Saturday, November 29, 2014

Of Cosby and such

This is one of those blobs that will probably be a series of random thoughts.  It was one of those confusing days. Outside it was 70 degrees. Inside it was 150 degrees because most of the buildings in the city turned on their heat.  Tomorrow it’s supposed to be 40 degrees and Wednesday it’s supposed to snow 6 inches.  And speaking of confusing…

Isn’t it just common sense not to be on your phone when you are walking down the street and there is a good possibility that you will walk into someone who happens to be walking on the same street. When the person (walked IN to)  happens to be me, at the very least, I expect some kind of apology. Isn’t that silly?  Instead,  the bump is usually accompanied by a dirty look.  Apparently, no one reads Miss Manners anymore.

Anyway,how about that Bill Cosby?   I might as well tell you here and now. Twenty years ago, on my birthday, Bill drugged me and we had sex. Or did we have sex and then he drugged me?  It was so long ago I don’t even remember if it was good sex.  But I do know that there has always been a casting couch, not limited to the world of entertainment.  Some years ago, there was a societal language change and the dirty deed transitioned from casting couch to sexual harassment. It. Never happened to me. There were hardly ever any guys who wanted to interview me on a casting couch..  If Bill Cosby did what these seventeen women said he did, twenty years ago, it was not out of the range of normal.  This is not to say that Bill Cosby deserves a pass. If all the allegations are true, it is despicable, and so is he.  So why did they all “come to Jesus”  so many years after their incident? Probably because powerful men expected young women to submit to whatever humiliation. In those days it was not out of the ordinary.  If you did what was expected, you got a job, a raise or maybe money.  But what do you do now?  What do they want from Mr. Cosby?  There are so many women coming forward that it unfortunately feels like piling on.

And speaking of despicable., there was not enough evidence to indict officer Wilson in the Michael Brown shooting.  They made the announcement at 9pm in a lengthy almost “Dancing with the Stars” kind of roll out about who gets  eliminated. The prosecutor knew they were not indicting at 3pm.  If they had made the announcement early in the day there might have been a chance for peaceful demonstrations.  And the split screen of the announcement and the rioting was horrendous.  The Prosecuter waited for the crowd to gather and then announced the result.  There is something wrong with the legal system in this country when the prosecutor represents the perpetrator rather than the victim.  But again, what, as a community, can you do to demonstrate your outrage?

I am not black or a powerful man of any color. The only time I was arrested was for posting political signs on telephone poles in New Orleans.  I just don’t get this wild west mentality that seems to permeate police forces throughout the country.  It is embarrassing for those of us who believe that people, no matter their color, have a right to be treated equally under the law.  And lately that hasn’t been happening. We’re just sayin’…. Iris

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