Or there’s a documentary here that could return those SuperSize glory daze.
Well. Objectively looking at it even, it is the only way he could preserve his career.
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He admits that he has been burdened by “when not if” people are going to come forward about him and his confessing gets him in front of the issue proactively, makes him less likely to be fired, and gives him some control, so I’m leaning towards self serving. I don’t see any real effort to make amends.
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He very well could be. I don’t know. I’m not invested in him one way or the other, but of course i would want him to do right by the people he’s used and abused… But i’m not holding my breath over him.
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Given the tsunami of allegations elsewhere in the past few months, I’d say he’s just trying to get ahead of what’s inevitably heading his way with a vengeance.
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Perhaps one involving he being ‘super-sized’ in the prison shower room?
I assume by now you’re aware of the dim view many here take of prison rape jokes and you still made that one, so I won’t waste effort bothering reiterating it. But I will point out the irony of speculating on prison rape as a consequence for rape.
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I guess I’d have brave twitter later to see. Being appreciative of support doesn’t sound like a bad thing. People saying they appreciate people someone owning up to being part of the problem I think encourages others to do the same.
Certainly any victims and their anger is 1000% understandable. I guess I can understand some anger from strangers that he did those things as well. But the anger I am seeing here seems less to do with what he said he did, and more with their suspicion for why he confessed.
I re-read it again and didn’t walk away with that feeling at all. I see a longer reply you did now, and I’d like to comment on it separately.
Actually Occam’s Razor suggests either one has equal validity. One assumes either he had an epiphany, or one assumes he is preempting someone bringing one of these incidents to light.
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I’m not sure I’d put my money on someone giving him fair warning before outing him in public. It’s possible, but it’s also a little weird. I don’t think many sexual assault victims have that kind of courtesy towards their attackers. My money would be on him watching what was going on in the entertainment industry and feeling tormented by the idea of being caught. But that doesn’t matter much, I agree he almost certainly came forward out of fear, whether it was fear caused by direct knowledge of something that was coming or fear because of a general dread that something might be coming.
I’m sorry if I came off as being overly kind to him. Right now, looking at Bill Cosby, Gian Ghomeshi, Donald Trump, Roy Moore, Woody Allen, Kevin Spacey, Louis CK, Weinstein, Roman Polanski, Al Franken and others, I think it’s pretty clear what the most self-interested thing to do is when people accuse you. I don’t like people implying that we already live in a world where someone would come forward out of some kind of game theoretic rational self-interest. People who deny do much better than people who admit, and the vast, vast majority still get away with it.
In the end, the most important thing is that whatever the reason he came forward, he still did the things he did.
I guess what I wrote didn’t read the way I wanted it to. I was supporting what you wrote.
@Mister44 raised an issue: Should we be so harsh with people who admit what they did, won’t that discourage other people from admitting what they did?
It’s a suggestion that instead of being honestly harsh towards a person who confesses, we should use strategic kid gloves. To encourage more confessions. I don’t think that makes any sense, but when I try to explain why I obviously end up using analogies that make sense to me but that don’t convey my meaning properly.
I think it’s good that you reacted honestly to what he wrote and that people who are here to read about and discuss this had the benefit of reading what you wrote. The “kindergarten teacher” I referred to would be a person who puts on kid gloves and carefully crafts how they respond with the idea that this is a teachable moment.
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… in all honesty, I wasn’t aware, perhaps because I haven’t read every article or post that invited such jokes.
In bringing it up (thanks for the warning) you actually did reiterate it.
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Infidelity is not the same thing as sexual assault.
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I want to be clear. I’m not angry at him. I just don’t buy his sincerity. I can do that without getting angry. I understand the default on the internet is to read any reproach in an angry voice, and I geuinely understand people doing so which is why I’m elucidating my tone, but as the real human behind the keyboard I claim the ability to do so without anger.
I look forward to it. I always appreciate your perspective, perhaps more than you realize.
