Nine Women Accuse Israel Horovitz of Sexual Misconduct- Page 2

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 12/2/17 at 5:26pm

The parallel to McCarthyism and the Salem witches resides in the public denunciation of men and women for being witches, Communists or sexual harassers, and the accused are not given any way to defend themselves from their loss of jobs, careers, reputation and, in the case of Salem, their lives. Even Nazi war criminals had their day to stand up before the military tribunals, accompanied by counsel, and try to talk their way out of the noose. A few even succeeded. Albert Speer.

I'm a little surprised that so many progressive people in the world of the theater don't have a problem with people who are being publicly denounced not having any opportunity to defend themselves. But these are turbulent and for many people very emotional times.

One way to silence critics is to just declare that a few innocent people must suffer for the long-term welfare of everyone. I don't think that I like that argument, but it is consistent with what is happening.

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 12/2/17 at 6:47pm

I think comparisons to Salem are completely misguided.  In Salem, people were being accused of an imaginary act defined as a crime by an imaginary being (or one with no evidence of its existence at the very least).  100% of those accused were actually innocent, and 100% of those accused were murdered due to the nature of the "trials" (do something generally lethal to the accused person; if she lives, it proves that she is a witch and is then executed; if she dies, it proves that she was innocent after all, and oops, too bad we killed her in the process of determining her "innocence).

In the current discussions of sexual misconduct, the act(s) do actually exist.  The people accused of them publicly have, in most cases so far, acknowledged that the accusations were true.  None of them have been executed nor are there plans to execute them.  In those cases where there have been any consequences at all (note some have not had any, like Cosby), the consequence has been to remove the person from the position of power that they were using to prevent innocent victims from advancing in their careers unless they submit to sexual assault.  In other words, they are being stopped from continuing to harm the careers of innocent people.    

Comparison invalidated.

McCarthyism at least has more similarities on the surface, in that communism did exist and some people who were accused were, in fact, communists.  The difference comes on the subject of harm.  No reasonable person can claim that sexually abusing people in their place of work is harmless, whereas arguments could be made that lobbying for communism could go either way, depending on one's political/economic leanings. 

So there too, the sexual misconduct outings are (a) addressing an issue that leads to unambiguous harm, and (b) actually being investigated prior to firings (e.g. Telsey says they investigated the claims against their employee before taking action; others have admitted their guilt publicly).  And therefore, not really the same as McCarthyism, either. 

 

Updated On: 12/2/17 at 06:47 PM

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 12/2/17 at 6:56pm

double post

Updated On: 12/2/17 at 06:56 PM