When the story first broke that Bill Cosby was a possible rapist, a lot of people struggled with the realization that one of their childhood idols, a man who did a lot for getting young black kids into college, broke molds and racial lines in the entertainment industry, created laughter with his comedy, and helped a lot of children's organizations, could be what a few group of women were saying he was, a monster who drugged them, raped them, and then threatened their reputations if they ever brought the story to life. When these women did come out, what further proceeded was the virtual dragging through the mud of these women calling them liars, whores, attention seekers, and worse. A lot of people simply refused to believe the story citing what a good man they thought Cosby was. In fact, many people continued to support him by attending his comedy shows and defending him against all detractors even up against mouting evidence. I'm not one to just jump on a story and assume its true, especially in this media age, so before forming an opinion, I waited as more information came out, and slowly the amount of women grew, the details were too specific, and it was clear in my mind, Cosby was not the saint, many still professed he was.
When the story broke, I got into an argument with a relative because the question was posed that in a hypothetical, if my child had a Bill Cosby poster up, would I take it down, and I replied of course I would because this man is a monster whom I would no longer want my child to idolize in any way, and the relative answered back that I shouldn't be able to undo the legacy of what he has done to help a lot of people just because of what he's done now and they wouldn't have a problem with the poster being kept up. I think for a few minutes I was in shock, actual shock. It would be like saying, well, a guy who robbed and killed your child should be set free because he once gave $20 to a kid in need. These are the same people.
The Cosby character was a fictional one who did not exist in real life. We as a public did not know who he was in real life (just as we don't know that about most celebrities), but we assume often that characters and the people behind them are one in the same because we see them and think that's who they are. Cosby, the man, did a lot for a lot of people, and yes, those people I'm sure are greatful, but one does not now put up a photo of Hitler who some of the German people could say, did a lot of good for the German people whom he favored for the very reason that he was the arbiter of the horrible atrocities against those he didn't.
Now in recent days, there has been the exposure of a 2005 deposition in which Cosby said under oath that he bought drugs in order to, as he put it, have sex with women, that has come to light which for many of the victims, has been validation that they were in fact telling the truth and not the villians many had painted the women to be. We need to stop putting celebrities and politicians and atheletes and musicians on these pedastools where they are treated as Gods. They are human beings and they sometimes do really unfortunate, violent, harmful, painful, and reckless things to others. The modus operandi of rapists and pedophiles is often that outwardly they have these standup positions in society--teachers, doctors, heads of church, but they use these as smoke screens for their depravity because you are going to of course believe that the guy with the prison record stole the jewelry over the guy who does charity work for homeless shelters.
We also live in a society where the rape culture is to blame the women who are victims for dressing a certain way, or having a drink, or implying that they shouldn't go out and socialize as reason enough for someone to be justified in raping them instead of actually looking at the men who do this behavior as criminal and/or needing mental help. The first question that was asked was basically why did these women not come out sooner, but just as in 2015, look what happened...these women were made out to seem as though they were criminals themselves. I am always asking people to step into their shoes or picture if this was your daughter. Would you be so callous in dismissing them, would you wax on about how good the person was, would you be so forgiving?
We have a long way still to go as a society and how we address rape and those who do it and also how we tend to justify and easily forgive the actions of a celebrity sometimes beyond all reason simply because they may have at one point been entertaining. Cosby to me, will now in my mind always be a man who hid behind his influence and celebrity and used that to drug and rape women. That is not someone I want to, or my children to, or future generations to idolize. I cannot simply say, well, I respected and loved the man back then because that is to ignore the fact that back then, he was still the same person who both drugged and raped women against their will and if not for them bravely coming out, we would have never known the truth.
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