By Hipolito Navarrete, Managing Editor/Publisher
So when you saw it happening, what did you do? When you heard about it, what did you do? When you did it, why did you do it? The saga of the victims of the Weinstein Company, through Harvey Weinstein, should be also considered from a very personal perspective. What he did, he will and should pay for, those who knew it, should think about their complicity and truly consider their role in the cruel actions of a powerful man with nefarious intentions. People in his position of power are celebrated and coveted by other men in positions of power, the now president of the United States of America, was deeply reverent when he made the comment that a man like Weinstein could grab a woman’s genitals without any repercussions.
He seemed to think that if there were any, they would be minimal as those women were open to such cruelty. There are way too many women and girls that can tell you their instance of something like this happening to them, and because of their vulnerability, the had to choose to do nothing and say nothing. Men all over the world can be seen as predatory and shameless when it comes to women’s sexuality, because they have proven to be. Now this does not mean that men can suffer this type of harassment, but the fact is more women have to deal with this than men and in a more consistent basis, almost daily.
How do we address this? We have been talking about it and hanging our heads in shame when we hear about it, but change will only happen when we prescribe the right solution for it, total intolerance. There has been a great disservice to society when we allowed those angry folks to start using the moniker “Politically Correct” to describe politeness. These folks still just want to abuse others as they feel they should be able to and this leads to those that will do nothing to prevent any type of aggravation or assault to be okay because they just don’t want to get involved, how despicable of us.
Yes, this is one middle aged man’s perspective, and many will find flaws and fault with it, but that’s okay because we need to start somewhere, we all need to start somewhere and its best that we start with ourselves, its better to start looking in the mirror, listening to your comments, and listen to those of others. How do we advise women and other men, especially young men when they make off hand damaging comments that they have heard from other men they look up to. How do we counterbalance the stories they see on TV where in an attempt to get ratings many focus on the violent moments of our lives, the most dramatic ones. There is no real solution other than always being in conversation and mindful. We do not have the luxury of isolating ourselves from those that damage others because of their hubris or because they are just twisted, or ill. I am willing to bet that those like Weinstein will not submit to counseling in order to heal from what ever it is they suffer from and stop allowing their lust to guide their interactions with women.
In the climate that we have allowed to evolve, we now need to attack it and dismantle the cover that we have allowed others to give folks like Weinstein. The significance of his demise is not one should take lightly, his power to help folks find their dreams, made people and especially women with one very vulnerable. As we propagate the idea of pursuing your dreams and working hard for your passions, we also need to make sure the rough road to such goals is not filled with trolls that would derail, denigrate, violate and destroy the women pursuing theirs, we need to grow up. We are living a time that after many efforts and inroads made in our society, a man who said in a 1992 New York magazine interview: “Women, you have to treat them like shit,” was elected into the most powerful office in the world.
