider that when a man rapes a woman, that pretty much destroys the rest of her life. She lives every day with the anguish and terror of that event. When you consider that and then consider the huge number of women he raped, I hope my opinion will seem to make sense to you.
Even if he wasn’t a convicted rapist I don’t think appreciation of his work would have out-survived the generations that would otherwise have looked back in nostalgia. None of his material ages well. The funniest bit on his comedy albums was about child abuse and Saturday Morning TV and 80s sitcoms in general age badly.
Without the power and hubris of celebrity would he still have raped? I wish I knew.
Who are you arguing with here? Who (in this thread) said that Polanski is just misunderstood? Who said that Ray Lewis deserved to keep his job?
People? Sure. Some people did. Also, some people are idiots and they’re not in this thread.
I don’t see Cosby as different from any other convicted serial rapist. I’m not ‘ganging up’ on him. I am treating him like I would any other serial rapist.
Generally agreed, although, to Tyson’s “credit,” I think it’s increasingly well-understood now that he came from an extremely unhealthy background and has mental illnesses and cognitive damage / impairment. None of which excuses his behavior, but definitely makes it all a little easier to be somewhat sympathetic.
The one thing that I believe is true is that without the power and hubris of celebrity, he would have had a much more difficult time escaping justice.
Why?
-
More women would have called the police and reported the rape. They would not have been afraid that his celebrity would cause them to be dismissed.
-
He would not have raped as many women as he did because so many of his victims went along with him willingly because of his celebrity.
-
The police would have pursued him far more aggressively if he didn’t have the celebrity.
Bottom Line?
You have heard that in our system the rich and powerful have a large advantage in escaping punishment. I think that must also include most celebrities. I just wish I was smart enough to suggest some way to do something about that.
I went back to school in my late '30s to learn some programming, and ended up in a lot of classes filled with 18/19 year olds fresh out of high school. They loved them some Bill Cosby. They’d play his old bits on their PCs between classes. It was kind of heartwarming, at the time, that kids born decades after these bits were recorded were still so entertained by them.
Obviously, this was before the rape accusations started piling up.
I’m disappointed by him.
But I will always remember him as the guy who appeared on PBS’s The Electric Company, & taught kids to read.
Yeah, you’re being super consistent.
Fair to say, but that’s not the question I was answering.
I admit I didn’t have all of his albums, so which bit was about child abuse?
FWIW, I have only a headshaking disappointment and disgust of the man now.
But they are on this board. I don’t isolate threads, take them in a vacuum. Some people excusing celebrities in one thread, and others (or even the same) excoriating other celebrities in other threads bothers me. A crime is a crime, a rapist is a rapist. I wish Kobe would only be remembered as a rapist, but that ain’t gonna happen.
No one said specifically “misunderstood.” But he has his fans who apparently forgive what he did, with posts like this:
“Meh, whatever he did was his business and the victim, victim’s friends, and victims family. I don’t, or at least try not to, judge people on their actions.” “It’s not so much as me being okay with it, it’s just that I accept it as something that happened and move on.”
“He’s guilty of a crime, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy his movies.”
"I won’t stop liking his films. "
“And he is incredibly talented to boot.”
“I draw a distinction between the person and the art, and can hate the one while savoring the other.”
As for Lewis:
“…but I believe that Ray Lewis is exactly what he now seems to be, and that is a positive influence on the world, now.”
"I think Ray Lewis should eventually be in the football Hall of Fame for his football career. " “I’m fine with Ray being a leader for the Ravens, even a football legend there,”
Sure, what’s a little murder among friends? Not like he raped anyone.
It’s the one about his father’s belt. I think it was on “ To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With”