zelticgar Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I guess this could be under Entertainment but I'm putting it in General because it is a bigger issue than just entertainment. I'll admit when the accusations started coming out I dismissed them and figured there are segments of the media that would love to take Cosby down because they don't like his views. It got kind of difficult to dismiss them once all these victims started coming forward. There are so many facets of this that blow my mind. How could this go on for so long without coming out? I know there were stories in the past but nothing ever blew up. There must have been a ton of behind the scenes movement among his inner circle, his management, the media and lawyers to keep this quiet. Its amazing to me that all these victims never got together before. Added to this is that Cosby became kind of a polarizing guy later in his career. I wonder what the family dynamic is with his wife? She comes off as this strong person but she has kept kind of quiet during the whole affair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddington Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I guess this could be under Entertainment but I'm putting it in General because it is a bigger issue than just entertainment. I'll admit when the accusations started coming out I dismissed them and figured there are segments of the media that would love to take Cosby down because they don't like his views. It got kind of difficult to dismiss them once all these victims started coming forward. There are so many facets of this that blow my mind. How could this go on for so long without coming out? I know there were stories in the past but nothing ever blew up. There must have been a ton of behind the scenes movement among his inner circle, his management, the media and lawyers to keep this quiet. Its amazing to me that all these victims never got together before. Added to this is that Cosby became kind of a polarizing guy later in his career. I wonder what the family dynamic is with his wife? She comes off as this strong person but she has kept kind of quiet during the whole affair. If it's anything like the UK, then Bill Crosby could just be the tip of a huge iceberg. At the moment it feels like there is a new horrid sexual abuse revelation at least every month. It appears that it has gone unreported, or where reported ignored for a very long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 If it's anything like the UK, then Bill Crosby could just be the tip of a huge iceberg. Yeah, Yewtree came to mind instantly. Hope not. What's shocking here though is that these accusations first started ten years ago. Like, with Saville there were rumours for decades, but it wasn't till after he died that anything got seriously brought to light. With Cosby, a woman came out and said it a decade back and others anonymously backed her up, and then it just kind of quietly went away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athias Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Unfortunately for Mr. Cosby, it doesn't really matter whether or not he's innocent--once these accusations of rape had surfaced, he was convicted. I find some of the accusations quite dubious, having read some of them, but it really doesn't matter. Cosby will subverted by a media (and legal) tribunal--chalk it up to the "rape culutre"--where he's the one who has to disprove these accusations. If he's proven to be guilty, then my hope would be that he'd own up to it and take responsibility. If he's not proven to be guility, then I hope he can salvage whatever is left of his reputation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Sorry, Athias, you are burying your head in the sand. Ten women have already made their stories public, and, give it time, I bet another 10 or more show up. A lawsuit was brought years ago, but never went to trial because he settled out of court. I heard a lengthy interview with the prosecutor in Pennsylvania, iirc, who had been referred the complaint of a Toronto woman by Ontario police authorities 10 years ago. She had been afraid to speak up and did not go to the police until a year had passed by. The prosecutor believed her story, but by that time there was simply no corroborating evidence that could be obtained ie like from blood tests. Cosby was a huge star, with a goofy, sweet, funny reputation. He mad jello commercials, for crying out loud. He was Dr. Huxtable on the Cosby show, surely the kind of aw shucks, great bedside manner (!) kind of doctor we would all like to have. Who the hell would believe he was a pervert who liked to drug women and rape them while they were unconscious? Years ago, when I used to listen to his comedy albums, he had a skit about using Spanish Fly to drug a woman. I didn't know what Spanish Fly was, and when I found out, I couldn't figure out why anyone would find drugging a woman to be funny. This must be 30 or 40 years ago. We in Canada have just been rocked by the Jian Ghomeshi scandal. Jian was a superstar of CBC radio, with a 2 hour morning program that millions listened to every week and that was heard across the NPR network in the USA. Utterly charming, totally sincere, walked on water. Liked to take star struck ladies to his house and beat them and strangle them during sex, what he considered 'consensual S&M'. How is this possible, zelticgar? It's possible because a man's word is 10 times more believable than a woman's. It's possible because many men consider women to be sexual objects, not human beings. It happens because people say "what adults do is none of my business". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnionAhaiReborn Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Careful, FB, you'll have to go through a discourse on the meaning of the words "bury," "head," and "sand" before you'll be able even to get into the 10,000 other obfuscatory lines of argument waiting for you after that. You'll approach a discussion of reality, at the rate this goes, roughly at the end of time- possibly after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 So, that was Lewis' law already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athias Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Sorry, Athias, you are burying your head in the sand. Ten women have already made their stories public, and, give it time, I bet another 10 or more show up. Ten women making their stories public just means 10 accusations have surfaced. 