Editor,
The New York Times’ reporting on movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s long-term sexual harassment of women, and its cover-up, is the latest example of a powerful person abusing his station and getting away with it for decades. Mr. Weinstein’s lack of honesty and remorse makes him especially contemptible and I hope he gets what he deserves – a permanent fall from grace and power. He has pleaded for us to allow him to wipe the slate clean as if his behavior is just a mistake and no big deal.
Impossible? Would the public allow such an ogre to have a second chance so easily? I would like to believe the answer is no, but voters have already written Mr. Weinstein’s Silver Linings Playbook script. It goes something like this.
The main character is a narcissistic senior citizen, who has lived an unethical and dissipated life. He has never served his fellow man in any capacity due to his self-centered nature. He is socially liberal and tends to support progressive politicians because he enjoys rubbing elbows with important people. He finds conservatives boring (Pence) or annoying (Cruz).
Our power hungry main character, let’s call him Don, decides to make over his image, which has suffered due to his habit of sexually assaulting women and other personal failings. He comes up with a far-fetched, but ingenious plan. He will swear off all of his progressive opinions and acquaintances and become a man of the people – a populist! The drama builds as some conservatives question his motives and sincerity, but he finds that it is easy to buy the loyalty and votes of social conservatives by bullying the LGBT community and pretending to be pro-life (Congressman Tim Murphy). Don discovers that many fiscal conservatives also will ignore his bad behavior if he promises them tax cuts and irresponsible environmental policies. But, our man’s most fervent support comes from the NRA and white supremacists, who have been nursing their hatred of people named Obama for eight years. They really love our main character and want to watch this movie over and over again.
Think this script is surreal nonsense and could never happen in a great nation like ours? I did, too, until the last election. Women, and all of us who care about them, deserve better than the Harvey Weinsteins in our life, of every political stripe.
Barbara Maurath,
Fishers