I read a comment on another forum asking, "why did it take her so long to come forward?" That question was well answered last fall thanks to the #MeToo movement. In fact, there was a great article about in the NYT. (The question itself smacks of victim blaming.) The fact that we now know why it takes so long leads me to ask our politicians, Why is there a statute of limitations on sexual assault? (I've asked.)
1
I recall a NYTimes Editorial penned by Cosby's wife, Camille, where she spewed venom at her husband's accusers claiming that the women were after his money and were all racists. Well! She was an enabler supreme who liked the wealth and lifestyle that her husband had secured for her. No sympathy for her, lock her up too! She was no friend to women.
2
I appears that it was pretty cut and dry. I drugged women and had sex with them. Let that sink in HE DRUGGED WOMEN AND HAD SEX WITH THEM.
Harvey Weinstein is accused of rape and horrific harassment and destroying women’s careers to the tune of possible millions lost.
And Al Franken made a bad joke in full view of others and possibly grabbed a woman’s bum. He also misread signals and went in for a kiss, was rebuffed and that was that.
We lost nothing with Cosby and Weinstein out of the picture but we did lose one of the best Senators to sit in Congress. Let’s weed out and investigate the predators and let men who made mistakes most of our husband’s had made at one time to defend the accusations.
He got railroaded with Gillibrand leading the pack. We actually needed him the past few months.
Franken for Senate and President. He should 100% fight to get his seat back.
2
We should go back to the Victorian age when women didn't work. Perhaps they had more wisdom than we thought. It's all the fault of feminists.
Of course it is hard to feel any sympathy toward Cosby, despite his age and health. But he was poorly served by his initial lawyers who reached the over $3,000,000 civil settlement with Andrea Constad back in 2005-2006. Cosby had the expectation--and the promise of the DA at the time in Montgomery County PA--that he would not be criminally prosecuted--ever--if he cooperated in the civil suit.
Why else would Cosby have agreed to testify in a civil suit if he thought there was any chance of a criminal indictment? It makes absolutely no sense and his lawyers would be guilty of malpractice. And I think they are guilty of malpractice.
As it turns out, despite the promise of no criminal prosecution and a confidentiality agreement wherein Constad promised not to disclose ANYTHING about the civil action, Constad cooperates with prosecutors and Cosby is criminally indicted and convicted. He should sue his initial lawyers who allowed this to happen.
And he should sue Constad for breach of contract and get his money back. Constad breached the civil contract and Cosby is paying a price he had every assurance would never happen.
People should not forget this. A contract is a contract no matter how deplorable the behavior.
3
A disaster of a legal precedent! Now a rich and famous man with all the money in the world and lawyers to defend himself, in a politically correct society that was for decades too cowardly to hold him accountable because he was a minority, has convicted a defendant on many years old testimony in an atmosphere resembling the Inquisition. Therefore, completely violating the principal of statutes of limitation - based on the sure logic that one can not get a fair trial, defend themselves after many years have passed. So our political class and media-business leaders who control them calculating that there are more women voters and customers (remember its always all about the money) have decided to give women a never ending license to kill any man knowing full well that rich and powerful men like Cosby and themselves (unlike common citizen men) will usually be able to pay off women victims or blackmailers or stall them in court for decades as Cosby has done. The rich and the powerful always win, and now they just happen to be targeting common male citizens for destruction because they think they can stuff a few more millions in their bank accounts by pretending to "care" about women.
1
I'll risk your censure here! This case is so egregious that it stands for nothing when discussing relationships between men and women. This is both because the methods used by this now convicted monster truly have nothing to do with normal relationships between men and women. The man is a psychotic and his psychosis is extraordinary. If you apply the facts here to the general relationships between men and women you will find every medium sized business covering their premises with high quality cameras and microphones. You will completely destroy the romances that exist between men and women. In fact some businesses may go to being single sex establishments. Is that what you really want to see? Would you really criminalize flirting? Go and see 'The Mikado', and learn the results of such foolishness.
1
Isn’t it time now to attend to the accusations against this POTUS?
5
Let's get Trump's accusers into court.
4
As my parents would say “the truth will out”.
After reading several of the comments below, I am reminded of a comment I made several months ago to my husband and son. It is hard for me to understand how many otherwise well-educated, creative, talented and yes, powerful men would have room in their brains to consider, much less carry out, such horrific acts.
Any man (or woman) who would consider that 20 minutes (at most) of "indulgence" is worth sacrificing a long-term marriage, let alone a life-time legacy, is incomprehensible to me.
I am not a prude. I understand human sexuality and that people do things in that regard they may regret, but a repeated pattern is a sign of some sort of psychopathy and especially when it involves no consent, being drugged, intimidated, threatened, bought off.
To Cosby, and with so many others, I have to ask was it worth it? Was it worth erasing everything good they have done in their lives?
18
The fact that career sexual predator Donald Trump is not mentioned in this story shows that while Cosby can only evade the law for so long, others are above it and can never be brought to justice.
5
He's still right about race!
At least I learned a new word, 'defenestration': throwing someone out a window.
Reading the news is educational!
1
To all those who directed, produced, distributed, and made money on the great 'Cosby Show': did you not know of this? What were you thinking when you were promoting him on such an important stage and as a teddy bear dad? It is difficult to comprehend the damage done to an entire generation.
4
What do you mean, his persistent pathology was unusual. No it wasn’t, he’s not special, he’s just another rapist who kept doing what he wanted to do. How is that remotely unusual?
Disgusted in Seattle
9
I eagerly await the day when the predator at the top of the heap....our deplorable president...receives justice.
4
You're next Mr. Trump.
5
When does Trump go on trial and get convicted for being a celebrity pig around women?
5
Trump is next.
5
Bravo!
This is a reckoning for one man only, years after the fact, and it came in a criminal court. After years of abuse, and not a scintilla of justice from our employers, they are all wringing their hands wondering why we don’t believe them.
Most of us will never have that opportunity for justice because the offenses may be criminal but are never prosecuted, and the protections offered by our worikplaces are nothing more than a joke.
I know. It happened to me. I was a senior GS-14 economist who was groped. I reported it to my federal government agency management, to my so-called Human Resources office, to my union (of which I was at the time the highest-graded dues paying member) and my EEOAC office. They all believed me, and said so: the perp had a habit of doing this, and had once had his family demand to be returned from an overseas tour of duty when his wife discovered him banging a subordinate on the government couch. NOTHING happened to him then, and nothing happened to him in my case, and nothing happened to him later.
I had to find another job.
So when you ask why women “don’t report it” with the smug assumption that means it wasn’t true, what you are really asserting is if we there would have been an honest, independent inquiry.
There wasn’t. Until the #metoo movement, there never has been. The perps are not just protected and enabled, but often celebrated by their defenders in management, for putting women in their danged place.
6
A filthy, old pig who got away with his "idea" for much too long as his wife conveniently looked away, was not present, etc. What a horrible thing to do to any person by drugs, sedation, and then rape. He is very sick and has ruined his life and reputation. He has ruined any black legacy in the field of acting.
No he has not ruined any black legacy in the field of acting .
He has ruined HIS legacy . His alone . Just like the actions of a Trump has not ruined the chances of any white man becoming president in the future .
The conviction of Cosby on these charges is sad, but welcomed for its furtherance of justice, but nothing is settled until our groper in chief is brought to that justice.
4
This is nothing but a modern day lynching of a black man based on the words of a white woman. We have seen this before.
In the meantime Roman Polanski, who continued to receive rewards from Hollywood, still lives peacefully in his chalet, not one charge filed against Weinstein, Woody Allen continues to get a pass and the media continues to pretend Stephen Collins never confessed to being a child molester.
4
"A Reckoning for Cosby — Now for Others?"
Possibly
Here's what you'll need
He'll have to be Black and of course he will have to have money -lots of money.
The victim will of course have to be a White Women
and preferably you'd want an all white or nearly all white jury.
May Cosby die a terrible lonely, guilty death
2
And all of Cosby's finger-wagging at blacks about being good role models. Makes me want to vomit.
4
So the black guy goes to jail and the white guys don’t, one even soils the White House. Welcome to America
4
Cosby is a sexual predator and is getting his just desserts. When will sexual predator and harasser Trump face justice as well?
3
" Now for Others ?"
What the hell is this supposed to mean, that every man who every kissed a woman by surprise is to be painted with the "MeToo" brush of shame ?
You can go out and lynch every guy who was clumsy in their courting techniques but all you will do is stigmatize and polarize the sexes. The glass ceiling will harden, men will resist the advancement of women due to fears of accusations, no man will want to work with a woman due to the maddness of the crowd.
This stuff has to be kept in balance. Even Tom Brokaw, hero to million through his writing is now being harrangued for attempting to kiss a younger girl , a kiss, imagine being besmirched by these liberal witch hunters over a kiss .
2
Cosby's victims are getting the justice that they deserve. But this better not be the end of it. The same criminal justice system that went after Cosby better damn well go after Weinstein, and O'Rielly, and dare I say, Trump. There is a long sordid history in America of the criminal justice system making examples out of black men, while white men committing similar crimes escape prosecution. While I understand that the deepest pockets typically prevail in court, it cannot be said that Bill Cosby's deep pockets kept him out of prison. The same then should not be said for Weinstein, et alii.
3
"But a majority of the men accused of improper, even criminal, actions in recent months are unlikely to be brought to justice and instead seem to be waiting things out, often in their mansions, already plotting career comebacks."
Makes one angry, doesn't it?
Consider Roman Polanski. In 1978 he was charged with drugging and raping a 13 year old girl. He pled guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. The same type of offense as Mr Crosby was convicted of, except Mr. Polanski's victim was 13 years old at the time of the crime. Mr. Polanksi has been accused by other woman of similar offenses, but the statute of limitations had expired. Sound familiar?
