+2
I love Jessica Chastain but something about a statement she made kind of bothered me. And that is: "I was warned from the beginning," tweeted the Oscar nominee to her nearly 600,000 followers. "The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again." So she's saying it just now or warned others?
I hope that she would warn others as vehemently as she's condemning Weinstein, whom I've always heard was a steaming turd of a person. Now this? I can believe it about him but I'm reading things about how Asia Argento, for example, had oral sex forced on her twenty years ago and said nothing because she had heard that Weinstein could "crush you," meaning your career. So, to me, that makes her guilty of letting other women be abused by Weinstein because she was more afraid of losing her career.
I'm not a fan of Lena Dunham at all, but I'm totally on board with her statement here: "When we stay silent, we gag the victims," she wrote. "When we stay silent, we condone behavior that none of us could possibly believe is O.K. (unless you do). When we stay silent, we stay on the same path that led us here. Making noise is making change. Making change is why we tell stories. We don't want to have to tell stories like this one again and again. Speak louder."
I agree with that. Weinstein (and I'm not his judge) appears to be completely guilty but if people (women included) knew this about him and said nothing, or took a payoff like Rose McGowan supposedly did and said nothing, then they are just as guilty as Weinstein. Because, like Dunham said, to be quiet is to condone it, and further than that---if actors like Crowe and Damon helped to cover it up, they're guilty also. If Weinstein is charged, then any actors or actress found to have helped cover it up or stay silent about should be charged also. I don't know exactly what the charge would be though. I'm not hip with the legal terms but I know turning a blind eye towards something you know is happening is just as bad.
But if we now anything from the past, it's that Hollywood wastes no time in eating their own. Once they smell blood, they're in on the kill. For once, I'm glad because Weinstein's career is kaput. But if charges are brought and this goes to trial it will be interesting to see how many stars knew what and when.
__________________
"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."