The World’s Hall of Shame

Harvey Weinstein was the first on October 5^th and the list has grown quite a bit in less than 8 weeks.

Ben Affleck, Louis C.K., Nick Carter, Congressman John Conyers, Andy Dick, Richard Dreyfuss, Senator Al Franken, political commentator Mark Halperin, Dustin Hoffman, Jeremy Piven, movie producer Brett Ratner, Charlie Rose, Steven Seagal, Russell Simmons, Tom Sizemore, Kevin Spacey, Sylvester Stallone, George Takei, Jeffrey Tambor, director James Toback, NFL quarterback Jameis Winston, former President George H.W. Bush and Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore are some of the nearly three dozen well known men facing allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

If you are on the list you’re said to be part of the “Weinstein Effect” which is a phenomenon whereby the accusation is publicized, spreads like wild fire through social media and often brings additional accusations from those claiming to be past victims of abuse, some through Twitter’s “Me Too” hashtag.  It’s clearly a list you don’t want to be on as in the world we now live in you are assumed guilty as charged.

Several of those I named have admitted some if not full guilt for past actions while many have vehemently denied accusations.  Clearly the fact that the accused are well known has resulted in considerable coverage from the media while in the past many charges of sexual harassment went overlooked and even ignored.

Women who have suffered for years are more likely to feel comfortable to now tell their stories which is a positive.  Of course the negative is trying to separate fact from fiction, especially when it comes to cases in which money is at stake.

Sexual harassment and assault are instances in which often the powerful use their stature and position to take advantage of others.  It doesn’t matter if they are actors, politicians, Republicans or Democrats. If they are guilty they should face the consequences of their actions.