Gilliam calling MeToo “simplistic” and “silly” makes me think (among other things) that he doesn’t know it’s a concrete thing, that it raises money for the legal defense fund of Time’s Up. It sounds like he maybe views this as a press or PR thing, and not as the push for needed change it aspires to be. And which he could be part of, actually, if he so chose.
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I’m answering here, but I could have done so to a number of other posts, really.
That idea is a cancer. It’s the idea that there may unsupervised power that’s not abusive. And since power that has some kind of overwatch is quite limited as far as power goes, it must be understood that power means the ability to decide over others with pretty much no limits within a specified framework.
So I agree with Terry Gillian here: the #Me too campaign IS pretty silly. It induces some people to think such a campaign may make some kind of difference when the only thing it’ll do is replace some name with another, and move the deeds from the office back room to the office side room.
Here’s a very simple fact: we live in a capitalist society where getting money and fame is considered what one should aim for. This is how everyone is told you get a successful career/life. Of course, it should come as no surprise if gate keepers are ready to extract a toll from those who are lured into trying to achieve some success. In one way or another, everyone is expected to go through that, but of course when the potential reward is to be treated as some kind of demi-god/demi-goddess by fellow humans, the price to pay gets much higher. You litterally have to sacrifice a part of you (but, really, how much worth is self-respect). Can it get to the point where some are threatened if they don’t bend? Sure it can, but that only works if you keep drinking the koolaid. So long as society stay the same, and you want to abide by its unwritten rules, nothing more than a couple of names will chang (if even that).
Or people can keep believing they’re going to make a difference with silly twittering (how appropriate). I wonder if I can put my hand on some rainbow and unicorn to resell…
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My dear Wife has offered to kick Terry in the balls, for free I might add.
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Damn Terry Gilliam, are you the 
? 'Cos you need to stay about 93,000,000 miles away from me!
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I believe a large number of people are currently stating they are no longer willing to abide by those “rules”
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I’m kicking Terry Gilliam in the balls right now.
In my imagination, that is
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My dear Wife thanks you.
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Katherine Helmand had a brief but memorable turn in Time Bandits. (And her character was pretty strong and powerful, to boot.) But yeah… Terry evidently doesn’t get it, and that’s a shame.
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Having lived for many years, I don’t underestimate the ability of a slow drip of opprobrium to change things over time.
When I was a kid being racist or sexist wasn’t a thing in my home country, because such behaviour wasn’t viewed as being in any way abnormal.
Over the decades, I’ve seen that slowly change, until it has become part of normal conversation to recognise the existence of racism and sexism. If the next generation is less sexist and racist than mine, then, I think, that’s a step in the right direction, and I applaud it.
Since Social Media is important to the next generation in the West, then, things like twitter campaigns, or whatever the next platform is, are going to have an effect in shaping hearts and minds.
Maybe in a few more generations, being appalling to people you hold sway over will be widely viewed as as something to avoid rather than a perk of the job. I dunno, but I like to hope.
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If he had any awareness whatsoever, at the very least he would have said nothing.
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He could. He seems to be more dismissive of it as a movement, comparing it to a mob.
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In other words, women should shut up and accept it? Fuck that.
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But it’s women, so we shouldn’t take them seriously… /s
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I had a little trouble following what you were saying in some parts, but it seems you think the purpose of #MeToo is to assign blame to people.
I believe its purpose is to demonstrate the sheer number of people who have encountered the same problem. To show it’s not just a few Hollywood actors encountering it.
I personally was surprised by the numbers.
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“Changing society by exposing and challenging its unwritten rules on sexual coercion” is LITERALLY THE ENTIRE POINT of the #MeToo movement.
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Oh gosh, I’m so incredibly flattered; how lucky am I?!?
Thanks for sharing that hyperbolic opinion.
Man, that was a lot of double-speak, with very little actual substance so I’ll counter with this:
You’re free to have your own opinion. Others are free to judge you for it.
Defeatism; so why even bother trying to make things better, right?
Oh, thank you, Captain Obvious; had you not deigned to inform me, I would have never known!
My, what low standards you seem to have.
Ordinarily, I’d refrain from going grammar nazi, but due to your needlessly condescending tone, I’ll make an exception; there’s only one ‘T’ in the word “literally.”
Litter is another word for trash, but given the crux of your argument here, I guess that’s an understandable mistake on your part.
I’m not even going to address your disturbing contention about having to sacrifice a part of yourself or the implication that self respect has no inherent worth; that statement alone says way more about your core values than I ever could.
That’s the great thing about free will, people are allowed to believe whatever they wish.
You, for instance, can believe that “nothing is ever going to change, so there’s no point in even trying”; that’s obviously your choice.
But mere belief alone doesn’t equate to reality, and your opinion sure as hell doesn’t define mine.
So thanks for sharing, but I’ll continue to fight with every resource at my disposal.
To quote the words of the immortal Sam Cooke:
Never in life, sister.
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For someone who espouses so little confidence in the power of words, you sure typed a salad of your own to say so.
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Ladies. LADIES! We should all just stop right now with the #metoo silliness. Terry Gilliam clearly knows of which he speaks, being a woman in the industry and all. And we’ve got a few blokes in this thread who are also obviously speaking from experience of having been co-erced into sex or sex acts by men in powerful positions who could, and have, damaged or destroyed careers. So, shush, now.
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Yes, that’s deep, bitter sarcasm. In case there was any doubt.
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