Canadian Politics Today

Reading through this, one is strongly reminded of similarities with other figures like Bill Cosby, Jian Ghomeshi, Bill O'Reilly, and Donald Trump. 

Except that most people haven't heard of Weinstein before this.

Like Cosby, Weinstein liked to promise to boost the careers of young women who were "nice" to him.  Like Ghomeshi and O'Reilly, Weinstein made life hell for female subordinates.  Like O'Reilly, Trump, and Cosby, cash settlements and non-disclosure agreements were used to pursuade women to not pursue legal action against him.  Like Trump, "when you're a star they let you do it" seems to rationalize everything in Weinstein's mind.

The difference being that - as I mentioned - most of the public hadn't heard of Weinstein, which makes it harder to 'tarnish' his 'public' reputation.  Also, he had more power to make stars than any of these people.  He wasn't a 'star' like Trump.  He made stars.
 

Imagine being one of these young actresses who gets inviting to a meeting with Weinstein and a group of executives, only to see the executives exit the meeting and leave you alone with this slime-ball. Imagine working for somebody like that.  Imagine knowing that if you did complain, Weinstein had the power to destroy your career, smear you in the media, put you up against immense legal resources. 

It has been this was since the beginning.  You can thank the network of gate keepers for that.

The author of the New Yorker magazine article, Ronan Farrow, also says that he's been informed by Weinstein himself that he'll be facing a lawsuit.  Farrow is a freelancer who had originally begun working on this piece for NBC News, and when asked why his article wasn't published by NBC, he said “You would have to ask NBC and NBC executives about the details.”

 -k

At last we have found a real conspiracy.  The NYT didn't help cover it up, though,they helped expose it.

Weinstein is not some anomaly, he is typical of how Hollywood treats women.  Casting couches and sexual harassment are nothing new and serious actresses often defend their acting skills by boasting about never having had to resort to demeaning themselves in order to get started.

Many of your favourite stars arrived this way.

Harvey Weinstein has now become the poster child for this inappropriate and toxic environment, but let's not kid ourselves, he is just one of the many.

The entire industry is complicit, he is merely the the scapegoat.

I wonder if the audience can be blamed for this too ?  Seems to me the system has been around for too long to not have been challenged.