Mr. Polanski has never been punished for his crime or crimes. He fled the US to France, which has refused to extradite him.
Many have come to his defense, the list reads like a who's who of Hollywood, and includes Woody Allen.
And his career has indeed continued and thrived. His movies have been regularly reviewed (usually favorably) by the New York Times. Reviews in the Times are very well read, and can make or break a director. Surely the Times could have found directors more deserving the its valuable page space.
We should thank the Times for its journalistic work in helping to expose Harvey Weinstein. But we should also note the paper's hypocrisy in helping to enable the careers of others like him.
You know, judging a work on its merits, despite whomever the creator is is not an enabling act.
"A Reckoning." Not, one prays, THE reckoning. There are dozens of other cases that need to be prosecuted or resolved. Cosby's insolence and anger show that this man needs a serious sentence.
What punishment should Cosby get, given that black men suffer from discrimination in the criminal justice system and that incarcerating old men who are unlikely to reoffend seems pointless? Or is prison about punishment and not rehabilitation?
1
What's so disgusting about this witch hunt is that so much of it
resulted from doings way back in the past. Whatever the reasons or rationalizations, not for demanding justice for illegal sexual
behavior, but in general for having waited all that time before
coming forth is almost as bad as the illegal conduct itself.
Bill Cosby's is just its latest victim.
I’m hoping that this case leads to the prosecution of Weinstein, Laurer and other misgynists who feel they have the right to assault and rape women. Cosby’s case is just one case in thousands that have been hidden, suppressed, ignored or neglected because of money and power. Powerful people need to understand that they are not above the law. That power does not come with benefit of abusing or assaulting women. This thought also applies to powerful women. And the legal system needs to do they’re job of providing equal protections under the law, rather than providing protection to powerful men.
2
What Mr. Cosby has done is utterly reprehensible. Nonetheless it is outrageous that the only powerful predator who has been brought to justice is a black man. What about the others and why didn't you reflect on it?
3
There was one part in the TV coverage yesterday where upon leaving the courtroom, both Cosby and his lawyer were giving the clenched fist salute. That spoke volumes ....
1
Women face abuse from men from all walks of life. The #Me Too movement must not singularly focus on the celebrated, public, rich and powerful men. The #Me Too movement must begin to address the insults, slights, sexual abuse, and rape of women from all races and classes that are targets of male aggression and abuse.
I think candidly about the men in my midst who are seen as "good men" and yet I know that they cheat on their wives, abuse their girlfriends, have hit on their children's teenage friends, and buy prostitutes. These "good men" talk condescendingly to women and girls, don't respect or promote women on the job, use religion to control women, while they do as they please. These "good men" that I am referring to are my father, uncles, brothers, family friends, coworkers, bosses, and other pillars of the community. Be honest, we all know "good men" who are not rich and famous like Cosby, yet they say and do horrific things to girls and women and get away with bad deeds everyday.
The #Me Too movement must filter down into ordinary life where misogyny and sexual abuse are everyday realities for many girls and women.
3
The problem with the #MeToo movement is lack of clearly defined, enforceable and realistic goals. Regarding moral and ethical issues, slavery, racism, cultural, religious and gender intolerance had/have problems too but to such lesser degree. They were/are easier to define, recognize and legislate against.
But sexual norms, behaviors, society and cultural acceptances, pressures, etc., are vague, ambiguous and subject to misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Unlike the above issues, most of us have actually experienced the anxiety and confusion of courting and initiating sex. Adding to the confusion is our current entertainment menu of "instruction" promoting pornography and violence.
I pass a secretary on the street often. She works for a colleague and I've been introduced and have chatted with her briefly. I'm 64, monogamous to my wife of 33 years. The secretary is 30ish or younger. The other day as we passed I smiled and said, "You have million-dollar dimples!". I concede that I wouldn't have said such if she wasn't female.
#MeToo supporters would find issue with my comment.
Until there is "a reckoning" for Donald Trump an admitted philanderer and accused by dozens of women of sexual assault, we will not at last shattered "the rule--power provides protection" to male predators. This is "THE swamp" that has polluted our patriarchal culture and must be drained if women are ever to achieve the equality they've been striving for since the days of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
2
Cosby does not have "pathology," he committed crimes.
Pathology is a word that applies to medicine, not crime.
The use of the word pathology in this context contributes to the progressive erosion of the concept of personal responsibility.
I am a board-certified psychiatrist.
Think for yourself?
1
About 20 years ago I went to a Bill Cosby one man show. My take away from the evening was that Bill Cosby was just self involved. I have never been a fan since that evening. Yes, he came from the projects to fame and fortune, but he came across arrogant and full of himself. Cosby is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has lived like a king for the last fifty plus years. This is the reason why he felt he could get away with being a sexual predator. His wife was an enabler, she knows everything, but the money and power probably kept her in the marriage. After all, Camille is Mrs. Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby, if he saw a women and he wanted her, he took her.
2
If you are rich and powerful you really don't need drugs and black out pills to get sex, so this is not about sex. It is about power and violence.
That is what is so sad about the Cosby case; if Pope John Paul II were accused of child rape it would not be any more a shock.
If Cosby were accused of lurking around dark corners with prostitutes it would be no big deal.
It is a bid deal because he, one of the most beloved and respected cultural icons, was perpetrating violence on innocent women.
Creepy sex is bad enough; what he did was inexcusable and criminal. If he spends the rest of his life in jail it would be OK with me. (This was really hard to write.)
26
Cosby's past crimes have finally caught with him and enabled the judicial system to impose the proper consequences of his illegal actions. The #MeToo movement may have had some influence on the jury to consider the evidence in a new light. The five victims of his conduct who were allowed to testify must have had a sobering effect on the jury. Cosby's deposition confession certainly must have given them pause as well.
But, I would suggest that the Defense attorneys' actions of pursuing a scorched earth defense was repugnant to the jury and resulted in a complete rejection of their theory of the case. Their demonization and rabid denunciations of the women who testified about Mr. Cosby's notorious conduct over a 50 year period did not help their case with the jury and certainly not with the general public.
It appears that the public is fed up with attorneys smearing the victims of crimes in order to exonerate the actions of a palpably guilty client. The viciousness with which the defense attacked these women who had the courage to testify against a powerful and celebrated defendant should be condemned, if not in court, than in the court of public opinion. While the defense may have the legal right to excoriate innocent victim witnesses to such conduct, they should not be applauded for doing so.
7
It is so exhausting to witness that fully 50% of the population has to fear the other 50%, and be wary of those whom regard women as sub-human. How many women have been mistreated, suffer, and watch these men thrive and prosper? I watched Cosby's comedy and enjoyed some of it at the time. In the face of these allegations, I am not the least bit sentimental over these memories. He is a cold-blooded monster. My sentimentality now belongs to all women who suffer quietly, and do not plot physical and mental harm to women as so many men have done.
2
The fact is that the rule of power providing protection is not exactly overcome by one or two exceptions. Wealth and the power it brings have created a wholly different standard of justice for the wealthy in this country as the coinage "affulenza" starkly indicates.
3
These people, wherever they are, need to be bagged. The only thing that will slow down these men (and some women) is being publically exposed and punished. Seeing colleagues behind bars will have a sobering effect.
I am male. I was sexually abused as a child. I've had wonderful and helpful therapy. I'm old now. The effects of abuse never go away. Time heals nothing. Everyone needs to remember that about the abused. You learn to accommodate, to get on with living, but time heals nothing.
The sexually predatory need to be hunted down without mercy, since they had none. Bravo for the brave women. We need to hear more male voices. I know there are a lot of them out there silenced the ridiculous,strutting protocols of the male gender.
7
In so many ways this is a positive development for those concerned with justice. There does not seem to be any reasonable doubt that Cosby committed these crimes, no reason to believe he was framed, as his lawyers contend, and despite his wealth and fame he has been brought to justice for heinous crimes. However, I don't think it can be ignored that of all the famous, rich men accused of sexual abuse and rape, with an equivalent preponderance of evidence, it is a man of color who alone has been convicted and is facing legal consequences. This is a victory, but until Weinstein and all the other white men accused of the same types of crimes are facing prison sentences as well, it is a partial victory, and one that speaks directly to the inherent bias of of our society and our judicial system.
5
I have a few issues with this. For one you've claimed that Cosby's "pathology is rare." That's not accurate. Putting to one side the use of medical language to describe criminal behavior, rapists tend to attack more than once and tend to use the same or similar techniques. It's in fact extremely rare for a rapist to only have one victim. That is the opposite of what you seem to be saying here. In a harrowing blow to the supposed morality of our system rapists usually only become rapists after getting away with lesser assaults and are rarely so much as charged let alone convicted even when they are extremely violent.
Secondly, I take issue with your characterization of Cosby's punishment being too extreme for other perpetrators of hate crimes. Rapists and in fact just sexual harassers condemn their multiple victims to life sentences. Cosby was adored by millions and lived most of his life in luxury. His punishment is not severe. Men like him who behave like this similarly are able to ruin women's careers sometimes driving them to suicide, but never are so much as fined for it. These rapists and harassers are why we have societal issues like inequality. They've condemned multiple women to infamy, indignity, poverty and even death simply because they wanted to hurt them. There is no punishment too severe for rapists and harassers. I hope to see worse punishment for Weinstein and his ilk.
It's deeply annoying that a rapist is humanized over women.
6
Extremely disappointed in this talented man, but delighted with this result. Lock him up.
6
I'm very, very sad for what Bill Cosby did. He's like my black uncle by marriage who totally let me down. I loved "Fat Albert" as a kid growing up in the 70s. It was an early introduction to anything resembling Black culture and a celebration of multiculturalism. It taught me that multiculturalism was a cool asset to our society and a fact of life in America. "The Cosby Show" also did much to normalize Blacks as acceptably upper class in a white Reagan-dominated society. I know there were other Black shows then as well but Cosby really was a pioneer.
