Truly sickening to think of the dozens upon dozens of people who devoted time to defend, enable, or cover-up Cosby’s atrocities. Paid or unpaid.
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Why? That would just encourage an economy of shilling, lies and irrelevance, like we have now.
I sure hope (s)he’s not doing it out of love.
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I don’t know. It seems like perfectly normal human behavior to me. A lot of people truly idolized Cosby. He was a role model for a generation of people. To expect everyone who saw him almost as a surrogate father figure to immediately condemn him is asking too much.
Humans are not rational beings.
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It is not right to turn a blind-eye to shady behavior just because you are star-struck. Many of these people knew better, but went along with it anyways.
From the estimable David Carr
Mr. Cosby was not interested in being questioned, in being challenged in any way. By this point in his career, he was surrounded by ferocious lawyers and stalwart enablers and he felt it was beneath him to submit to the queries of mere mortals.
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It may not be “right,” but denial and rationalization are perfectly normal human behaviors that most people can’t control. I see no reason to be sickened by people suffering from cognitive dissonance.
The people I’d be disgusted by are the ones who accept that Cosby is a rapist and still defend him.
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No.
“Denial” and “Rationalization” are regularly predictable errors that some people fall for, but they are in no way “normal behaviors” out of the realm of control.
Denial is one of the oldest forms of blaming the victim.
Rationalization encourages irrational or unacceptable behavior, motives, or feelings and often involves ad hoc hypothesizing.
I don’t know why anyone would ever encourage either of them to be viewed as “normal.”
Let alone in service of defending a serial rapist and his enablers.
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That story would be really creepy if it were underage girls he was accused of raping. Given his new status, any joke he made that mentions sex in any way at all, is subject to new scrutiny, and new judgement after the fact.
I’m not defending this creep, he deserves far worse than he’s getting. But it’s an easy game to play, to pick out any comedy bit that’s in any way edgey, and claim it says something bad about the guy who wrote it. That’s the sort of thinking that got Lenny Bruce shut down in the 60s. (speaking of creepy comedians!)
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meh, eh, argh, ugh…
i know you aren’t defending this creep. so let’s state that first and foremost. it is an easy game to play with edgey comedy, this is true. what we are observing is a pattern of behavior that lasted for decades, was acknowledged, and discounted.
so the easy jokes will be easy jokes. his victims have little recourse. his comedy, when it goes through a multi-generational compost bin will be funny. but not until then.
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I think we may be getting hung up on what is meant by “normal”. These behaviors are terrible, and shouldn’t be viewed as acceptable. But they are, unfortunately, very common.
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Well - are you working to put the discrepancy right? What are you doing to make sure the non-African-American rapist sub-population is getting their comeuppences?
Like, right now.?
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Are you 
kidding me? do you think denial and rationalization aren’t normal involuntary human behaviors? They are literally part of the coping mechanisms that every human being except for sociopaths and psychopaths goes through as a psychological defense mechanism when dealing with a whole host of situations including core beliefs being challenged.
It is like finding out your son is a serial killer. It takes a while before you can accept it. Well, I mean if you’re not some kind of rational robot.
Most of these people will move past denial and eventually accept the fact that Cosby is an asshole. Until then, maybe empathy towards people who are having their core beliefs challenged 
[Admin Edit: I have altered this post’s unnaceptably hostile phrases. Pray that I do not alter it further — Rob]
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Bill Cosby isn’t being ‘singled out’ for mixing drugs and sex. He’s on everyone’s shit list because 40+ women have accused him of deliberately drugging them and then having sex with them without their consent.
Saying that Cosby’s being ‘singled out’ for ‘mixing drugs and sex’ is like saying that a mugger is being singled out for taking a walk at night in an alley and bumping into a neighbour.
Even if drugging and sexually assaulting dozens of women were common in show business - and I hope that’s not the case - Bill Cosby would still stand out because of the enormous contrast between the paterfamilias character he plays and the rapey reality. We tend to forget that actors and comedians aren’t the characters that they play.
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Hang on…I think @funruly is talking about the people who knew (or were willfully keeping themselves from “knowing” something violent and illegal was going on right in front of them) for years and did nothing to stop him or at least report him.
Yes, the average fan who was never part of the situation may take a while to get past denial and rationalization about this beloved celebrity.
I think you’re talking about two different groups of people.
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Thanks! I originally saw that typo and fixed it but did not save it.
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