{"id":507,"date":"2015-02-18T20:04:06","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T04:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/?p=507"},"modified":"2015-02-18T20:04:06","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T04:04:06","slug":"bill-cosby-justine-sacco-and-public-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/?p=507","title":{"rendered":"Bill Cosby, Justine Sacco, and Public Opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before I launch into another evening of delightful edits, let’s warm up with\u00a0a blog post!<\/p>\n

When I started this blog, I did it because I wanted to act more like a “real” writer. \u00a0I wanted to take my writing career more seriously, and many successful writers that I admire have a similar public outlet.<\/p>\n

This is my open journal. \u00a0This is a place where I share my writer’s journey, taking note of the pitfalls I’ve discovered. \u00a0This is also where I celebrate some of my successes. \u00a0I’m entertaining the idea of using this as a sketchbook from time to time, taking writing prompts and creating\u00a0some quick, light fiction here.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, I want to comment on something that is more of a political or religious nature, and I stop myself. \u00a0I’m afraid that I’m going to say something that is going to get me blacklisted.<\/p>\n

Stop and appreciate with me the absurdity. \u00a0I’m not afraid of posting my sloppy fiction here, but I’m afraid of posting my own, genuine\u00a0opinions on real life in this place. \u00a0This place that I maintain, that has my name all over it.<\/p>\n

It’s a legitimate fear, though. \u00a0Just read this article<\/a>\u00a0from the New York Times. \u00a0People have been publicly shamed for making jokes. \u00a0Lives have been ruined for quips taken out of context. \u00a0Is it wise for anyone to put anything real out in the public?<\/p>\n

Here’s an example of the kind of thing I’m afraid to say here: I think Bill Cosby has been mistreated by our society.<\/p>\n

“But Brian! \u00a0He’s\u00a0clearly<\/em> a rapist! \u00a0How can you say that?”<\/p>\n

Well, for starters, I don’t believe everything, just because a large number of people come forward and say it is so. \u00a0In regards to Bill Cosby, it is uncomfortable taking this stance, because the allegations are about rape. \u00a0It doesn’t get much more serious than that.<\/p>\n

Whether he did the crimes or not, it is not up to me. \u00a0We have a legal system. \u00a0The legal system may not be perfect, but it’s the system that we have. \u00a0When we go outside that system, we embrace vigilantism and anarchy. \u00a0I am not an anarchist, and I actually believe our legal system is pretty good, even if it’s a bit flawed in some places.<\/p>\n

One of the problems with this whole situation is that almost all of the allegations point to a time well beyond the statute of limitations. \u00a0This eliminates the ability to formally prosecute.<\/p>\n

Instead, he’s prosecuted in the media. \u00a0Bill Cosby’s performances are curtailed. \u00a0Honorary titles are revoked. \u00a0He becomes the butt of jokes, unwanted, and disgraced.<\/p>\n

I don’t know if he did he crimes or not. \u00a0I have an opinion, but that doesn’t really matter. \u00a0If he’s guilty, then maybe justice has been served. \u00a0If he’s not, though, then we as a society took a collective dump on an old man that didn’t deserve it.<\/p>\n

I want to talk about these kinds of things sometimes, but I’m afraid. \u00a0I want to talk about feminism, equality, responsibility, and the principles of our society, but I don’t want what I say to be taken out of context. \u00a0I don’t want what happened to Justine Sacco to happen to me.<\/p>\n

I’ll probably just stick to fiction, and less controversial subjects. \u00a0But sometimes I’m sorely tempted to say something real.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I launch into another evening of delightful edits, let’s warm up with\u00a0a blog post! When I started this blog, I did it because I wanted to act more like a “real” writer. \u00a0I wanted to take my writing career more seriously, and many successful writers that I admire have a similar public outlet. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":508,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions\/508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}