That doesn't excuse his sins but his moral failings don't change the fact that he had a positive affect on a generation that advanced race relations. I can't emphasize enough the influence "Fat Albert" had on me as a white girl in a white neighborhood and, especially, in a white fundamentalist evangelical school founded by racist graduates of Bob Jones University. That small window into Black urban life on Saturday mornings directly fostered my ease with and acceptance of multiculturalism in our country.
That said, Harvey Weinstein is a monster for his audaciously blatant predations on women in what should have been professional working environments. He was sadistic in his calculated manipulations that blunted, twisted, or destroyed many careers. That an equally famous black man was relentlessly pursued for justice while the evil white guy seems to be walking free, leaves me feeling very, very unsettled...and just sad.
38
Going forward, the subject of Trump's past alleged sexual predation should be brought up at every White House press briefing. The media has a clear duty here not to let his numerous female victims' believable accounts just aimlessly drift into a public amnesia. May his parroting mouth piece, Huckster Sanders, be confronted often and pointedly by the press corps on this vital issue, by male and female journalists alike.
If a sitting President cannot be held to account for credible allegations of his past vile and criminal behaviors, we have truly lost our way as a democracy where purportedly no one is above the law.
13
Just another "entitled' male headed for jail. Lucky for Cosby (and the so-called president among so many others) that her family didn't intervene - or any of the families of the other women.
1
I was just looking at the Wikipedia page for Ennis Cosby. They say when Bill Cosby arrived at his house the day Ennis was killed, he told the crowd of reporters, « he was my hero ».
I would guess that that day, the day Ennis was killed, was worse for Bill Cosby than yesterday.
It just seems like things are becoming too much extreme. Today Ronan Farrow is Mister Perfect, and Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein are the Devil incarnate.
In fact, my guess, is that the world is more complicated than that.
The problem is men ? Yes, but both Bill and Harvey, and Donald too, they are all married. Are these women stupid ? Or do they lie to themselves ? Or do they just not care as long as the money is good ?
Let’s go beyond seeing how much we detest Bill, Harvey, and Donald.
We live in a complicated world. People are good and bad, in the same person.
6
It's time for CONGRESS and STATE GOVERNMENTS to pass a laws requiring a minimum JAIL time IN A REAL JAIL for anyone who molests another human being - with no time off for good behavior. I hope the people I vote for are reading this.
4
Daughter wears a buzz cut and I have been thinking about why is this a trend. My theory: it’s a defense mechanism and a rejection of a world where iconic father figures like Cosby are actually serial rapists and millions of your fellow citizens not only think it’s ok but actually elect to the most powerful position on earth a predator who treats women like property. These buzz cut young women (and those who aren’t but have the same frame of reference) aren’t going to be no Melania with long manes. They just want to go about their business without being preyed upon, and clearly from the headlines you can’t trust everyone. This toxic version of masculinity is the root of destructiveness and violence across the globe and needs to be called out and rejected by all good people regardless of gender, especially all the normal well adjusted men.
12
In fairness, some of us wear short hair purely because it's flattering. The idea that long hair = sexual allure is way past its sell-by date.
That said, I agree with your statement, "They just want to go about their business without being preyed upon". I am a whole lot more interested in living my life than in attracting men in every aspect of my social interactions. I like men, I enjoy them, and I adore romance--in its place. Which is NOT the workplace, or while I'm just "going about my business".
5
Let's also be very clear that toxic masculinity is directly enabled, supported, celebrated and kept in power by patriarchal religions - Christianity, of course, but also Islam (not sure about Hinduism and the others as I've not studied them as closely). It's time we relentlessly highlight and call out the passages in the Bible (and Koran) that speak of women's "proper" roles, abusuve punishments for children, and how-to tips on managing your slaves.
While I don't condone bookburning, deleting or changing history, or interfering in religious practices that are Constitutional, informed consented to by all involved including children, and done in the privacy of church and home, we do need to demand that religions that want continued acceptance in society actively and boldly reject those parts of their holy books that condone abuse, sexism, and racism. Humans all have a dark side but I don't think there is no institution more responsible for harnessing, nurturing, and weaponizkng that dark side than religion. It's time we take a stand against the old forms of it and actively encourage religion to take stock and evolve.
4
Just Deserts
Bill has a kink, hellzapoppin, oh dear
Likes ladies unconscious and him in high gear,
He’s a celeb, different rules do apply
Don’t ever complain, it’s best you don’t try -
”I didn’t do it,” she is a gold digger
Left back in school and tries to figure
The bankroll she’ll covet when she refrains
From pursuing all her spurious claims;”
But time and tide now change by the hour,
Once challenging claims now have the power
To hold to account and place behind bars
Celebrity folk who twinkled like stars.
6
Unusual?! Guys you are still missing the point. There are men who molest women their whole lives.
13
I think the biggest lesson to be learned here is that Cosby and the peers he came up with think or at least thought that what he was doing was/is OK. Normal even. Into the 70's there was a lot of joking about Spanish fly. In my youth it was a mythological drug that "made women insatiable". One infers voluntarily willing. Anyway one can extrapolate back to the 50's when Bill was a young man that it might have been a drug that instead of "making women insatiable" made it "impossible for a women to resist men". One can see how men who would use such a drug might say it made it impossible for women to resist a man's advances. Now you and I might infer that meant they were made sexually excited and willing, but what if it meant so in a literal sense? That it literally incapacitated women so that a man could do as he pleased?
There was then a culture of making the victim responsible for the perps choice to exploit/betray their trust in the way perps like him see things. You can see this in his earlier humor and it was a social trope back in the 60's to blame the victims. "What were you wearing." "Why did you take the drink?" "You must have known this would happen, therefore you must have wanted it. And now you are trying to profit from it."
I think the blame the victim mentality is behind that anger we saw in his outburst. He may actually think that his victims were willing because they took the drugs he induced them to take under false pretense, from him.
4
So will anything happen to our molester in chief? He's been accused of various types of sexual assault by how many women and there's a video of him bragging about grabbing women. And he's the president of the United States. Something is clearly wrong here.
13
"The persistent pathology of Mr. Cosby’s conduct is rare."
I don't agree. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Look into incel.
11
I learned under the age of 10 that my parents acted as if I was lying or exaggerating when I told them something terrible and have seen this same phenomena persist in every nation on my fifty plus years on the planet.
When dozens of women have the same story of being raped, its not a lie or exaggeration but the truth. Too bad it takes dozens of women to be raped for their truth to finally be believed.
56
I disagree. Dozens of women telling the same story of being raped cannot be equated with "the truth." What it can and should be, is taken seriously and sufficient reason for a criminal investigation.
Millions of people back Donald Trump's rhetoric. That does not make it "true." Millions of people have believed the same narrative about millions of things, and that did not necessarily mean that they were correct.
To equate accusations, no matter how many, as being the unequivocal truth is to undermine the justice system. We've already got people doing that, and we do not need more. No. What we need is to create a society in which women, and anyone, are taken seriously when they talk about their experiences. For most of humankind's history, women were not given the benefit of the doubt. Women, men, people transitioning, people who do not feel affiliated to any sex -- all must be given the benefit of the doubt, and taken very seriously by a legal system that hasn't and by a culture that hasn't.
But no amount of people repeating a story can be allowed to make that story "true" without due process.
3
You make an excellent and crucial point when you point out what an uphill battle this is and will continue to be. Why you consider Cosby's predatory behavior rare baffles me. It seems sadly like business as usual for a certain level of predatory entitlement.
6
There are degrees of sexual abuse on a continuum. All the men who have sex with adult women in full use of their faculties are not in the same league as the predators who drug or threaten harm as coercion. Next are those with fame who are habitual, after the fact users of gag agreements to cover their predatory habits. Further still down the continuum are incestuous fathers and other adult men who prefer sexual power over children. The default in this culture has been to protect predatory behavior first, now changing for the better as victim/survivors find their voices.
4
The rich and powerful mostly dodge legal accountability for all their crimes. How many Wells Fargo executives are in the dock?
4
I am completely torn about this verdict....on the one hand its good that victims can work towards finally getting closure but it also baffles me greatly at how this man could be found guilty with so little concrete evidence, shaky testimonies decades after the fact yet we have people being murdered on film and can't seem to find justice for those victims on what should seemingly be open and shut cases....
3
Until the sick, twisted, cold-hearted, deranged narcissist who is sitting in OUR White House is taken down and sentenced for his crimes, I am not paying attention to charges against any one else. It is too much of a double standard to stomach. Especially after a perfectly good, and decent man from Minnesota, who championed women's causes, was stabbed in the back.
12
Al Franken set an excellent standard for admitting wrong-doing, apology to his victims, and seeking a way to atone for his bad acts. He was awaiting the "due process" that comes from an investigation and a ruling on the results of that investigation. He was not allowed to complete that process, which could have established some important precedents for the future. I would like to hear more from him.
9
So they’re “waiting things out”, huh? Waiting for what? A return to the 1950s? Guess what, boys. There’s no turning back the clock. Times have changed and time’s up.
2
Yes, it is time to haul away others who have got away with this kind of behavior and made a complete mockery of both their victims and the justice system. There is one currently in the White House that needs similar treatment as did Mr. Cosby.
4
If sexual harassment & rape by celebrities is any more egregious, or even more noteworthy, than sexual harassment and rape by the guy who manages the store next door, it's because of the strange, almost religious power that we give to celebrities. We need to be reminded, or just to learn, that celebrity is a lie. That entertainment might be fun, but it's based on manipulation. Those faces on the screens and in the tabloids, whether promoting themselves or being exploited to promote media, conceal real people, but the images are not the people. The people may be criminals or saints, jerks or nice guys; 99% of the time we know absolutely nothing about them. Especially now that we're turning democracy & government over to the celebrity-industrial complex, it might be wise to think about this.
