The Sixties Made Me Do It! Harvey Weinstein's Excuse

Here we go again.

According to a story in the New York Times on Thursday October 5, 2017, Harvey Weinstein does not deny decades of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior with women who worked for him at Miramax and the Weinstein Company.

Well, that’s a start.

But in a weak attempt to explain why he had systematically engaged in this reprehensible behavior other than because he could get away with it he blamed the culture of the ’60s and ’70s.

In a statement to the New York Times , Weinstein stated that “I came of age in the 60′s and 70′s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then.”

Say what, Mr. Weinstein?

That was not “the culture” in the house I grew up in. That was not “the culture” in the neighborhood I grew up in. And that was not “the culture” in the places I worked in the ’70s.

I don’t doubt for a minute that sexual harassment went on in the ’60s and ’70s although I was lucky that it didn’t happen to me. Powerful men have done this for decades and continue to try to extract sexual favors from lower level employees to this date.

But here’s what I don’t understand.

Even if somehow the “culture” of the ’60s and ’70s caused some people in positions of power to condone and then engage in this despicable behavior, how do those people live with themselves? How do they look in the mirror?

I guess if you are powerful enough, the lights surrounding the mirror reflect off your inflated ego, producing a surge of narcissism so bright it blinds you to the fact that it is just plain wrong to sexually harass anyone.

It has nothing to do with the ’60s or ’70s. It has everything to do with assholes who treat people badly, with impugnity.