This quote from Léa Seydoux caught my attention:
"Everyone knew what Harvey was up to and no one did anything."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ea-seydoux
Moving beyond Weinstein's detestable behaviour, I think this quote has a deeper resonance. Just as a lot of people (the abused and others in his company) knew what he was up to, but for a range of reasons didn't do anything, many people today know how destructive our civilisation's behaviour is yet don't speak up.
We know certain behaviours have high environmental impact. We know, unchecked, such behaviours will lead to a 4-6 degree warmer world, 10s of metres of sea level rise and a planet absolutely incapable to supporting human civilisation of billions. We know our behaviours are causing a mass-extinction event, likely to decimate biodiversity.
And yet, as Seydoux says, no one did anything.
Harvey Weinstein
Moderator: Peak Moderation
-
UndercoverElephant
- Posts: 13419
- Joined: 10 Mar 2008, 00:00
- Location: UK
Or more to the point, nobody who was in a position to do anything did anything. The two examples aren't analogous. Regarding the high environmental impact thing, a lot of people at all levels, inside and outside of the power structures, know there are problems so serious as to be existential (to human civilisation as we know it). The reason nothing much is done about it is because nobody wants to confront the real reasons and take the necessary action. Because ultimately it is about limiting the population, and almost nobody wants to go there.
With the Weinstein case, it is all about power and money. He believed he could get away with what he was doing, because he had sufficient power/money (same thing in effect in an E=mc2 sort of way) to make sure nobody acted against him. Anybody who did try to act against him would be committing career suicide, so they didn't, because they all cared more about their careers than exposing their Weinstein. And the higher up the food chain they were, the more they had to lose by being the one who blew the whistle.
The hierarchy works by making sure that anybody who doesn't know or accept the rules of this game doesn't get into a position where they have the knowledge to know it should be challenged.
The bottom line is that most people - at least in that industry, but also in many others - care more about climbing the greasy pole themselves than they do about doing any "right thing" that might compromise this. Weinstein was acutely aware of this, and used it to get away with things that any normal person would not.
The wrong people end up in positions of worldly power. The sort of people who really care about principles rather than gaining worldly power do not usually end up with worldly power.
With the Weinstein case, it is all about power and money. He believed he could get away with what he was doing, because he had sufficient power/money (same thing in effect in an E=mc2 sort of way) to make sure nobody acted against him. Anybody who did try to act against him would be committing career suicide, so they didn't, because they all cared more about their careers than exposing their Weinstein. And the higher up the food chain they were, the more they had to lose by being the one who blew the whistle.
The hierarchy works by making sure that anybody who doesn't know or accept the rules of this game doesn't get into a position where they have the knowledge to know it should be challenged.
The bottom line is that most people - at least in that industry, but also in many others - care more about climbing the greasy pole themselves than they do about doing any "right thing" that might compromise this. Weinstein was acutely aware of this, and used it to get away with things that any normal person would not.
The wrong people end up in positions of worldly power. The sort of people who really care about principles rather than gaining worldly power do not usually end up with worldly power.
-
emordnilap
- Posts: 14815
- Joined: 05 Sep 2007, 16:36
- Location: here
Yes, the position of president or prime minister should really be one no-one wants.
Can you imagine a world where people have to be conscripted to serve a term in government?
Can you imagine a world where people have to be conscripted to serve a term in government?
Elwood: Stay away from drugs, gangs, cyber porn and you could be president some day.
Buster: But I don't want to be president.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
-
raspberry-blower
- Posts: 1868
- Joined: 14 Mar 2009, 11:26
Another very pertinent piece from ICH:
John Whitehead: Power Corrupts: A Culture of Compliance Breeds Despots and Predators
This scandal broke in Hollywood - the place that churns out a fictional view where the Americans are always the good guys and always prevail. Promoting the American Dream worldwide (which reminds me of George Carlin - "The American Dream - you have to be asleep to believe it!")
This has been uncovered as rotten to the core. As is the rest of Corporate America.
John Whitehead: Power Corrupts: A Culture of Compliance Breeds Despots and Predators
The point being made here is that there is no accountability therefore these abuses continue unabated. Max Keiser has been highlighting the systemic fraud that is the banking sector for the past decade - yet how many bankers have been jailed? No prizes for guessing the answer.John Whitehead wrote: It’s not just happening in Hollywood, however.
And it’s not just sexual predators that we have to worry about.
For every Harvey Weinstein (or Roger Ailes or Bill Cosby or Donald Trump) who eventually gets called out for his sexual misbehavior, there are hundreds—thousands—of others in the American police state who are getting away with murder—in many cases, literally—simply because they can.
This scandal broke in Hollywood - the place that churns out a fictional view where the Americans are always the good guys and always prevail. Promoting the American Dream worldwide (which reminds me of George Carlin - "The American Dream - you have to be asleep to believe it!")
This has been uncovered as rotten to the core. As is the rest of Corporate America.
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools - Douglas Adams.
In a similar vein we have this from Quentin Tarantino:
“I knew enough to do more than I did,�
Tarantino on Weinstein: 'I knew enough to do more than I did'
“I knew enough to do more than I did,�
Tarantino on Weinstein: 'I knew enough to do more than I did'