39
Too big to fail, in a patriarchy where men preside economically and politically. I know it well. When I took my former husband (now deceased), state legislator and president of ATLA (American Trial Lawyers Assoc), to court because he refused to pay for medical treatment (appendectomy) for our daughter (as specified in our divorce agreement), he sneered at me and announced, "You can't win in this court. I'm the one who got the
judge put on the bench." And indeed, he was correct. The judge took me aside and said, "You shouldn't antagonize (my ex-husband). I know he's a good guy because we play golf together." Good grief.
15
Whether it's law, politics, business, religion or any other arena, the creepiness that emerges in human behavior has always been ubiquitous. The ancient Greeks addressed it with mythology that continues to resonate in the terminology of modern psychoanalysis. Then, as now, that proved widely entertaining (and instructive) for the titillation of the initial acts and the ultimately ironic consequences of the moral violations. This 21st Century edition has been a durable, if tedious, drama of an heroic, comedic figure's tragic descent into ignominy.
And that, my dear, is show business. But while that play may be over, stand by. Another, far larger production is gathering tension and trembling in the great theater of politics.
3
There are women in the Trump case who deserve there day in court. Justice for all will make a very powerful statement this is not a democrat or republican issue it is a human issue. It is about time we treat people with dignity and respect starting from the top.
10
I think it's also a reckoning for women who for the sake of career mentoring, progress and all sorts of other reasons take chances. What's wrong with meeting in public?
6
Have you read these women's accounts? You are assuming they had some power to make decisions about where they met. "For the sake of her career" is the whole point. Men have had all the power for centuries and in many industries no amount of talent, integrity, hard work and persistence could overcome the whims of the man in charge. Look at Tippi Hedren who's career was stopped in it's tracks because she refused to play the game with Alfred Hitchcock. Women had to take chances or forget having a career.
8
This is a take down of a black American icon invited by the "me too" movement. I am sure Trump is also on their radar. Was Cosby guilty? Probably. But the standard is "beyond a reasonable doubt."Do I doubt the veracity of his accuser? Yes. This woman took a huge payout to buy her silence, then broke the agreement. You can't have your cake and eat it too. She milked Cosby with 100's of post "attack" phone calls and lots of schmoozing for lots of $$$. If she was a victim, she sure did not act like one. Sorry.
8
STEVE: Agree with your assessment "tout a fait," and also wonder how the jury--having served on one have always found them to be serious and scrupulous about following the letter of the law--could have found Cosby guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, especially in view of accuser's harassment of the entertainer after spending the night with him. Hunch that millions of women, including spouses, are now seeing dollar signs where once they had stars in their eyes, and speculating how they can make a buck, cash in since it has proved so easy for Ms. Constand to win her case.
2
This latest Cosby reckoning has made me wonder just WHERE is Harvey Weinstein these days? How does he get to hide some place out of sight? What is going on with his 'deal'? For all we know he's left the country.
12
I've seen the occasional update in the LATimes and he's not left the country. He has a place in Arizona near the "treatment" facility he had been attending for his "addiction". He's been spotted at restaurants around there keeping a very low profile. He comes to LA every so often, I think recently for a family matter, and has a place here as well where he's been seen recently. I also read that he's working to liquidate assets for his divorce and upcoming legal matters. Not sure about his NYC status.
3
Weinstein is hunkered down in an estate in Scottsdale, AZ while the NYPD, LAPD and Scotland Yard are each conducting their own investigations. The man is not going anywhere but a courtroom and then jail, shortly thereafter.
3
celebrity takedown the first. no that was the senator from Minnesota. for Mr Huxteble good times await.
1
I’m just wondering, do you include Bill Clinton among your group of “others?” When is his day of reckoning, or does he get a pass because he is Clinton?
10
Just EXACTLY, what crime did Bill Clinton commit? As far as I know, the women who slept with him were consenting adults .... people who could have gotten up and walked out of the room. They were not drugged or forced. To this day, anyone victimized by violent assault, sexual or otherwise, needs to call the police. No exceptions. But do not have sex with your boss and then complain 20 years later ...
5
Yes, he probably will get a pass along with thousands of other men who won't be brought to justice, including the current president. There are not the resources to bring every living predator to justice. But everyone who IS brought down is a victory.
"The persistent pathology of Mr. Cosby’s conduct is rare."
And how, preytell, would the editorial board possibly know this?
It can't "know" this, simply because in all likelihood it isn't true. The evidence goes in the OPPOSITE direction.
WHO has our population elected as its leader? Do you see no resemblance?
We've devolved into a "might makes right" society, in which the rule of law has given way to idolization of "strongmen" who consider themselves above the law, & above moral principle. They self-congratulatorily regard themselves as moral pragmatists: whatever works.
Do you not read your own paper? Trump declared "The law is totally on my side. The president can't have a conflict of interest." L'etat c'est moi.
Do you not read your own paper? Just days ago your writers (Sunday Magazine) chronicled the very New York-centered cultural shift that paved Trump's path: NY culture in the 1980s embraced materialism & rejected morality, setting the national trajectory.
Abuse of power, be it for sex, money, or just the thrill of domination, is rampant, epidemic, and all forms are of a piece.
Several months ago, a Times article discussing Trump diagnosed an escalating national-cultural trend: the increasing "personalization of power."
What's it all about? 80s snarky "morality is bunk" cynicism that gave us Wall Street greed & criminality, a predatory casino huckster prez, a predatory Arkansas huckster (& almost his wife) prez... Cosby, Weinstein.... It's epidemic.
11
Andrew: World is not perfect, which is why you should follow Candide's example and cultivate your own garden. When has the world ever been free of venality and greed, artifice, men preying on women and women preying on men, Verdict in Cosby trial leaves me incredulous since many of the victims continuied to hound Cosby for more money years after the "seductions" took place!
Thank you! "Rare" -- we wish. Patterns of behavior like this seem common among sexual abusers. Hundreds of female gymnasts concur, as do the boys abused by Penn State "mentor" and coach Sandusky.
2
This makes me wish my stepfather was still alive. He molested me for years as a child and was not punished for it. #MeToo
6
Interesting how one of the darlings of the left, Brokaw, has somehow almost escaped media attention despite two women accusing him of sexual harassment. The only article the NYT carried was from the Associated Press which only reported on the denial, not the actual allegations.
4
More reckonings are needed. Cosby remains defiant, not contrite in the least. Only concerned with his image.
Good guys, married men, do not spend a lifetime chasing women, armed with drugs and handlers covering for them.
Cosby is a rapist and a destroyer - that is his legacy.
16
Justice at last. May Cosby’s fate befall so many other predators like Woody Allen who has managed to squirm out of culpability for molesting Dylan Farrow when she was just a child. We women who have been through these traumas throughout our lives pray #Timesup for real.
11
Does the Hollywood Hero Roman Polanski ring a bell?
"In a sense, this exception both proves the rule — power provides protection — and shows that that shield is not impenetrable. The verdict and the prosecution should make clear that women need to be listened to and their accusations need to be taken seriously."
The same idea should apply to adults who report child abuse, especially when the abusers were employees of the government paid to be caring for and protecting them.
The go to move seems to be to abuse the reporting victim back into silence.
4
With the swear word that Cosby hurled in court at the prosecution leaves no doubt that he has no remorse and no sense of responsibility for the wake of hurt, he leaves behind. So be it. Throw the book at this degenerate.
14
Male entitlement to women's bodies is nothing new. From Deuteronomy to Incel in Toronto, women have suffered and been killed because of it for thousands of years.
5
It's not beyond a possibility that race and the atmosphere since last year's Hollywood harassment scandals involving powerful media figures played a part in the majority white jury's verdict. And that might also play a role in Cosby's appeal, since the jury was not by any stretch one of his peers (only two jurors, a man and a woman, were black among the 12, 7 men and 5 women). One is left wondering a few things for sure besides possible jury bias: Why was his accuser Costand allowed to bring a case against Cosby after accepting over $3 million dollars to leave him alone? Why was Cosby also not charged with illegally dispensing prescription drugs? Why did his lawyers not insist that he be tried in Philadelphia, where the racial mix of the jury would have included more black Americans, given that this country's white prosecutors and courts up to this very day have a very long rap sheet for selecting majority white juries to convict innocent blacks on just about any charge?
3
Why is Bill Cosby going to jail but not Matt Lauer or Tom Brokaw? The hand of justice seems not only slow but uneven.
6
Premeditated assault of an unconscious woman seems like a good place to start. Harassment, no matter how persistent and vile, isn't usually a jailable offense. Even in the U.S. we don't have enough jails.
3
(oops.)
"The persistent pathology of Mr. Cosby’s conduct is rare."
And how, *pray tell*, would the editorial board possibly know this?
It can't "know" this, simply because in all likelihood it isn't true. The evidence goes in the OPPOSITE direction.
WHO has our population elected as its leader? Do you see no resemblance?
We've devolved into a "might makes right" society, in which the rule of law has given way to idolization of "strongmen" who consider themselves above the law, & above moral principle. They self-congratulatorily regard themselves as moral pragmatists: whatever works.
Do you not read your own paper? Trump declared "The law is totally on my side. The president can't have a conflict of interest." L'etat c'est moi.
Do you not read your own paper? Just days ago your writers (Sunday Magazine) chronicled the very New York-centered cultural shift that paved Trump's path: NY culture in the 80s embraced materialism & rejected morality, setting the national trajectory.
Abuse of power, be it for sex, money, or just the thrill of domination, is rampant, epidemic, & all forms are of a piece.
