Outing the Weinsteins
MY VIEW
We know Hollywood moguls are infamous for taking advantage of aspiring young actresses.
The movie producer’s casting couch has been a “tradition” since Tinsel Town began.
But Harvey Weinstein must be setting some kind of record. His sexual rap sheet gets longer every day.
Since the New York Times broke the stories about his serial misconduct earlier this month, more than 40 actresses, studio workers and models have come forward to accuse the powerful producer of everything from sexual harassment to rape.
Now the L.A. Times is reporting that the LAPD is investigating charges by an Italian model-actress that Weinstein raped her in 2013 — within the statute of limitations.
She’s the sixth woman to accuse Weinstein of rape or forcible sex acts. Over the years, eight others reportedly received civil settlements from Weinstein’s movie company.
What a charming guy.
I feel for all these women who are coming out and telling the world what sex acts Weinstein allegedly did to them or in front of them when their dreams and careers were at his mercy.
It takes courage for those women to admit that they too were humiliated, abused and taken advantage of by an A-list Hollywood, slime ball.
But everyone knows Weinstein isn’t the only powerful producer or director in Hollywood who regularly expected sex in exchange for making someone a movie star.
There are other Weinsteins, and lots of people in the film community know exactly who they are.
Actresses and actors warn their friends to watch out for Producer X or Director Y, but they never make their names public. They should.
Instead of merely tweeting “Me too,” the women who say they have been sexually harassed and assaulted in Hollywood (and everywhere else) need to start naming names.
This could be a chance for women in Hollywood to put a stop to the casting-couch culture Weinstein took full advantage of for three decades.
Times have changed. Women are listened to now when they report sexual misconduct by their bosses or colleagues.
They’re protected by harassment laws and supported by the media. They’re no longer shamed publicly for revealing that they have been victims of sexual predators in the workplace.
In the end, Hollywood is all about money. You can even be an open conservative Republican in Hollywood - as long as Hollywood is making money off of you.
It’s the same with top actresses — the A-listers. They make a lot of money for Hollywood, so they have power to change things.
A-list actresses need to join together and start naming the names of the other Weinsteins.
That way they can protect the B-listers and the future young stars — girls and boys — from becoming new victims of an immoral and rotten culture that has been tolerated in Hollywood for way too long.
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of “The New Reagan Revolution” (St. Martin’s Press). Follow @reaganworld on Twitter.
From Washington, D.C. to the NFL and Hollywood, America’s idols are tumbling down. This is not a bad thing. For too long, we have wasted precious time and money worshipping these so-called “social justice” warrior hypocrites who continue to disappoint.
Here’s to hoping all this disappointment will lead us back to what really matters, but don’t count on it.
Huge swaths of Americans still bow at the altar of social justice. They believe government-forced “charity” will advance us to a utopian paradise where everyone enjoys the same outcome, despite personal effort, upbringing, unique abilities and education.
Truth is, though, social justice is an oxymoron based on the false premise that the cure for injustice is leveling the playing field and redistributing wealth. As former Vice President Joe Biden once said, “You may call it redistribution of wealth — I just call it being fair.” Karl Marx would be so proud. Marx hated religion, private property and Judeo-Christian values as much as leftists do today. That’s why you should bolt out of any place of worship that combines Jesus, social justice and the government in the same sentence.
In his book, “The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism,” economist Friedrich Hayek nails what’s really at stake: “The aim of socialism is no less than to affect a complete redesigning of our traditional morals, law and language — and on this basis to stamp out the old order and the supposedly inexorable, unjustifiable conditions that prevent the institution of reason, fulfillment, true freedom and justice.”
Yesteryears’ creepy social justice warriors are now out of the closet and no longer hide their agenda. Instead, they give it a pink boa and parade their intentions to destroy capitalism, silence free speech and scrub Judeo-Christian values from the public square.
They harp about injustice and claim only they can fix it, which is one of the most arrogant, egotistical piles of hogwash you’ll ever hear.
All that, while they divide us into two groups, normal folks and them. They believe normal folks are about as smart as slugs, therefore incapable of coherent reasoning and self-care. To them, everyday Americans aren’t diamonds in the rough, they are pliable, moldable objects used to reshape America into a socialist nightmare like Venezuela.
As I’ve said before, Democrats’ sacrosanct belief that the government was created to control how fairness is spread around is nothing more than a modern-day effort to reinvent Robin Hood, without all the chivalry and green tights.
Those who romantically embrace the concept of social justice believe the misnomer that stealing from some and passing it on to those who should have had it in the first place will result in some sort of righteous leveling.
Leftists don’t own the market on charity. Normal folks leave government out of the mix and combine their compassion with common sense. They bring food in one hand and a rifle in the other, knowing if they teach someone how to hunt, they’ll eat for a lifetime.
In comparison, leftists bring Trader Joe’s bagels in one hand and a voter’s registration card in the other. Seizing the opportunity to convert their victims into non-thinking entitlement aficionados, they stop at nothing to meet an immediate need, then lead them by their noses to leftist-run metropolises where crime and government handouts abound.
I know, the devil is always in the details, but I’ll go ahead and say it anyhow. Forced “charity” doesn’t bring about justice. Instead, it creates injustice when it stirs up animosity between the less fortunate and those being penalized, taxed, for their hard work under penalty of prosecution.
In sharp contrast, there is a power in authentic generosity that no amount of government social-engineering could or will ever match. The social justice crowd should dust off the knees they protest with and try it sometime.
Susan Stamper Brown lives in Alaska and writes about culture, politics and current events. Contact her by Facebook or at writestamper@gmail.com