It’s an expression of deep frustration at our society’s inability to deal with the problem of powerful people who victimize other people. Anger about that situation, which has been going on basically forever but which is only being talked openly about now, is rising. So maybe piling on one instance is useless, but the trend of piling on is a result of a lack of justice. We need to address the issue of powerful people being enabled and covered-for rather than the issue of people being angry about that. The anger will not go away until the problem is solved, and given enough time it will come out in worse ways than it is now.
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Normally people try to bury these things on a Friday heading into the weekend.
Now all you have to do is get in b4 orange julius distracts everyone on any given Monday.
/s
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why is that safe to say? That is a most uncharitable assumption about rich people.
if you remove ‘rich and/or famous’ from your assertion, it seems pretty reasonable - as it is a HUMAN failing, not a failure most of or only of the wealthy!!
Power imbalances come in all shapes and sizes. You don’t have to be rich to use them against people.
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You say piling on. I see people all agreeing over his insincere apology and deflecting blame, also it’s not like the people here in this forum is calling for violence or taking things too far. So what “piling on” are you talking about? If we all agree over something then by your definition we’re in the wrong? Are we not allowed to discuss the topic and ignore it happened? I’m just not sure what you’re getting at.
And it’s not progress if Spacey isn’t owning up to his direct actions, ie: underage abuse if we’re not going to sugar coat it. All he’s done is say “I’m gay and i’m sorry my victim has feelings about what i did”.
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It sure didn’t help to bring up his sexuality as part of any response to the accusation of assault. Hard to get accused of muddying the waters if you stay on topic! He was muddying the waters. I hope he gets the help he needs, and that justice runs its course.
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Fair point, but I do think those in position of power and fame are even MORE likely to abuse it. Try to use it as leverage. Yes there are other regular Joes out there trying similar moves, but I think that more of them are less likely to be A types, and lack the confidence and power to force themselves on to people. That isn’t to say there isn’t a significant portion of regular Joes that do.
I concede I have no evidence for this opinion, but based on observations
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We’re about 250 years into a great experiment of ‘what happens if you treat all people equally’…
Turns out we suck at that. But you know what. This is better than what came before it, where there was an expicit power imbalance in a monarch, causing envy over the posession of that sort of influence and control. Modeling it for others to see as good. as right. As GODLY.
The only way I see to do away with the imbalances is slowly, and I think we are on that path. I think it will be generations yet before we make the kind of progress we want to see, but we’ve already achieved SO MUCH of what those who started this experiment wanted for us. So much still to do!
And this year is decidedly one of those ‘two steps back’ that the Three Steps Forward style of progress will cause, but we’re not losing. They are losing.
I think we may need to do away with accumulation of wealth tho.
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people without fame or money to intoxicate their victims… those folks still have heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and roofies to intoxicate their victims.
I don’t think money makes it more LIKELY. Any more so than being GAY or A DOG OWNER makes it more likely.
Having it done to you at 14… that is what makes it more likely you will do it.
NOT that it was a rich guy.
He was 26, according to most reports. Here’s Rapp at 14, and Spacey at 26.
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“I don’t recall doing it. But if I did, it’s because I was drunk and gay.”
Weak defense, Spacey! (Not that sexually assaulting a child is ever defensible.)
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So file both of these things (Spacey soliciting young teenage boys and him being gay) as old news. This was reported on years and years ago and he has always been well known for this inexcusable behavior.
I was vaguely aware of him having relationships with men, but not with underaged boys. Either way i don’t see why not bring it up, considering right now it’s very relevant since there’s a lot of conversations taking place about sexual abuse and harassment.
I don’t think you’re trying to be dismissive, but it kind of reads that way. Either way people need to take these allegations more seriously and i hope if there’s other people that Spacey has harassed they might find the courage to say something otherwise he might not be held accountable.
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26 y/o hitting on a 14 year old. Nope, that’s not acceptable. Quite gross. Entirely inappropriate (*but really, is it surprising from a 26 y/o thespian?. not in my experience of 26 y.o. thespians. they tend to have bad boundaries). Hope someone punched him in the nose for that.
Comparing this event from the past as equivalent to or interchangeable with other recent Hollywood scandals, also not acceptable.
But you know what, there are folks all over reddit right now muddying the waters, comparing this to things quite different from it… minimizing the other scandals.
It’s amazing what a well paid PR team can do.
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because he was middle aged married man… when he was 26? I don’t get it. What’s the new context and what was the old?
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They are not arbitrary lines. They are drawn around our best understanding of child development.
No, it doesn’t. Moreover, there’s quite a bit of space between noticing that someone is attractive and climbing on top of them.
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Correct, I am not being dismissive of his “apology” nor of it being news and noteworthy given the current climate.
I am merely pointing out there were numerous reports and articles a few years ago detailing his run ins and accusations regarding underage teenage boys, male prostitutes, and OFC his homosexuality.
I hate having to link to some of these “news” sources…these are just some quick google searches turn up…
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cc @knoxblox
I think the new context is him playing a straight man wherein he specifically has a scene where he rebukes the latent homosexual advances of Scott Glenn’s ultra straight character.
If memory serves there were allegations of Spacey and his dealings with the young actor who lived next door. I could be wrong on that, so nothing verifiable off the top of my head.
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True predator impersonating someone falsely accused of being a predator (in the case of Ricky Fitts) or true predator playing true predator (in the case of Angela Hayes - he did kiss her, yes? - but then you’ve got all the stalking to think about).
It does put things in a new meta-light for those of us who hadn’t known about Spacey’s inclination towards poor behavior targeting the underaged, and people in general.
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