Several months ago, a Times article discussing Trump diagnosed an escalating national-cultural trend: the increasing "personalization of power."
What's it all about? 80s snarky "morality is bunk" cynicism that gave us Wall Street greed/criminality, a predatory casino huckster prez, a predatory Arkansas huckster (& almost his wife) prez... Cosby, Weinstein.... It's epidemic.
1
While I am pleased to see Cosby and other men convicted for their assaults on women--assaults which leave deep scars and often shatter lives, I also feel for these men in certain ways. So any little boys have been taught to control themselves and their emotions, and also have learned that they are powerful when they can control others, Men's conditioning, as is true of women's conditioning,often severely limits their ability to develop the full range of their humanity to the detriment of all including other species,
So I applaud the verdict, but I hope we all wake up and develop the better angels of our nature to use Abraham Lincoln's words. Let's make life on earth heaven and not hell. and let us realize that what we sow we shall surely reap!
3
Time has finally caught up with Bill Cosby. His heyday, the 1960s and the 1970s era of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, is over (at for those who no longer want to participate). He has fallen from grace; he is no longer America’s dad. Who will replace him?
1
I am still stunned that 63 million turned away from the obvious and elected the little monster, our president. And most of them still like the little monster & apparently think grabbing women so is OK. And mocking the handicapped. And inciting violence. And they will vote again. And on and on...
May he go the path of Cosby.
26
In a country where a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich and a regular jury will convict a black man for eating a ham sandwich, Bill Cosby's conviction is poor evidence that there is any change in either justice for sexual assault or the problem of the justice you can afford.
3
I am sure that Cosby is guilty, and I am sure that Ronan Farrow is not a rapist.
But there still seems something odd about Mr. Farrow. His father, Frank Sinatra, pushed a woman into a glass window once, I think that I read.
When Harvey Weinstein went after Gwenth Paltrow, Ms. Paltrow told her boyfriend, Brad Pitt, all about it.
And I think Mr. Pitt spoke to Mr. Weinstein about it.
But wait, wasn’t there something Angela Jolie said about Brad ? Something that wasn’t quite right, with one of the kids, while flying in a private jet ?
Regrettable too that Gwenth Paltrow’s marriage to the « cold play » guy didn’t last. But they are going to remain « good friends ».
My point is, let’s not start looking at the world in terms of « all good, or all bad « .
3
Under Cliff Huxtable, Bill Cosby played the the life he wanted to live or the life he wanted others to believe he lived.
Cosby is neither the first nor the last man to act his entire life. He is a serial lier and a serial sexual predator. Eventually, Trump’s double-life will come crashing.
Oh, wait, is this about Cosby or Trump? It doesn’t matter. Birds of a feather...
5
Gosh. I have to say, as a survivor of a family in which the father was a sexual predator preying on everyone, a survivor of daily sexual assault in the form of boob grabbing in the hallways of my crowded high school, as a survivor of date rape, as the survivor of an overt breast manipulation when I gave someone a hug at my 35th birthday party (after which the witnesses said, I should have kicked him, but did nothing to defend me either), the words 'women need to be listened to and their accusations need to be taken seriously" just sounds so weak and watered down. Do I appreciate your sentiment? Or do I hold you accountable for not demanding that the power structures be rewritten and the culture be changed?
10
Cosby is not ashamed of what he did. He’s ashamed he got caught.
10
What's really disconcerting is that there were whispers about Cosby and Weinstein for decades. Cindy Adams and Liz Smith had blind items here and there back in the 70s and 80s about these guys (and others). It's not like the internet came along and info went viral and they suddenly got caught.
4
Bill Cosby the first guest on the new Charlie Rose show? Bill, wearing a Coogi sweater relates how 50 years of incidents are a misunderstanding of his true colors.
Is there a commons thread to the
#Me Too where individuals use their fame, power and perversions to color their serial abuses?
In today’s digital loom, all threads are viewable and the skein of abuses dyed and tried in a court of law.
My bubble was burst yesterday. I teach a 100-level college gender studies class, and I'm about to begin the segment on sexual violence that I do every semester. Six of the 30 the students in the class had heard of the #metoo movement.
8
I should say "only" six. 18–20 year old college students do not know that there is a political movement, a current wave of accusations, nor that sexual harassment regularly occurs in the workplace.
Comments ranged from "I'd slap him to snap him out of it" to "I'd get a different job" to "I'd just tell the manager so he'd be fired."
6
Not so sure it really is all that rare.
It’s not.
It's also time for Clarence Thomas to face the music.
15
There is a saying that justice delayed is justice denied. Well, almost.
That it took half a century of silent suffering and enduring nightmare of living with the trauma of sexual assault by dozens of women to bring Cosby to justice proves that justice isn't blind, that people with name, fame and lots of dollars can get away with almost anything most of the time.
It's a shame that Harvey Weinstein is still free.
How long would it be before the current occupant of the White House, also accused of sexual assault by a score of women (and caught bragging about his his sexual assaults on video) is brought to justice? Would it ever happen?
That a little less than half of the voters elected this sexual assaulter to be their President and believe in his easily verifiable lies doesn't give much hope that the broader culture and collective consciousness is ready to evolve beyond the violently primitive mindset anytime soon.
4
I think I know someone who will not be held accountable for his deplorable behavior towards women. He sits in the White House and my guess is he will be there for the next 6 years getting re-elected with the help of the hypocrites, men and women, from the evangelical right.
11
I hope the “MeToo” movement does help women rouse the courage needed to expose the men who harass or abuse them, and then press for justice, but so far this “movement” is basically a tag line, a phrase, adopted by journalists, and often credited with power that it lacks. Yes, about a score of male celebrities — comics, actors, producers, politicians — have been exposed and featured in accusatory headlines. However, can anyone name a large corporation that has altered its HR policies in response to #MeToo? Has there been any new state legislation passed protecting female workers from abuse and making it easier for them to register complaints without fear of retribution? Has anybody read a good article about the number of women who clean houses or wrap tacos who have managed to bring their (not famous) abusive managers and employers to justice of some sort, thanks to the power of #MeToo?
So many women are still in the shadows.
We’ve got a long way to go. #MeToo is a good step, but this road keeps doubling back on itself. The fact that Donald Trump, an exploitative and sleazy sexist, has become President of the United States warns us that this is not going to be easy.
8
I want to see the day when all powerful men--from the president of the United States on down--look down the dank, cold corridor of a prison as they make that slow, shackled walk to a cell. As they pass others, shadowy faces in the dark, they'll hear the catcalls and the whistles and the kissing sounds that will evoke the nights (or days) of terror that they once visited upon their victims, women (mostly) who trusted them.
Bill Cosby took out a loan on our good will half a century ago. We never charged him interest. We never questioned his good intentions. There were those who were intimidated by his power, his wealth, his fame, his formidable talent. It's hard to blame a woman for not refusing his advances, but that's the point. The advances were made under the stealthy cover of friendship or care, their judgment befogged by wine or drugs.
Women whose faces we know very well from the large screen ran the gauntlet of humiliation and degradation to reach the point of our notice. Without their sacrifices, most would have been labeled "nobodies." As Dionne Warwick once famously sang in Do You Know The Way to San Jose, "parking cars or pumping gas." Or worse.
When the women who (allegedly) suffered at the hands of a man who would become a president have their day in court like Bill Cosby had today, will they find closure? What of the trail of Cosby's countless damaged souls?
At bottom of all this is that some--many--most--all--men do not respect women.
Where do we begin?
7
It was in the 1980s when I first saw things about Cosby I did not like, like when he stared at a women's breasts and said they should be bigger.
That's a while ago. I guess it's been gone a long time ago since that. And it's been going on a long time.
I've never not believed he's been that kind of person.
2
Interested in the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature? If so you might want to learn about the decades long support by the Swedish Academy of a man, Jean Claude Arnault, who ran a culture club owned by him and his wife,, Academy member Katarina Frostenson.
His story begins In 1994 when a young artist, Anna-Karin Bylund, held her first show at the club and continued to 1996 when he interfered with her second, treating her with extraordinary disdain.
This led Bylund in 1996 to show great courage, by sending a signed letter to the Academy in which she reported that in 1994 she had been subjected to "sexual harassment and abuse" and from that time on had understood that this or worse was the price to be paid by female artists who wished to appear at the club.
The recipient of her letter, Sture Allén, did not think the letter was important. Complaint dismissed. Instead the Academy chose to support the club financially, and a key member, Horace Engdahl, proposed that Arnault should receive a salary for life and even run a school to teach Swedish men how to be gentlemen.
DN recently received a letter from American critic James Wood published in Swedish by DN. The letter ends with these words I fully support (my back translation):
"Who would want to receive the Nobel prize in literature from such a diminished, wounded, and disgusting group?"
Knowing this, how will you, Times Reader view the Prize if given?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
3
@ myself LL - It takes decades, 5 of them for Cosby, 3 of them for Arnault. I add that only as a result of DN staff member Matilda Gustavsson were a series of unpleasant truths about not only Jean Claude Arnault but also about the Swedish Academy, many of its members, and others revealed.
She identified 18 women who had been mistreated by Arnault and who were willing to talk. She gathered their accounts of mistreatment and then she did everything possible to find others who could confirm what she had been told by one or more of the 18.
At no point did the Swedish Academy distinguish itself in its responses to the initial charges and many that followed. Even the then head of the Academy, Sara Danius, admitted that even she had been approached by Arnault in inappropriate ways yet had chosen not to tell anyone about this.
Calls have been made to empty the Academy and lay out a plan to start all over again. Yet one of the worst figures outside of Arnault himself, Horace Engdahl, insists that he and others who did not choose to leave the Academy will be able to choose a person to receive the prize.
I can only say along with James Wood that if a person is chosen by a small group with Horace Engdahl as a leader, that person should think twice before accepting.
