and saying. And sa....

We are failing #Metoo.

It 's not failing. It 's put the turkey on the table.

The assorted boards from H.Weinstein' s to the Met ,haven' t failed. They tried to deal with a challenge they   shouldn´t have been presented. Didn´ t succeed of course. Did so in a way that sets a dangerous precedent . But they tried.

It was, and is , up to us to  save them from themselves  and us from the detour they started down.  And to insist that the response to claims of harassment is not do-it-yourself retribution concocted by 15 or 20 aged directors during the two hours a month they have taken off from  their job to ponder the concerns of the Met or NPŔ or the Minnesota Democratic Party.

And  while  it seemed on its face  a reasonable enough attempt, neither was delegating the matter to a law firm -however the whiteness of their foot gear- the way to go. Lawyers are known to need to eat.  And to  need a house in the Hamptons. Costs money. Causes you to want your client to be grateful. Which causes you- when  asked to opine on a question of possible harassment- to sort of wonder what opinion might please the client paying this fee. And possible future ones. You hope.

As Mary McCarthy was wont to say , the world wasn´t created yesterday. Along the way we´ve tried having wrongs righted  by Kings-exercising their divine rights. And Parliaments (where are you Anne?) And by pressing  under a  Salem stone. Say what you want about  " false witness ",  certainly reduced repeat witchcraft.  And there were eloquent  speeches en Francais.  Followed by tumbrils. Not to forget the  ¨Strange Fruit¨ of ¨Reconstruction¨. 

Illegal actions should be dealt with legally. It the legal system can´t it should be made to do so. If the libel laws need to be changed  ( Hello Stormy) the libel laws should be changed. And the ¨right ¨of the accused to  respond to the charges of the accuser doesn´t have to entail her being further tormented in front of 12 human beings. Video anyone?

We´ve started down a wrong path. We should stop.