Monday, August 19, 2019

#MeToo's Unintended Consquence


Another day, another batch of new sexual-harassment allegations I'm wondering: Am alone here?

I say this with some hesitation -- but since I control no levers of power my opinion doesn't matter much, so here goes: As long as I can remember my stance has been to BELIEVE people who say they were victims. It never meant believe blindly. It just seemed logical and right to err on the side of believing unless something compelling indicated otherwise.

But lately I have found myself shifting ... ironically as awareness has reached a new high. What started as a worthwhile and overdue movement that strove to shift societal norms moving forward feels like it has devolved into a score-settling grudgefest. And for every Harvey Weinstein and Les Moonves exposed, there seem to be increasingly more instances like Aziz Ansari, James Franco, Carter Oosterhouse, (Daniel Franzese?!), George Takei and don't forget Cade Hudson.

The list is long, and none of them is helping more vulnerable and overlooked abuse victims (women and children first). Obviously #MeToo is still a vital movement. But it's been hijacked in such a way that I'm growing more skeptical than ever -- and I would imagine others in actual positions of power are too, which hardly seems like the goal.

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