What were the other judges in the other two cases thinking when they declined to allow other women who were raped by Cosby from testifying? This was a different outcome because the judge hearing the case allowed more witnesses to testify. This proved that Cosby had a pattern in the way he accosted and raped many women.
It is why the Jury hearing the case convicted him, unlike other juries. It makes a difference when a jury can hear all of the facts, not just those the Judge decides can be heard.
Justice has been served in this case. Here is hoping when other cases are heard Judges will allow a more open hearing.
6
I wager I am not alone in thinking of a certain person who has been accused of similar assaults by 21 separate women, and was also accused of sexually assaulting a then 13 year old child.
It is long past time for him to be held to account.
7
Money and positions of power can't buy you love, but forcing oneself on women just might earn you time in jail. That's the latest and final moral lesson from Dr. Huxtable. Are you paying attention Donald and Harvey?
7
"But a majority of the men accused of improper, even criminal, actions in recent months are unlikely to be
brought to justice..."
"...accused..." "...improper..." "...criminal..."
alas, absent "criminal actions," (now very much on the radar) the "there" (of "improper") is nearly everywhere
...anytime.
Certainly women need justice. But taking glee in demise of once revered comedian makes no sense. He's eighty and in failing health. I get it. But why these women didn't voice sooner is mystery. Just seems feasting on raw meat...............
Well a large part of the problem is ignorance like yours.
"The Victim Is Never Responsible!"
Many of them did "voice" sooner and were ignored or silenced by the machinations of lawyers paid to silence them.
Ms Constand the complainant here was paid off back when she reported what happened and the DA it seems was complicit in her silencing at that time.
But society does slowly change and an off hand flippant joke by a man chastising Cosby for his phony moralizing that went viral brought attention to the fact that so many women have been making these same claims for decades and nothing has come of it. Most of us know by now that very few people will make such a claim falsely.
That started the ball rolling and when right minded DA's looked at the whole story and the many dozens of women who told similar tales they realized that this was the only case that could be filed. They did so literally on almost the last day possible.
So
2
No mystery about a system that puts the accuser on trial. You should not have worn, or gone to, or been there, or had sex with others... my own mother asked why I went with my stepfather at age 12. It is we the women who are being asked to change; our behavior, our clothes, and our demeanor. No, there is no mystery about a system that puts that the accuser on trial.
26
Dear April : I understand your passion, but you're moving dangerously close to a system imposing a burden of proof on the the accused to prove innocence; i.e., contrary to our system.
Almost all men are guilty.
1
Lots of women today are waking up feeling like their lives have been handed back to them. Parts of their lives left in Bill Cosby's home or hotel room years ago.
Too many women still deserve (need!) this day, when crippling silence, fear and buried pain is over; invisibility, shaming and denial is over. A faith born that society & the legal system will simply, respectfully hear them.
26
This is a day to be celebrated, for sure. But none of the things you mention are "over." Far from it. They happen in every state in the country, every single day.
And it's not just women who need this day. Men, too, need this day, if they hope to contribute to a society in which criminal action is taken seriously and in which speaking out isn't stigmatized.
2
I couldn't agree with you more!
The "day" I was referring to was a particular day, today, when one could imagine in their waking a new wholeness. One could see in the faces & gestures of these women & hear in the words of those who spoke, the joy & liberation of truths being heard & validated.
I could imagine them waking this morning- unburdened of a heavy weight & renewed. Many women deserve and need THIS day.
1
Hopefully one byproduct of this verdict will be to give a stronger voice to other victims whose accusations have been relegated to back burners or dismissed as here-say. In particular, the women who have accused tRump must be heard. No one should be immune from facing his accusers. We cannot selectively decide who is worthy of public exposure as opposed to those being protected from scrutiny
7
I am not sure what it means to say that other guilty men are "waiting things out". If they have committed crimes, the statutes of limitation will not have run out by the time they re-emerge (whatever that means). If not, and it is just a matter of holding on until the uproar subsides, then the outrage cannot have been as deep as it has been portrayed.
Violations will not go away. This is not supposed to be about the fickle sensibilities of the social media brigade, or the attention span of the "real" media.
1
And many men have silently watched but never said or did a thing. I have seen things, but not actively participated in, that are horrible. I remember the acts but not the people as it was 50 years ago. I was 16.
I live with that in shame.
I do tell friends the stories which cannot be told here.
Me too
9
Tell them HERE. Shout them from the mountains. Every time you hold back you are adding to the problem.
2
Yes, others will face justice too. Unfortunately, the machinery of justice often takes too much time - decades in Cosby's case. But at least the accused had his due process and the right to face his accusers.
What I find much more disturbing in the convicted Cosby case vs the Weinstein allegations is that Cosby drugged his many many victims before raping them. As bad as Weinstein allegedly is, he did not stoop to that level, of incapacitating his victims before assaulting them.
Justice finally prevailed in the Cosby case, it will prevail eventually with Weinstein.
10
Justice may take it's time but it finally arrived. Cosby knew exactly what he did but chose to ignore his conscience, and the harm done by sexually abusing his victims. Jail at 80 may not sound very appealing but is well deserved.
13
All rapists need to be behind bars. Age isn't a 'get out of jail card'.
1
The civil lawsuit for defamation against Trump by Summer Zervos, presently pending in New York state court, who initially alleged past sexual misconduct committed by him against her before becoming President would, if successful, send another dramatic message that even the protective "shield" provided by ultimate political power is "not impenetrable".
Hopefully, the Cosby guilty verdict will usher in the near future reexaminations and pursuits of the many allegations of sexual misconduct committed in the past by our denying 45th President, with attendant consequences for his totally unacceptable behaviors. Many of the women involved in these experiences have also waited years and years for their own Trump Reckonings.
18
We must ensure that our children are clear that this is wrong, illegal, and harmful behavior. We must believe them when they report this. And we must report it immediately when it happens. It's time to remove the stigma and shame so that it never, ever happens again.
As far as those who have gotten away with it (legally), we must do what we can to respond in ways that will end their careers, marriages, or whatever matters most. No one is above the law. Not even the president.
7
The depth and breadth of the consternation attendant this case has little to do with the moral failures of the comedian Bill Cosby and much to do with the moral disappointment attendant the fall of Dr. Cliff Huxtable. This says something about our society’s drift into a space wherein increasingly we are perilously conflating personas for people.
9
I suspect he will spend zero days behind bars. Appeals will keep him in luxurious but certain isolation for the rest of his days. The good he and his family did for education in particular seems tainted. Women have advanced immeasurably. I guess the proof was in the pudding.
6
Thank, thank you for this editorial. I am not sure whether art imitates life or life imitates art, but I feel as if I am watching endless episodes of Law and Order: SVU, filmed in your own New York City. But this epidemic of sexual assault and exploitation invades every city of every state, perpetrated by the unknown as well as the celebrity. No woman should be abused like these women, and every victimized woman should be listened to with immediate retribution and vindication. The humiliation, the theft of one's identity and personhood, the psychological and physical scars are criminal. The men who force themselves are no more than soulless animals. This has got to stop. What will it take? How much longer will we cast a blind eye when it comes to the rich, the famous...the political leader.
4
This is a small victory for some women. This says nothing about women sans celebrity: nurses, teachers, shopgirls, mothers, women on dates. The women who endure lewd comments, those who are subject to work retaliation but cannot afford the enormous cost of legal representation will continue to be victims of both men and the legal system. Are their sufferings of any value to society? Women will fear the blacklist in the time of social media. Who can hire a great lawyer when there are bills to pay? Who can afford to be out of work in a "right to work" state during a deposition? One small comment to HR may devastate a career without recourse, and men know this. Will society change because of this decision? Family members will continue to molest little girls because young children think this normal. Who counsels young adolescent men to teach them right from wrong? Single, celibate clergy? Leaders in Congress? Media? How many men, young and old, believe that the greater the number of sexual conquests, the better? How many see this as possible abuse? How many fail to see that "ghosting" and "breadcrumbing" are also forms of mental abuse? None? How many will be exposed to abuse of women in pornography, but watch anyway? This is but a small victory in a sea of abuse. Now lets see where this leads. It should not be just on women to demand justice, men should want this too.
71
I agree with the general idea in most of what you said but some parts are troubling. I had to look up the definitions of 'ghosting' and 'breadcrumbing' and while those behaviors might be psychologically hurtful, they are not criminal. It is a slippery area to indulge our painful experiences as mental abuse and from there to criminalize anything that qualifies.
2
How can you write this and not include the role model of a president and a man/beast who thinks it is normal to grope women as a perk for his power.
6
I believe what happened here is that all those with a stake in seeing Cosby bought to justice finally felt someone would listen to them. The blind eye has been given its vision back. And these women finally felt the incline of injustice levelling off. And the majority of Americans stood behind them. All over this country "common sense, the right thing to do" is winning over high priced lawyers and denials and power over the powerless. Except for....Trump. He is followed by people who are more than willing to ignore his sins and rationalize his corruption for his promises of a better life. And like dealing with a trickle from a faucet, they will eventually see a bill much higher than they were expecting. They have been told to ignore the trickle because they will get far more than what is running down the drain. And they will have a choice: pay the bill or stop the leak. Slowly, but surely, they will join the rest of us and realize, like Cosby's victims, he is not a nice man. Despite what you have seen on TV.
