The Hypocrisy Argument

Why do all the good stories break when I'm on vacation? Back in 2012, I was in NYC when Katie Holmes fled from the Cult of Scientology. This year, I go to San Diego for some R&R, when The New York Times decides to go viral by publishing an expose on Harvey Weinstein. There had been rumors about him being a disgusting, horrible human being going back as far as I remembered but no one had ever leveled allegations on him so publicly before. The story had me on the edge of my seat; I read practically every article that I could on the story. And then I read the comment sections and that is where it got me to thinking about our current culture.

For months now, whenever a celebrity or famous person speaks out against Trump, a particular section of the U.S. population screams and cries that celebrities need to shut their mouths, they shouldn't talk politics. Apparently, these people don't know how ironic that is since they voted for a reality star. I digress. That same sect of people was in the comment sections of these articles decrying those that had yet to speak out against Weinstein. More than once these people were called out on their hypocrisy and none of them knew how to respond. Though to one's credit, if you can call it that, they did manage to bring Hillary Clinton into the fray and said she needs to be locked up. Not sure how that was an argument but a classic is a classic, I suppose.

Among the celebs that were targets of the vitriol was none other than Meryl Streep. The same one who came under fire for her impassioned, political speech at this year's Golden Globes. Many wondered why she had yet to denounce Weinstein, never mind that these same people told her to keep her mouth shut and just act. This time it wasn't their orange snowflake here being shunned, it was a big scary liberal. It's OK to speak out against those types of people because they disagree with the reality show president and that's not OK.

Can we all agree that what Harvey Weinstein did, using his power to assault and harass those women, is not OK for anybody to do? Oh wait, Trump supporters still say the "Grab 'em by the pussy" comment was locker room talk. Sticks and stones, right? Well, except for those women who have come out and accused him, and were called liars by the very same people who have assigned guilt to Harvey Weinstein without needing any more proof. This isn't to say that the women should not be believed, they should. The point here is that Trump supporters have a different set of standards, hypocritical standards for those they agree with or idolize and those that they don't.

It will and should be argued that Liberals are just as hypocritical. They took Weinstein's money knowing what he was doing and not caring as long as he held power. They absolutely need to be called out and shamed for what they did, for being complicit in this behavior. There is no difference, in my mind, between the two camps regarding the hypocrisy.

Is this the America that we want children raised in? An America where it's OK to call one person out for bad behavior but not another for the same thing? That's not what I want for my nieces and nephews. I'm pretty sure it's not what most of us want. And if it is, then we're on a slippery slope to something that we won't recognize.