Et tu....?

And the drumbeat goes on...

Over the last fortnight, we've been treated to the revelations that Charlie Rose, Garrison Keillor and Matt Lauer, not to mention congressman John Conyers, were also doing horrible things to and with women.  The floodgates are now truly open to the point that when we wake up, we wonder who the next deviant to be unmasked will be.

People in the public eye are tripping over themselves to condemn the miscreants while trying to understand how their good friends and colleagues could have been such bad actors right under their noses.  At least, that's how some are portraying their angst.  Of the named wrongdoers, the only one that really surprises me is Charlie Rose.  Not just that he was involved in doing such things to women, but what he did to them, which don't need to be retold here.  I suppose Garrison Keillor might raise an eyebrow as well, but given that he tried to exculpate Al Franken -- another recent pervert outed -- it's not that surprising. 

There are a number of different takeaways from this.  First, how was it that so many women were harassed or abused and complaints made about the harassment and abuse yet no action was taken on any of these men until now?  Was there no one of authority with a moral bone in his body?  From what we know at this point, executives are scrambling to do the best impression of the Three Monkeys and thereby insulate themselves from criticism and legal action, not to mention dismissal.

How is it that some of these men -- Rose, Lauer and Keillor, principally -- were able to sit there with a straight face and criticize the President for his improper behavior when they knew that what they were reporting paled by comparison to their misdeeds?

Reports are emanating that everyone knew about the Lauer misconduct.  If so, was there no journalistic Ronan Farrow or Rose McGowan who had the testicular fortitude to reveal this?  If not, what's the point of being a journalist?  In Charlie Rose's case, his producer is a woman, and women complained to her...and she laughed, or shrugged her shoulders, and did nothing. 

There is, of course, a risk, however small, that such accusations can be used falsely by a vengeful woman who was either scorned, passed over for some job-related promotion or another reason.  So far, that doesn't appear to be the case.

Yet people are ready to storm the castle because Donald Trump made inappropriate comments twenty years ago...

...The Left's mentality is puzzling.  There's no rationale for its action and inaction.  Hypocrisy is its byword. 

Savannah Guthrie, Lauer's latest feckless sidekick, did an interview of one of Conyers' accusers the day after the Lauer story broke and she was roundly condemned for the interview's tone.  People also wondered whether she would do an interview with any of the women her former partner harassed and abused and whether she would be harder on them because of her relationship with Lauer.

The one that baffles me is Rose.  If a deviant ever hid in plain sight better than Rose, I'm unaware of him.  I suppose John Wayne Gacy did, but he was an entirely different kind of deviant and wasn't in the public eye nearly as much as Rose. 

Will there be a much-trumpeted interview with one of these guys months down the road, a la Barbara Walters?  Dr. Phil has to be hyperventilating at the opportunity to get any of these on his show.

All in all, it's a tawdry, reprehensible situation.  Those who are now crying in self-righteous indignation about these men who knew about their behavior before it came to light should be ashamed of themselves twice:  First, for not taking any action before it became popularly acceptable and second for raising a stink after the news broke.  The men, of course, should never be in the public eye again. 

One final observation:  At the rate we're going, the number of men in the public eye to be accused of sexual misbehavior may start to challenge the number of female teachers bedding underaged male students. 

(c) 2017 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles