I’m all for rehabilitation and folks who are rehabilitated getting out of jail however that takes acknowledgement of wrongdoing and remorse both of which Cosby hasn’t displayed, as further evidenced by his profanity and outburst in court today.
I used to admire him a lot and I agree that the whole situation is sad. But the man spent decades drugging and raping women. He needs to go to jail.
I beg to differ. Saying that a victim who wishes to see justice done “is full of hate” is absolutely a criticism and shows a clear lack of empathy or any kind of understanding of what it is like to be raped or otherwise sexually assaulted.
Loathe, detest, despise…pick whatever synonym makes you feel better…me, I happen to surmise that she hates him. How that makes me not empathetic or understanding of her situation is upside down logic I do not understand. She certainly doesn’t feel charitable toward him or she would not have put herself through both a civil and criminal trial. Maybe she’s just angry but doesn’t hate, despise or loathe. But goodness you all are making false assumptions about me and then posting them and that I find rather irritating and it is a no no.
Sorry @momofthreeboys … but you lost me with “She certainly doesn’t feel charitable toward him or she would not have put herself through both a civil and criminal trial.” PUT HERSELF THROUGH? How about what HE put her through? I understand your concerns with the due process issues when college males are accused of sexual transgressions on campus (I think I have the right person in mind) and I do not disagree that there are some serious issues in that context. Cosby was found guilty by a unanimous verdict from 12 jurors tried and true. The victim did not put herself through anything; she got justice.
Why would she feel charitable toward the man who drugged and raped her? Did he behave charitably to her? If he had, maybe he wouldn’t be facing time in prison.
“she” didn’t do anything other than being a victim. This is a criminal case. It’s the State vs. Cosby.
Oh good heavens.
Strikes me that you are just digging a bigger hole for yourself @momofthreeboys : I’m having a harder and harder time understanding exactly what you are trying to say.
I can understand why you might want the women to forgive Cosby, but I don’t even understand what you’re talking about with Cosby forgiving them. Forgiving them for what? For his drugging and raping them? What did they do wrong that would imply forgiveness was an issue?
I agree with @momofthreeboys on this one. She DID put herself through this. Had this trial happened shortly after the events happened, he might not have been found guilty, because of the climate at that time. While he did take advantage of these women, they put themselves in a position to be taken advantage of - AND were attempting to take advantage of his fame and influence. This is not the same as a women who had a few drinks, and was unable to consent. And before anyone makes claims about lack of empathy, I was the victim of someone who slipped a drug into my soda, and took advantage - these “victims” took the drugs willingly, and to me that makes a difference.
As much as I’m not surprised by the verdict, and I feel he was wrong, I also believe the current climate is what allowed the jury to find him guilty. They asked for a definition of consent, but that definition was most likely today’s definition, not based on the context of the period when there events occurred (though admittedly, being a black man would likely have swung things back in their favor). It doesn’t change what he did, or that fact the it was wrong, but in the context of the climate then, I can see why he felt he did nothing wrong.
I also worry that if Weinstein is not convicted, or doesn’t see any jail time, that the message will still be that a black man can’t get away with such behavior, but a white man can. There are many complexities with this case, and with this verdict.
Your “AND” just [ticks] me off royally @CTScoutmom .
^^agree about Weinstein. There are very few surface differences. But there may not be a woman as strong willed as in the Cosby case who will put herself out there for scrutiny.
You better get used to “strong willed” women putting themselves out there for “scrutiny” because a lot of us in society see no shame in victims speaking out and speaking up any longer. No more putting Baby in the corner. Welcome to 2018. Thankfully some of the thinking expressed here is becoming archaic, not as much as I had hoped obviously.
Like many of you, I’m glad a predator was convicted - but sad that predator was Bill Cosby.
I always liked him as an actor. I liked how he used his position to promote education and literacy. I thought The Cosby Show, with its unapologetic celebration of a successful, loving black family, was important and maybe even transformative. Heck, I even liked those silly jello commercials.
And this meaningful, fun legacy has gone up in smoke of his own evil doing. Very disappointing.
Agree which makes it all the worse. He took advantage of the goodwill he created. With his celebrity and philanthropy, I did hold him to a higher standard. He’s the one that royally screwed that up, not his victims.
They didn’t get a definition of consent, however.
Let’s be real here. None of us knew Cosby. We knew his television characters, his comedy skits and his couple of public speeches and quotes and that is what we liked. That doesn’t mean we knew him in the least. Not Bill Cosby the person.
My kids’ school is dealing with a teacher recently arrested for a somewhat similar crime (one reported situation). The students are dealing with the shock of the “good guy” they thought they knew having given alcohol to a 17 year old student before initiating sex with her. I hope this verdict somehow helps the kids know that they weren’t stupid. Anyone can be fooled. That just because someone does good things doesn’t mean they aren’t also capable of bad things.
Even if you know a person, you don’t know their secrets. I knew someone fairly well, but didn’t know about his child sex abuse (which he eventually admitted to).
His comedy skits used to talk about drugging women. Maybe if we’d listened to him then he would have been stopped sooner. I am 100% okay with this verdict.