Life As Usual... Sooner or Later

More cheering reflections from the messy world of Harvey Weinstein:

    He says he's confident the Pantheon of Stars will eventually forgive him -- and he'll be back to making movies again, sooner or later.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised.

He'll disappear for a while... and the accusing crowd yelling in his direction will be very pleased with themselves. The lawsuits will begin. (Actually, they already have. No doubt there are actresses kicking themselves for not having been propositioned by him -- they're losing out on publicity and easy pickins.' )
     He'll lose face -- temporarily, at least -- and a bunch of money. But then it won't be long before he reemerges, and declares he's rehabilitated. He has seen the Error of His Ways. All's well - now back to work.

But will it really change anything? 

I was pondering this while rereading Edgar Johnson's Tragedy and Triumph, a biography of my mentor, Charles Dickens.  


      (Mr. Dickens and I are old friends. My Master's paper at the University of Michigan was on his satiric Hard Times, and every book I write has a secret reference to him in its pages. Now you know who our feisty dog Charley is named for.)

When he began his career, Dickens was one of London's many journalists. A master of shorthand, he took down speeches as they were made, then transcribed them for his newspaper, writing in a notebook perched on his knee in a fast-running, jolting carriage. He was said to be the quickest and most accurate of all the Fleet Street reporters.

No wonder he looks exhausted...

    Although Dickens had not yet published Sketches by Boz, or written Pickwick Papers, this 1834 account of a special banquet to honor Earl Grey (the lord, not the tea) is pure genius:

     'The guest of honor and the principal visitors, as usual, were late, and one gentleman, the account says, overcome by the "cold fowls, roast beef, lobster, and other tempting delicacies...appeared to think that the best thing he could possibly do, would be to eat his dinner, while there was anything to eat. He accordingly laid about him with right good-will, the example was contagious, and the clatter of knives and forks became general. Hereupon, several gentlemen, who were not hungry, cried out, 'Shame!' and looked very indignant; and several gentlemen who were hungry cried 'Shame!' too, eating, nevertheless, all the while, as fast as they possibly could.
     " In this dilemma, one of the stewards mounted a bench and feelingly represented to the delinquents the enormity of their conduct, imploring them for decency's sake, to defer the process of mastication until the arrival of Earl Grey. This address was loudly cheered, but totally unheeded; and this is, perhaps, one of the few instances on record of a dinner having been virtually concluded before it began."
                                                          -- Morning Chronicle article, 9/18/34 (Johnson, pg. 96)


It happened back then; it happens today. Give it time, and we'll return to Life As Usual.

Unless some institutions are willing to acknowledge the injustices here...and make permanent changes. 
               Now.

photo from Wikipedia