Rant #2,532: Until the End of Time

Sometimes, I write these blog entries on the morning that they are finally published for all the world to see, and sometimes, like today, I am writing this blog post on the previous day related to when this entry will be published. It was edited on Tuesday, the day it was published, but pretty much 85 percent written in what they call real time.

I could not help it, because a huge story just broke a few minutes ago, and when you finally read this, it will be old news, but it will be news that will be talked about not only today, but for years to come.

Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of just two of the five counts of sexual assault that he was charged with, but since he was found guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sex act, he could get 25 years in prison.

Equally as important is what the jury did not find him guilty of. Among those charges, he was cleared of first degree rape, as well predatory sexual assault, the most serious charge against him, which, if he had been convicted of, carried the possibility of life in prison.

"Life in prison" might end up being a moot point. Since he is in his late 60s, if he serves the maximum term for what he was convicted of, he won't get out until he is in his 90s, so this might, in fact, be a life sentence for him.

After sentencing next month--and who knows if Weinstein will get 25 years, but I don't think the judge will be so forgiving, even if Weinstein's health is as bad as it has been portrayed--the focus turns to Los Angeles, where he has a similar trial coming up.

Now back to what he was not found guilty on ... sure, the prosecution can say that they won a victory in this trial, but not being found guilty of predatory sexual assault casts aspersions on why the jury could not convict him of this top charge--and all charges--and basically sent back to the judge a split verdict.

Nobody is doubting that Weinstein's behavior was reprehensible. This married man went after females who, he believed, were obviously at his beck and call, to provide whatever he needed in order to advance their careers.

But the women are not without their own demons. Why did they agree to do what he wanted? Did they put up with this behavior because, at the time, it was expected of them? Did they put up with this behavior because if a simple roll in the hay would open up doors for them in the entertainment industry, was it an understandable sacrifice to make, with their own personal dignity out the door?

And why did they wait so long to report his behavior, and why did some of these women stroke his ego by sending him pleasant and sometimes head-scratching emails and other correspondence telling him not only how wonderful he was, but how good they felt after the encounters they had with him?

They, like Weinstein, have a lot to think about, and while the former movie mogul will undoubtedly do his thinking in prison, you just know that a new cottage industry will be born, of women harassed by Weinstein who want to tell the world everything they think we all want to hear about these sordid encounters.

In the old days, some of these women would probably be pursued by Playboy, to both tell their stories and to show the world some of what Weinstein was getting in the hay ... remember the cottage industry that was created by President Bill Clinton's escapades? Women came out of the woodwork stating that Monica Lewinsky wasn't the only person he had had illicit relations with, and some even showed off their wares to a public that, in the long run, really wasn't interested.

That won't happen today, but what will surely happen is bad enough.

And on the other hand, Weinstein will continue to plead his innocence, show absolutely no contrition, and like Bill Cosby, will say that each and every act that he and the women committed was consensual.

He got what he wanted, and they did too.

For all we know, 95 percent of what he is saying is true, but that 5 percent got Weinstein thrown into the can, and thrown in there for a long time.

And as Cosby is, Weinstein is also a married man, which makes the two of them look even worse than they already do to the public.

Trading favors for sex is not an up-and-up thing to do, it puts the powerless in a bad position against the powerful, and these two fools were married, to boot.

And what about the women who 1) did sleep with Weinstein, and Cosby, in a fully consensual arrangement, benefited from this arrangement, an--even though to the general public it looks heinous--have nothing bad to say about it, as the dalliance was a plus for both parties, and 2) what about the women who, flat out, turned him down--were they able to move on with their careers, or did any possibility of movement in the entertainment industry end right then and there when they refused his disgusting advances?

My mother, who was never in the entertainment industry, has told me a story of getting a job when she was in her early 20s--this was in the early 1950s--and being told that this particular place she was now employed in was a good place for her to work, because the owner was so up there in years "that he won't chase you around the table."

My aunt, who was in the entertainment industry, has, let's say, seen it all, and I am sure she dealt with the Harvey Weinsteins of her day--the mid to late 1960s--as best as she could. She left the industry and went into publishing and then teaching, and I am sure she has plenty of stories of men who couldn't keep their pants on.

During earlier eras, this is difficult to word correctly, but let's just say that while this type of idiotic behavior between employer and employee might not have been prevalent, it certainly was recognized and out there.

In fact, I have personally worked in two places where there were plenty of rumors about stuff having gone on between one person and another at one time ... and I did not work in the entertainment industry.

I am not discounting the actions of Weinstein, Cosby and others, but men will be men and women will be women, and often the twain meets, but just as often, the twain doesn't meet at all.

In the Weinstein trial, I personally believe that things were copacetic with whatever arrangement he had with many of the women, but with others, no, things did not mesh, and the movie mogul did things to this group of women that were heinous at best.

And do you think his conviction, and the earlier one of Cosby,will stop this cycle?

As I said earlier, men will be men and women will be women, and until that ceases to be true, this type of idiotic behavior will certainly continue.

And when sex is used as a weapon, it will certainly hit its mark a good portion of the time--but can be stopped by the use of a simple, two-letter word that has immense meaning.

N-O.

More of us should learn what this word means, and use it when necessary.

Its use won't stop all of this horrid deeds from happening as we learned at this trial, but it will clearly set the line between right and wrong ...

Something that the Weinsteins of the world, and women who find themselves potentially on the wrong end of this horrid behavior, need to know.