11
A reckoning indeed and it only took how long? About 20 years? I'm sorry but while I'm not passing final judgment on his guilt or innocence, I AM speaking about the PROCESS and how the law is applied towards citizens accused of a crime but not convicted AND the time between the accusation and bringing charges. I cannot accept as fair a period of in many cases as much as 20 years with no charges filed and then, suddenly, a cascade of accusations that have had the effect of convicting in the court of public opinion. While I understand reasons for not wanting to go directly to police to report violations of the law, the burden of proof nevertheless is on the accuser, not the defendant and only when charges are filed in a timely manner can one expect to receive a fair trial. WHO can remember with perfect recollection the actual course of events from 10 or 20 years past? We're talking potentially sending defendants to prison for life and after a certain age and after the passage of many years it is NOT reasonable to expect clear recollection of facts, much less being able to substantiate them. I therefore believe that reinforcement of a statue of limitations must be reapplied in ALL criminal cases and reprisals against defendants before trial should be limited by gag orders on leaking details of criminal cases. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY is a foundation of our freedom and so is a time frame in which to accuse if we care about genuine fairness and not knee jerk justice.
4
ManhattanWilliam,
What statute of limitation would you impose on a four year old who was raped (as happened to a late acquaintance of mine)? 20 years would not be unreasonable, would it? Details may fade, but the basic facts of the crime and violation committed will remain. This is not an easy crime to accuse or prosecute. The victim may be too traumatized to come forward for years, and prosecutors are very reluctant to bring cases like these.
8
KRW do you really think a 4 year old will remember the details of a crime 20 YEARS AFTER IT TAKES PLACE? Of course it's traumatic but unfortunately we also have to remember that the burden of proof is ALWAYS on the accuser, regardless of age, and when the clues of a crime are obliterated (rape victims seeking justice should go immediately to the hospital, sorry but that is simply the way it is) then justice is never guaranteed. Criminal cases should never be easy to prosecute, that's precisely why the burden is on the accuser, to protect the defendant (and presumed innocent). No doubt guilty people go free but better that 99 guilty people go free than one innocent man is hanged.
You are not passing judgment William? But judgment has been passed by the jury and that's what counts.
Who was it that provided Cosby with the drugs that he used to render his victims helpless to sexual assault? The nefarious drugging of a person is also a crime. The drug used was certainly not Benadryl, as Cosby claimed.
At the sentencing hearing, the Judge might well give Cosby the opportunity to name the specific drugs he actually used, and his suppliers, as a public service, in consideration of the sentence and/or the possibility of parole. Perhaps there was a single supplier, or perhaps there were many, and possibly these suppliers are continuing to abet similar crimes to be committed upon helpless victims. The suppliers of these drugs are possibly participants in these crimes, as was every person who knowingly helped Cosby in any capacity. He didn't commit these crimes alone, but had help.
19
Mr. Crosby is experiencing the inverse of the old maxim: "Everybody loves a winner".
When someone is generally held in high regard, as Mr. Crosby was, it is a shock when it is all revealed as a disguise. This appears to be a classic case of hubris and entitlement leading to a spectacular collapse.
11
"The persistent pathology of Mr. Cosby’s conduct is rare. The fears of his accusers are not." Isn't that a non sequitur?
If the pathology were indeed rare, there would not be so many, so commonly fearful, accusers.
Judging from the profusion of evidence, the pathology must be a lot more common than we think.
28
I think that the word "persistent" is the word there. The paragraph referenced the fact that his behavior spanned 50 years and was very consistent in its form for all of that time. That the pathology is fairly common is evidenced by the #metoo movement.
7
Reading matters. C's mental illness is rare, thank God. His serial sickness/acting out is not the norm.
The major difference between Cosby's case and those of Charlie Rose, Al Franken, etc. is that Cosby's accusers had to face him in court, and Cosby had a due process opportunity to defend himself against the charges.
A lot of these other guys, while they may be just as guilty in the eyes of God, are out of their careers without any due process.
There is something not right about having your career and livelihood come to an end with no opportunity to defend yourself. Under American criminal law, you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. We make fun of other systems where the accused is presumed guilty and remains so unless able to prove himself not guilty. But under #MeToo, you are accused, you are guilty, and its case closed.
78
Perhaps those other men were admitting their guilt by choosing to resign their positions rather than fight the charges. Similarly, Dr. Jackson withdrew his nomination instead of defending himself against the allegations.
59
No, they were fired or forced to resign under high pressure. They were never offered a hearing or other forum, except for Franken, who resigned under the pressure of over 30 Democratic Senators insisting on his resignation. Some, later regretting their urging when he in fact resigned.
5
And many women lose their careers when they tell their true story of abuse by these men.
The punishment for women to even bring up something that has happened is far larger. They get ostracised at work, the lose their jobs, they lose career opportunities. They leave work altogether and become dependent on the state or on another man.
But lets just be worried about the men.
35
Bill Cosby has behaved abominably and arrogantly for decades, using the power of his status and wealth to intimidate, harass and demean his victims.
It should be slammer time for "America's Dad." I don't care how old he is. He's lived scot-free for far too long.
85
I think some men who are accused and guilty in the Me#2 movement are guilty of coercion and horrible action. Cosby is guilty of rape- much worse to me.
36
Dixon Duval: Yes, quite obviously. For that matter, there is quite a range both in kind and degree of "horrible action" among the "me too" accusations--which is not to suggest that these differences are analogous to that between "me too" collectively and rape.
That five woman who Cosby was not charged with assaulting were allowed to testify against him (in the retrial) is probably his best appeal point.
When I was in law school I was taught that evidence that the accused committed similar crimes to the one he is charged with is usually excluded. The theory is that it is improper to prove that the defendant was likely to have committed a crime because he committed the same crime against others.
I thought that was black letter law.
So for everyone who thinks all that’s left to do is send Cosby to jail and throw away the key - not so fast.
10
That has not been the law for over 15 years now in CA and many other states in sexual assault and domestic violence cases. Prior misconduct is admissible to show the accused has a propensity to commit the crimes charged.
65
No, the question is whether the evidence of prior bad acts is more prejudicial than probative. Meaning is it more prejudicial to the defendant – more harmful – than it is likely to lead to the truth. It is quite often found to be more prejudicial except in cases just like this one, where there is a particular signature to the crime. Not something that says this defendant has raped before so he probably raped this time. But a very specific “signature“ of the way this defendant commits the crime, such as making every rape victim spray herself with a specific brand of perfume - or in this case the very particular pattern of drugging the victims to immobilize them and then sexually penetrating them - that makes you think this victim is telling the truth because she is describing the exact same pattern that these previous five victims describe. In this case, the fact that five other women testified to the same pattern of assault that Andrea Constad testified to was allowed in because it was evidence of a very specific pattern and thus more likely to help the jury find the truth despite the prejudice to the defendant. And that is obviously true since in reality there are 60 women who could’ve testified.
In deciding how much of this evidence to allow in, the court had to weigh the prejudice to Cosby against the likelihood that the evidence would lead the jury to find the truth.
8
I thought once a PATTERN, three or more, of behavior was established, this could become evidence. Maybe I just picked that up from Perry Mason?
1
In the current atmosphere of persecution/prosecution of all the real and alleged sexual harassers and aggressors, we can only expect the turning of the back on the principle of "no corruption of blood", where the sons of the fathers will be also charged with the latters' crimes. Similarly to the claims of financial restitution made to the companies once benefiting from slavery.
2
Tuvw Xyz: WHY can we expect that? What evidence do you have that this will happen?
1
Even if morality doesn’t reach some would-be sexual abusers, fear of legal punishment just might deter the potential abusers. In the end, all of Cosby’s money and clout were no match for the justice system.
22
I just wished this would apply to Trump as well.
1
the swear word Cosby hurled at the prosecutor made for an eerie contrast between Mr. Morality from his Cosby Show and this sordid tale of a life of sexual predation.
many powerful men lead what amounts to double lives. the evil side destroys whatever achievements the public side boasts about.
Plotting comebacks? It will be up to all decent people--men and women--to make sure what the real legacy of these predators is and why it shouldn't be
forgotten.
77
I get that everyone has a right to a fair trial.
What’s hard to believe however after this conviction, and what seems to be clear and convincing evidence, that he has lawyers who want to file an appeal and continue to represent him.
21
But that is their job and also any defendant’s right.
Appellate judges look at the record. They look for any reversable error.
Sometimes ineffective representation of counsel is raised by the defendant, and pursued by new counsel.
It’s no surprise at all that a wealthy defendant with outstanding lawyers will present sophisticated arguments.
Lawyers who go to court are either prosecutors or defense lawyers. Both are crucial to the system. And none of them would spend any time at all arguing that the system is unbiased, let alone wonky.
But as fraught as the system is it’s what we have.
15
They're getting paid handsomely for their persistence.
2
Well paid lawyers.
1
Oddly, I wonder if Cosby went down first because, while he is a powerful celebrity, he is also black. It will be fascinating to see if the equally culpable white men are also brought to justice...
143
Regardless of his color, Crosby seems to be an extreme and evil case. Not everything has to do with race.
12
Yes, only Martha Stewart gets nailed for insider trading. The boys in the club skip away.
19
I’m not the right person to ask, but I think Bill Cosby is like OJ times 1 million in that his celebrity transcends his race and he was long beloved by white America as well as African Americans.
Because he did what he did, I’m glad he was convicted. But I grew up loving him and it’s not a happy day to be reminded that an American icon wasn’t who you grew up thinking he was, but was a predator of women. I am glad the women were finally believed and I wish they had been believed much sooner. I am sorry that it took such strength in numbers. But I still really really wish this weren’t who Bill Cosby truly was. I liked Dr. Huxtable better.
I have no such mixed emotions about Harvey Weinstein. The sooner I hear the jail doors slamming, the better.
22
"Women need to be listened to, and their accusations need to be taken seriously." Does that also apply to the 22 women who have accused Donald Trump of groping and sexually assaulting them? If not, why not? If the answer is that enough Americans knew about these accusations but still voted for Trump to make him president, that hardly settles the issue. The election was a mix of Russian interference, Bannon's diversionary tactic of attacks on Bill Clinton to show equivalence, and the result of Comey's mistimed intervention. If the reason these accusations against Trump are still not taken seriously is because Trump is president, then there is not equal treatment under the law. Trump and Huckabee Sanders can lie and cover up all they want, as they will. But Trump has showed all his life that he is coldly exploitative, and solely focused on his own gratification no matter the harm to others, simply because he has been able to bully and buy his way out of the consequences of his misdeeds.