10 more showing up may change your impressions but doesn't change the burden of proof--which naturally starts with the ones who accuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jslay427 Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 He is already convicted in the court of public opinion, which for a celebrity is just as bad as being guilty in a court of law. Even with people like Whoopi Goldberg vehemently defending him (if he was white would she?) he is toast. He has had several TV gigs cancelled and even if he is cleared of any wrong doing, Cosby is now going to be mentioned in punch lines with Robert Blake and OJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jslay427 Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 What really makes me smh is that Eddie Murphy said that Bill would call him and say that Murphy's comedy was to dirty and vulgar and should be toned down. /sadface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyBanana Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Ten women making their stories public just means 10 accusations have surfaced. 10 more showing up may change your impressions but doesn't change the burden of proof--which naturally starts with the ones who accuse. Innocent until proven giulty doesn't apply to anyone's personal opinion on Bill Cosby or whether the allegations are true or fake. As to how this happened; Well, he's probably an awful person and was influential enough to intimidate these young actresses and cover his assaults up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelli Fury Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Athias, I really think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what is meant by the term rape culture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summah Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Also, it started blowing up recently after a black male comedian called him a rapist, yes the timing could be coincidental, but I don't think so. Also the black community is not monolithic in supporting him, most in my family are not supporting him (and most of my family supported MJ & OJ). Ta-Nahesi Coates wrote about it recently, does not support Cosby and wrote that to believe Cosby is not guilty means one must believe (the number now seems to be about 20, if the 13 Jane Does from the lawsuit are included, since only a few of the women have identified themselves as one of the Jane Does) are lying about this. Cosby's politics: the black conservatism, personal responsibility stuff may be part of the reason for a division in support. And I think many people are troubled and torn, because during Jim Crow many black men were lynched after falsely being accused of raping a white woman, so in this type of situation there can be an instinct to automatically consider false accusations first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 He just did a show in Flrida where he got a standing ovation at the beginning and the end of the performance. Some people are not going to believe the accusations and some are going to find it hard to believe that so many different women are lying.There likely won't be any charges from what I've read but I think it's safe to say his career is all but over.If true, that's some disturbing news man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jslay427 Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 He just did a show in Flrida where he got a standing ovation at the beginning and the end of the performance. Some people are not going to believe the accusations and some are going to find it hard to believe that so many different women are lying. There likely won't be any charges from what I've read but I think it's safe to say his career is all but over.If true, that's some disturbing news man.Most of these allegations are 20+ years old IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Most of these allegations are 20+ years old IIRC. So in the US does that means it's too late for charges? I thought I read that such was the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 So in the US does that means it's too late for charges? I thought I read that such was the case. https://www.rainn.org/public-policy/laws-in-your-state All depends on what state the charges are to be filed in. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sure, it'd be not great to find these accusations of an elderly man aren't true, I suppose. Ruin his legacy blah blah. But on the other hand, maybe this is finally getting traction because he doesn't carry the same clout and power he did earlier in his career where he and his team could spin, squash and buy this away. We all have been presented the same amount of information on this and if you take away opinions on Bill Cosby, women, and rape accusations the bottom line is that if you willing to give benefit of the doubt in that he's innocent there's also an equal pull on the other side that says he isn't and that these women are telling the truth. So poor Bill Cosby is also those poor women and what they've suffered. Keep that in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 https://www.rainn.org/public-policy/laws-in-your-state All depends on what state the charges are to be filed in. Sure, it'd be not great to find these accusations of an elderly man aren't true, I suppose. Ruin his legacy blah blah. But on the other hand, maybe this is finally getting traction because he doesn't carry the same clout and power he did earlier in his career where he and his team could spin, squash and buy this away. We all have been presented the same amount of information on this and if you take away opinions on Bill Cosby, women, and rape accusations the bottom line is that if you willing to give benefit of the doubt in that he's innocent there's also an equal pull on the other side that says he isn't and that these women are telling the truth. So poor Bill Cosby is also those poor women and what they've suffered. Keep that in mind. I never said poor Bill Cosby and I thank you to not suggest that I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I never said poor Bill Cosby and I thank you to not suggest that I did. I wasn't speaking to you directly on that. I wasn't even speaking to you at all on that. I simply answered your question about SoL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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