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It is not the same thing but they’re related to the kind of behavior a person has that will mistreat women. So infidelity and sexual assault are not the same, but it’s not a stretch of the imagination that a person that does one will do the other.
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What I mean is that because I assumed you knew, I didn’t want to scold you as I don’t generally see much point in trying to change people’s decisions about what to say here by repeating what they’ve already heard from others. But I apologize for assuming you were aware of it already. That was my mistake.
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I would disagree. Infidelity is not necessarily a sign of a bad person. It can also be the sign of a bad relationship. Or perhaps one of specific arrangements.
Regardless. My issue is the idea of lumping them together. Every person who commits a sexual assault is a horrible person. Not every person who is unfaithful is a horrible person.
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I do agree that they’re not mutually exclusive, but with Spurlock’s case he habitually was unfaithful to his partners so that’s the frame of mind i was making my argument so hopefully that clarifies where i was coming from.
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OK, so I find your reply interesting because it is so different from the impression I got. I am not sure why. Maybe its just our out look on life, personal experiences, my nature to look for the good, pessimism levels? At any rate, FWIW, I felt compelled to reply.
You know I will give some what of a fair point that this feels like a partial deflection, but on the other hand I look at it like this: People generally have a positive self image of themselves. Most people aren’t like me and assume that by default they are just a pile of shit. So when they do confront themselves with their bad behavior, they wonder why and how they could have ended up doing that.
Anyone who goes through therapy generally tries to find why they are like they are. And it does highlight that the cycle of abuse is a real thing.
It is a fair point to point to abuse and experiences for contributing to the CAUSES of their behavior. Just like a lot of crime is CAUSED by poverty or other social ills… This of course does not EXCUSE their behavior.
You are absolutely right that one chooses how they react and and no one is responsible for their actions but themselves…
Eh - fair point. I’d have left it at “I don’t know.”
I didn’t walk away with the excuse that “everyone” does. The current movement is highlighting that many if not everyone is part of the problem in some way - if not through direct actions, then through perpetuating the status quo.
I also didn’t walk away with him trying to equate two as the same, but that they were both bad and both things he was guilty of.
And this echoes others. I am not sure why were are going there - maybe we are just acclimated to everything being horrible…
Anyway - just my thoughts. I am not trying to invalidate yours. While I can’t connect the same dots you are, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
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Maybe. On reconsideration I think it’s probably even money whether he was the predator who finally had a victim warn him, or he was the predator who finally realized his days of hiding it were numbered. If it is the latter, then he does get credit for at least admitting that was his self-serving motivation for coming forward, but I’m still a bit skeptical he didn’t get a warning. I agree it would be unusual for a victim to do so, but not inconceivable given how many sexual assault victims there are that have yet to come forward.
I certainly don’t think that. You’ve been a consistent voice of sense and reason on these topics here. I just don’t want him to sucker people with his nopology.
Possibly. I kind of feel like it’s the other way around, but that’s just my feeling and you could be correct.
Yup. At the very least, whether or not he was acting to get ahead of a specific warning, I hope his confession helps his victims feel safer if they want to come forward now. That would be some genuine good come from this.
I think I’m somewhat responsible for not reading your comment as carefully as I should have.
I understand the reasoning behind the idea. I do think Spurlock deserves credit for his confession, just not his nopology. Is that harsh? Maybe so, but I see a lot of hiding behind the collective “we” after he’s stated his confession and it seems wrong to accept that kind of weaseling. I tend to be a brass-tacks sort of person. I don’t really care about the feelings of confessed predators. But I do believe in giving credit where it’s due and he did confess. While we as a society might encourage more predators to come forward and admit their transgressions if we offer them kid glove and/or truth and reconciliation type treatment, it’s not really our place to offer that reconciliation. That moral prerogative belongs solely to their victims. So it seems like we agree there.
My mistake entirely. I took that as analogizing my itemized rebuke of the confession to a teacher or editor pointing out the flaws in an essay. I shouldn’t have assumed that.
