The Weinstein effect

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A couple months ago the big thing in the news was the Henry Weinstein sex scandal in which more than fifty women ultimately came forward accusing him of various types of sexual misbehavior including sexual assault and rape (In addition the police had done some tapings proving the accusations of the first accuser). All of this publicity produced the Weinstein effect (see Wikipedia Weinstein effect) in which people everywhere started coming forward accusing men in positions of influence and power of sexual misconduct. The consequence has been that in the last couple of months the news has been filled with reports of well known, powerful, influential men being fired from their jobs due to people coming forward accusing them of sexual misconduct. The list includes influential movie producers, actors, comedians, TV celebrities, and people in the music industry and other industries. Also, a good number of congressmen have been accused. The type of sexual misconduct ranges from inappropriate touching or groping to lewd suggestions to sexual assault and rape. None of this is any surprise to me. I am sure all this has been going on for many, many years at all levels of our society. It is simply now being exposed and getting media attention. I think we have only seen a tiny tip of a great iceberg. We live in a highly promiscuous, lustful, sex oriented culture. Half of the population is watching pornography. Morals are gone. What would one expect? When one has depraved, wanton people in positions of power, one knows the kind of things that are going to occur. And I don’t think that there are any more depraved men in our society than depraved women. It is just that it is more often men in the positions of power and they use their power. In the place where I used to work I overheard the secretaries talking about going out together on a “women’s night out”. What did they do on this “women’s night out”? They went to a bar where nude men danced. (And some of these women were married.) In a society where there are no morals and people show their lack of morals in their language and humor, respect for other people gets lost. And when respect is lost you get bold, disrespectful behavior. Moreover, the problem of sexual misconduct in our society is far broader than the sexual misconduct of bosses. It includes what I suspect are large amounts of incest, child molestation, and pedophilia.

I wish now to call attention to a sexual type incident that occurred nearly 4000 years ago involving Joseph, son of Jacob, as related in Genesis 37:1-36 and Genesis 39:1-20.

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37 Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

12 Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

14 Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

15 Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

16 So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

17 And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

21 But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

25 And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. 26 So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

29 Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?”

31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

33 And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

36 Now the Midianites[a] had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. 5 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. 6 Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

7 And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”

8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. 9 There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

10 So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.

11 But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, 12 that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. 13 And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, 14 that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.”

16 So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. 17 Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; 18 so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”

19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. 20 Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.

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Joseph was handsome, Potiphar’s wife wanted him, and when he wouldn’t go along with her and do what she wanted, she, in spite, responded by getting him put in prison.

There are certain basic facts of life that never change. They remain the same through all time and all cultures. Some of these “facts of life” are certain facts involving the basic nature of man. Like man’s natural tendencies toward selfishness, pride, ego, lust, envy, lack of principle, etc. I can assure you that mankind’s inclination toward lust and wanton behavior has caused endless incidents of sexual improprieties in all cultures throughout all time.

The modern feminist movement tries to vilify men and make them out as bad creatures. I don’t think men are any worse than women. In fact, from what I have seen of life, I think that in many ways, women tend to be a lot worse, on average, than men. My impression, from what I have read, is that the vast majority of the complaints of these women against these men who have been fired are complaints about inappropriate touching or lewd conduct and not about violent assault. If a lustful man boldly touches you where he ought not, what is the appropriate response? How about, “Please keep your hands where they belong!” — or a good slap in the face! Bad people will often test the limits, go to the limit. I suspect that much of the problem is that the women are afraid of losing their jobs and are afraid to say no. They want to be on good terms with their boss so they go along. They fear that if they don’t go along, he may get revenge in some way. I can sympathize with these women and I think the conduct of these bosses is terrible. However, I don’t know the answer to the problem. One must understand that usually conduct of this kind is unprovable. It is usually one person’s word against another with only the two of them knowing the truth. We live in an ugly world where a lot of really ugly things go on. Like child molestation, pedophilia, childhood bullying of one child by another, neglect and abuse in nursing homes, poverty stricken parents in poor countries selling their daughters into prostitution, etc. We live in a world filled with bad, wrong conduct. And in America there are many bad people who will view a lawsuit as a possible way to obtain a big chunk of money. They may be inclined toward manufacturing false allegations. Do you fire an employee just on someone’s accusation, with no trial? People lie. They lie all the time. Who do you believe? Who do you trust? Do you fire an employee just because a woman didn’t like where he touched her? Or because he made a suggestion that she didn’t like? Women often encourage men. He may have misread her mind. In addition, the women’s rights movement has stirred up a lot of hatred and resentment against men in general. I think there are a lot of women who go around with chips on their shoulder looking for ways to do men damage — and I suspect that lies behind some of these complaints. And I am sure there are a lot of attractive women who would be happy for the attention of a good looking boss if they thought it would be to their great advantage. There are a whole lot of people who will do about anything if the price is right. And that includes women. I suspect that in a great many cases the sexual overtures are not rebuffed and the propositioned woman accepts. However, in the end, each of us has to decide just how much he is willing to put up with for the sake of his job. Or to what extent we are willing to prostitute ourselves to keep it. Life requires courage wherever you are.

One must keep things in perspective. Violent assault or rape is one thing. Inappropriate touching is another. And accusations of inappropriate touching made many years later is a little too much. This world is just filled with injustice. Man is bad. Do you carry resentment for every wrong that has been done to you for years? Often you have to handle bad people or situations by just getting away from them. Yes, there are bad people in this world. And there are lots more kinds of bad, ugly things going on in this world than sexual misconduct.

The mass media is making a big thing now about sexual misconduct in the workplace. That is the really terrible sin now. But how much attention does it give to the problem of the molestation of young boys by pedophiles? How much attention is our society giving to that? And which is the bigger crime? Inappropriate touching of someone or sexually perverting some innocent young child (who has no one to come to his aid) by introducing him to homosexual sex? I don’t think there is any comparison. I think a sex pervert who perverts some young child should be hung. But I suspect that in most cases not only do they not get hung but nothing at all happens to them. And every child that they pervert is messed up for life. That is a terrible crime! The women of our society are speaking up for themselves but there is no one to speak up for these young children. And, in addition, our children are being taught in our schools that homosexuality is just fine.

All the liberal media and liberal Democrat politicians are now pretending to be in great shock and horror at all of this sexual misconduct in the workplace. What hypocrites they are! They have been aware of all of these things for years. Where was all the shock and righteous indignation when the accusers of Bill Clinton came out and charged him with all kinds of sexual misconduct (including rape)?! Where was the righteous indignation then?! He ought to have been impeached! He had a known history of the most outrageous conduct going all the way back to his years as governor of Arkansas. And what happened? In addition, his wife Hilary was right there trashing all of his accusers. And who knew him better than she?! And now she is simply outraged by all these cases of sexual misconduct! And Nancy Pelosi has suddenly taken the position of “zero tolerance”! What terrible hypocrites! They hold their finger up to sense public opinion and the direction of the political wind and then decide what position they are going to take. They have only one principle that they live by: political expediency. And where was the moral outrage when John F. Kennedy was running for president? Everyone knew what kind of person he was. He was a playboy, a depraved profligate. But everyone loved him and voted for him. His moral reputation didn’t hurt him at all.

Dec 2017