309
In a recent poll 72% of Republicans said Donald Trump is a good role model for their children. We're often told that the "values" crowd is willing to avert their eyes from his behavior because they like his policies. But it's worse.
While I wouldn't leave my child alone in a room with Trump for five minutes, Republicans apparently want their kids to grow up To be like him. And they will .
42
Both (extremely powerful) men (trump/Cosby) are god awful.
But the difference:
Yes; Either of them could “have their way” with many females who are enticed by their societal power.
But ... Big Bill Cosby (who obviously had his choice of a harem of attractive females) - -
HAD TO DRUG A woman into emotional and physical vapidity and unconsciousness to get turned on (or at a minimum feel safe) to have a physical/sexual encounter.
Unbelievably, unconsciously sick and deranged
As psychotic as a mass murderer in my book
Really now, Even if these women went up to mr Cosby’s room with the intention of having a passionate evening him... getting poisoned getting comatose against your will (hey bill why didn’t ya just knock em out with a hard right uppercut)
Sick sick sick sick sick sick
3
Your are absolutely correct. In the grand scheme Cosby's conviction proves little so long as Trump remains free to boast of his conquests.
4
One can only hope!!!
11
Trump was right in one awful way: if one is a celebrity one can get away with anything including rape, sexual assault, and then lying about it.
I could almost feel sorry for Cosby except for one thing. I am a woman. I was molested as a child. My molester was the family doctor. I've been harassed at work simply because I'm a woman. I've been harassed in public because I'm a woman. I've been called various names in public because, yes I'm a woman.
Cosby had no business doing what he did to those women. Nor does any other man or woman have any right to sexually harass another person at work or in public. But our society has to change enough to recognize that money, celebrity, and charisma do not equal virtue or the right to do to others whatever one wants to do. And that means all of us have to change our attitudes towards each other and how we allow ourselves and others to be treated.
It's not about being politically correct. It's about treating people with dignity and respect whether the person is a celebrity or the custodian who cleans the toilets. It's about the boy who is being molested by the high school bully or the girl who has been raped by her uncle. Rather than assuming that they are lying we need to assume that something happened and treat it accordingly. And we need to understand why people react or do what we think they ought to do.
But first our society needs to change its view on celebrity and money.
264
What horrifying accounts of abuse. The injustices perpetuate even after the fact because when we have been preyed on, the painful memories, the sense that we can’t protect ourselves, and the swell of tough emotions stay with us.
You are correct that too many people credit others with power for the wrong reasons, such as status or profession. Real authority should come from moral authority, which means standing up for others, not simply promoting oneself. Society will need to progress along with our legal system.
Thank you so much for what you wrote.
48
" And we need to understand why people react or do what we think they ought to do. " This should have read this way instead: And we need to understand why people do NOT react or do what we think they ought to do.
20
Your comment still was moving and well written. Your point was made, and I fully understood your thoughts and words. Good piece.
7
It is distressing that the principal enablers of Bill Cosby cannot also be criminally prosecuted.
36
This behavior usually crops up around college fraternity time. Raping drunk women and calling their claims regrets. Cosby was sly to never leave a mark and make his targets appear drunk. I wonder if anyone in Hollywood hipped him to this or if college was where he picked it up.
2
"The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine."
But they would turn much, much faster if the rich weren't entitled to buy silence and legal gag orders from their victims.
I'm talking to you, David Dennison.
Money and purchased victims' silence are anathema to justice, although Cosby's silence in his own defense spoke quite loudly to the court.
Now it's on to the next serial sexual assaulter with a large bank account.
Let's welcome them all to an American court of law.
158
Your proposal would just limit the ability of women to seek compensation. Settlement confidentiality is often one of the main enticements to settle prior to court, and many women prefer that to going into court and all the publicity of a trial.
Confidentiality has its downsides as well, no doubt, but simply getting rid of it would harm many of the people it purports to help.
9
Sean C.: Whether or not "many women prefer" to sign non-disclosure agreements, non-disclosure agreements should be made legally invalid. Accepting money in compensation is one thing; being gagged is another. When a crime is committed--any crime--, the injury is not just to the immediate victim; it's also to the people, and the people have a right to know.
1
It's great to see justice being done. What is irritating to me, is the incredible amount of time it takes to finally achieve justice. The amount of money spent by these rich guys is staggering. Seems an industry has been created in the legal world defending these men. I would think the nation will be more interested then ever to watch the legal theatrics of Trump, Cohen, and Stormy Daniels has this mess arrives at a resolution.
5
Bill Cosby is Richard Nixon.
Nixon used the same argument in attempted expiation. In Cosby’s case, “it’s about celebrity”, in Nixon’s, “Johnson and other presidents did the same.” In both cases, the argument was “you’re calling me on behavior that has been ignored for important people for decades, if not forever”.
It’s a very bad argument.
First, there’s no evidence that any other president went as far in illegal and reprehensible behavior as Nixon did. Second, both men had to have known that what they were doing was not merely illegal and outrageous but reprehensible and, if caught, indefensible. They did it anyway.
Objectively, there always will be people caught standing with no chair when the music stops, when society decides that it will no longer tolerate patently outrageous and unacceptable behavior. And nobody can predict when the music will stop. The solution? Assume it will stop today, and simply don’t practice outrageous and unacceptable behavior. Ever.
Anyone caught standing now, in the midst of a bloodletting that may change the face of Hollywood, politics, all industries … doesn’t even have a bad argument as excuse. Apart from being reprehensible, they’re just very stupid people.
35
They are not stupid. They think they are entitled to behave anyway they want too.
3
Bill Cosby is far more similar to Donald Trump than to Richard Nixon, down to the "careless interviews" and public bragging of grabbing women's genitals.
Here's looking at a grand echo of today's verdict.
One down, one to go. All eyes are on Mueller, rooting for him all the way.
5
This statement is a quote from today's editorial: "The persistent pathology of Mr. Cosby’s conduct is rare." I challenge The Times to support that claim by publishing the scientific data or reputable, published reports---in other words, any facts--on which the claim is based. I suspect that this kind of "persistent pathology" is a great deal less rare in our patriarchal society than the editorial board, or any of us, would like to think. The fact that victims so often feel afraid of reporting issues to authorities and are treated so harshly when they do is very much a part of what allows people to believe that this "persistent pathology" is rare.
213
This behavior is not rare, not in the least. The only reason anyone might think so is because women of my generation have not come forward. I am now in my early 70's. I worked for almost 40 years at an elite educational institution where this kind of behavior (minus the drugging) was constant and tolerated. Why? They were all professors, and we women were only students or staff. I could write pages about the unwanted suggestions, touching, and one true to life kidnapping, but at this point most of the perpetrators are dead or themselves into their own safe retirements. Maybe it is time for all of us to come forward with our stories, so that no one, ever again, will think Mr. Cosby's behavior was unusual.
119
It is the drugging which is rare, not the assaults.
Retired: Re: "I could write pages about the unwanted suggestions, touching...." The pathological behavior in question is RAPE after DRUGGING. That is neither the same as "unwanted suggestions" (or necessarily as "unwanted touching") or in any way equivalent to "unwanted suggestions" (or necessarily to "unwanted touching"). Neither, by the way, is "unwanted suggestions" the same as or equivalent to "unwanted touching". I'm sixty-two years old, and I've never witnessed anyone drugging someone then raping him (homo, not vir) and never encountered anyone who said this happened to him (again, homo not vir) or who said he'd (ditto) attempted to perpetrate such a crime. So far as I know this behavior is indeed rare and very strange. For that matter, the only PUBLIC instance I can recall (at the moment, at least) other than those involving Cosby, is an allegation that Pete Townshend of the Who makes in his memoirs: He says a former (male) manager of his once drugged him then attempted to rape him. That's it.
Hooray!
23
Power did provide protection for a serial predator for fifty years but today the victims of Bill Cosby got justice and Cosby the public shame and embarrassment he richly deserves. But Cosby is just one of the rich and powerful men still at large who remain free and unpunished after taking advantage of women, not the least of whom is the president.
If Cosby had his day of reckoning in court, the president should also undergo the same scrutiny for his assaults on women. Today, Cosby found out that he wasn't above the law after all. That's a lesson the president needs to learn as well.
111
This is such a dreadful letdown. Not the convictions -- too many women have come forward for serious doubt to remain, he had basically admitted to the acts in careless interviews, and these women deserve their vindications in court and justice.
No, it's what this man meant to so many human beings here in America and globally, all the good he's done without taking away for a moment the pain and trauma he's caused to these women. Bill Cosby didn’t just betray these women: he betrayed hundreds of millions who respected him, idolized him, loved him.
We so desperately need our heroes. And one just bit the dust. All gone.
Others? There’s a long list, isn’t there, starting with Harvey Weinstein.
There already has been a massive bloodletting over predatory behavior toward women, and we’re really only starting. How many of the powerful will remain standing after it’s run its course? But it must run its course, and it must change predatory behavior in America forever.
31
Heroines are the people who were needed to call Mr. Cosby to account. Heros haves good on clay feet for far too long.
6
Interestingly, even in his heyday I never watched his show or performances. I found him creepy. Can't explain it but my goodness how recent events have vindicated those feelings, for which I felt almost guilty.
43
I find the most creepy thing was how he talked down to some in the Afro-American community about their need to reform their anti-social behavior and conform to a higher personal standard of responsibility. Apparently that advice was only for others, not himself.
3