# Moses Farrow defends Woody Allen **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 12, 2020, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877 "2020-12-12T05:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/61 "2020-12-20T17:18:29Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > It does say there are children who were so messed up by the warped and chaotic dynamics in this family and the very public recriminations that they no longer have a sense of shared reality. Holy cow! This is a fantastic allegory for the current state of America as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/62 "2020-12-20T17:39:27Z")
How odd that people are very comfortable accusing women of lying, but it seems to be taboo to so much as hint that men not only do so but benefit from sexism by using the “she lied/she’s unstable” trope. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/63 "2020-12-20T17:46:13Z")
I’m not sure what you’re reading, but I thought this thread was about the reality that people were going far out of their way to _avoid_ accusing a woman (Mia) of lying even though another woman (Soon-Yi) was making the accusation. And nobody was accusing Soon-Yi of lying; they were just ignoring everything she said, both about Mia and about how she did not have a a familial relationship with Woody. Moreover, people have for decades felt enormously comfortable accusing Woody of lying along with a range of far more serious crimes, none of which appear to be supported by evidence. How did you manage to get the words on this page so totally upside-down? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/64 "2020-12-20T17:47:15Z")
> [@margin](#): > > How odd that people are very comfortable accusing women of lying, It’s exactly the opposite in this case. Everyone is assuming that Mia Farrow and Dylan are telling the truth, and not bothering to look at the evidence. You seem to be doing the same. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/65 "2020-12-23T17:09:11Z")
No, I’m NOT assuming that they’re telling the truth. Allen and Moses substantially misrepresent the facts in general. Allen has lost four court battles, refused to take a polygraph administered by the cops, was in therapy for inappropriate behavior at the time the charges were made, and was found by one judge to have behaved “grotesquely” with Dylan. The Yale-New Haven team—which Allen defenders like to cite----never even met Dylan or Farrow, and didn’t contain either psychiatrists or psychologists. The lead doctor was a pediatrician. Moreover, Allen has changed his story. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/66 "2020-12-23T17:14:58Z")
**Modnote** : Keep this from getting personal. Debate the post and not the poster. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/67 "2020-12-23T17:15:57Z")
Unfortunately, almost everything you say here is factually incorrect. What is the source of your information? Can you provide any reputable cites to back up your claims? ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/68 "2020-12-23T17:16:48Z")
Whaaaat? How could you possibly think a child abuse investigation wouldn’t include interviewing the child? From wikipedia: > [@](#): > > The clinic’s professionals met with the police and Maco for preliminary information. Between September 18 and November 13 they conducted nine separate interviews with Dylan and her mother > **[Woody Allen sexual abuse allegation | Yale–New Haven Hospital team](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Allen_sexual_abuse_allegation#Yale%E2%80%93New_Haven_Hospital_team)** > > On August 17, 1992, the Connecticut State Police announced that they were investigating the molestation allegation. In September the police referred Dylan to the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of Yale New Haven Hospital. The main questions were whether Dylan was telling the truth and whether she was sexually abused. Frank Maco, State's Attorney for the Litchfield district, declared in 1997 that he asked the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic to evaluate whether Dylan would make a viable witness. The team had p... ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/69 "2020-12-23T17:17:07Z")
That is a blatant lie. The Yale-New Haven team never even met with either Dylan or Farrow, and they tore up their notes. See my longer comment. They seemed to go out of their way to describe fanciful language as something sinister. Dylan said the attic was full of “dead heads.” Mia kept wig stands–,-mannequin heads—there. Dylan called twilight “magic hour” or something sinister. The time around sunset is in fact called golden hour by photographers. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/70 "2020-12-23T17:19:40Z")
Right here. So you guys are believing a guy who’s changed his story, who is rumored to financially depend on Allen, but throw terms like “crazy” around when describing Farrow. [10 Undeniable Facts About the Woody Allen Sexual-Abuse Allegation | Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2014/02/woody-allen-sex-abuse-10-facts) ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/71 "2020-12-23T17:20:21Z")
> [@margin](#): > > That is a blatant lie. The Yale-New Haven team never even met with either Dylan or Farrow, and they tore up their notes. I think you replied to the wrong poster. Again, rather than just throwing out all these statements, can you provide any reputable cites for what you are claiming? ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/72 "2020-12-23T17:20:28Z")
WIKIPEDIA? Which can be edited by anybody? ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/73 "2020-12-23T17:23:22Z")
I’m sorry, what you are claiming is beyond belief. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/74 "2020-12-23T17:23:39Z")
That’s a pretty weak criticism since the bit he quoted is cited. You can pull up the cite and debate whether the Wikipedia page accurately summarized it, or whether the cite itself is reliable, but “Wikipedia is not reliable because it can be edited!” Is BS This is the source: > **[Everything that Robert Weide Got Wrong in His Piece on Woody Allen and Dylan...](https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/02/woody-allen-and-dylan-farrow-digging-deeper-into-misleading-coverage.html)** > > Earlier this week in Slate, I took issue with Robert B. Weide’s much-passed-around Daily Beast piece defending Woody Allen against accusations of... ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/75 "2020-12-23T17:28:48Z")
Sorry, no. Wikipedia is not reliable. That article notes that Leventhal never met with Dylan or Farrow—and destroyed his notes. None of the Yale personnel would testify. The state police initially hired them but found them unreliable. > **[Yale Study About Allen Flawed, Expert Testifies](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1993/04/28/558093.html?pageNumber=26)** > > A child psychiatrist testified yesterday that experts at Yale-New Haven Hospital had mishandled interviews and used faulty methodology to conclude that Woody Allen had not molested his 7-year-old daughter, Dylan. Testifying at the custody trial of... Another expert. I noted the weird criticism of a seven-year-old’s creative language. Here’s an expert saying the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/76 "2020-12-23T17:29:31Z")
That’s not what Vanity Fair article said - it said > The social workers never testified; the hospital team only presented a sworn deposition by Dr. Leventhal, who did not examine Dylan. There’s a big difference between saying one specific person never examined Dylan and no one on the team did. And of course someone on that team interviewed Dylan - otherwise they couldn’t have mentioned her use of “deadheads” for wig heads and “magic hour” for sunset. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/77 "2020-12-23T17:36:05Z")
. “The panel consisted of two social workers and a pediatrician, Dr. John Leventhal, who signed off on the report but who never saw Dylan or Mia Farrow. No psychologists or psychiatrists were on the panel. The social workers never testified; the hospital team only presented a sworn deposition by Dr. Leventhal, who did not examine Dylan.” That first sentence is a biiiiitttt unclear, so I’ll give you that. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/78 "2020-12-23T17:39:12Z")
> [@margin](#): > > refused to take a polygraph administered by the cops Not discounting other points, but this here is notable. _I_ would refuse to take a polygraph administered by the cops. Polygraphs administered by cops are bullshit. They’re jus a tool to trick people into making admissions against their interest. They aren’t “lie detectors.” ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/79 "2020-12-23T17:46:09Z")
You seem to be conflating the panel that reviewed the report with the team that produced the report ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877/80 "2020-12-23T17:56:13Z")
It’s not unclear at all- if the writer meant no one on the team/panel saw Dylan or Mia Farrow, that’s what the article would have said. It very specifically mentioned that Dr. Levanthal did not see them. I’m not saying that the report was reliable, because I don’t know that it was. But saying that Levanthal didn’t see them doesn’t mean no one did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-farrow-defends-woody-allen/927877.md?page=5)