“I am Yahweh; that is My Name! I will not give My glory to anyone else, nor share My praise with carved idols.” (Isaiah 42: 8)
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For Every Weinstein Victim there was a Woman Looking for a Sugar Daddy and Weinstein Knew It
A few days ago, I read an article in The Atlantic by Brit Marling titled “Harvey Weinstein and the Economics of Consent”. I liked it, so I posted it on Facebook.
According to Mark Zuckerberg, 44% of adults get all of their news from Facebook—not some of their news, all of their news. That’s scary, because most of the stuff that I see on Facebook is crap. If the post itself isn’t crap, most of the discussion about it is. It’s an example of the blind leading the blind.
I’ve made a conscious decision to post things on Facebook that have real news value. I guess that’s the professor in me.
Below is the comment that I made about Marling’s article when I posted it:
Brit Marling is not a run-of-the-mill Hollywood actress. She’s smart. Very smart.
Men and women should read this. Women in particular should read this.
One woman reacted to my comment with this observation:
Great piece, but why should women in particular read this, rather than everyone, or even men in particular? Women live and breathe this inequality.
That being said, thanks for sharing it.
Ignoring the fact that I began by saying that men and women should read Marling’s article, I decided to answer her question. Along the way, I changed my mind and decided to address a broader audience. Hence, this SnyderTalk editorial.
Harvey Weinstein approached many women. Some of them walked away. Marling is one of them.
Many women didn’t walk away. They submitted to Weinstein because of fear or something else. Most of them didn’t fear for their safety. Some if not most of the ones who submitted were afraid that Weinstein would deny them access to a dream.
I’m reminded of something the Messiah said:
“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8: 37)
Many people, men and women, have traded their souls for things they wanted. Be careful what you want and what you are willing to give up to get it.
Immediately after news of Weinstein’s predatory behavior broke, a large number of women who submitted to him came forward to tell their stories. Some of them remind me of the woman, a lawyer no less, who had a 15-year relationship with Bill O’Reilly and then settled with him out of court for $32 million because it wasn’t consensual.
You can’t make up stuff like that.
At some point, people, men and women, must accept responsibility. To be sure, some women are victimized against their will, and some of them violently. That wasn’t Weinstein’s MO. He used his ability to influence the careers of attractive females, and they made conscious decisions to give up their integrity to obtain what they wanted.
It’s an ugly truth, but it’s the truth nonetheless.
What can we say about men or women who are willing to do despicable things because of the fear that they might be denied fame and fortune?
I’m not going to tell you the answer to that question. You tell me. What do we call those people?
This should come as no surprise. Any successful man in any field of endeavor can tell stories about women who attempted to latch onto them. There was no come-on on the male’s part. The men were victims.
To women aggressors, the marital status of their male target is irrelevant. So are his children. They see something they want, and they go for it. It’s as simple as that.
In other words, men have stories to tell, and women aren’t always the victims.
Women can be predators, too. Men who submit to predator females are making the same mistake that women make when they willingly submit to people like Harvey Weinstein to get something they want.
Ignoring the truth is ridiculous, but that’s what we are doing right now. I have sympathy for Weinstein’s real victims, but I don’t include in that group women who made the decision to trade sexual favors for things that Weinstein could give them. There were more than a few of them, and they helped to make life miserable for women with integrity, people like Brit Marling.
Most men believe they have to live and breathe this inequality, but I don’t. I have a wife and two daughters. I’m literally surrounded by women, and I don’t hesitate to tell them the truth. In SnyderTalk, I adhere to the same principle.
I’m not defending Harvey Weinstein, and I don’t doubt for one second that he is a sexual predator. His behavior was despicable, and he’s just beginning to pay the price. He would have started paying the price much sooner if people like Brit Marling had spoken up sooner.
Several of Weinstein’s victims have reported that his depravity was well-known by many in Hollywood, New York, Paris, London, and other major cities. In fact, his reputation was well-known by some of his victims before they met with him. Still, they met with him, some of them several times. His reputation was well-known by many political elites in the Democrat Party, too, including Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Barack Obama.
What are we to make of this?
There is no doubt that power imbalances exist, but at what point should we expect adult human beings to exercise good judgment and common sense? “I’m a woman, so I can go where I want when I want” is not a good offense or a good defense.
I’m not taking a jab at Marling, but I’ll bet she wishes that she had spoken up sooner. If she had, we could have had this discussion years ago, and many innocent Weinstein victims would have been spared.
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SnyderTalk Comment:
This woman is delusional. Take everything she says with a grain of salt.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
See “His Name is Yahweh”.
