The Coz

Loading

_79120382_cosbydickinson1_624apgettyLike probably most of you, this is the Bill Cosby I grew up knowing:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gud6kankXo[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhs9zvLZa8M[/youtube]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/q6YowgQajpY[/youtube]

So it’s difficult to stomach or ignore this:

Janice Dickinson Joins Cosby Accusers

The self-proclaimed “world’s first supermodel” has joined two others in claiming that comedian and actor Bill Cosby once sexually assaulted them. During a 1982 meeting near Lake Tahoe, Dickenson claims that Cosby gave her “wine and a pill” after dinner. “The next morning I woke up and I wasn’t wearing my pajamas,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “And I remember before I passed out that I had been sexually assaulted by this man.” The last thing she remembered was Cosby “in a patchwork robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me.” Dickinson’s account matches closely with the other two accusers, Jan Tarshis—who went public over the weekend—and Barbara Bowman who both published first hand accounts that included being drugged.

As they say, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”. When you have multiple accusers coming forth, it becomes a lot more difficult to believe that there is simply nothing to the accusations.

So what do you when you’re a fan of a person’s body of work; yet that person turns out to have personal failings that are morally repugnant? I suppose it depends upon the severity of the “failing”, and the weight it carries on your conscience.

Cosby, after all, is not alone. No one is perfect- least of all, Hollywood celebrities. Their politics alone are sometimes too much baggage for me to ignore.

I absolutely love Bruce Springsteen’s music, even though I cannot stand his political bloviating. Of course, this holds true for most popular musical artists. Liberals simply make great music. I simply hold my nose and listen. Recently, though, instead of “Shut up and sing”, I’d say, “Shut up…and shut up”. Does my supporting Springsteen’s music by purchasing his CDs also support his political donations? Going that route would be just a futile and misguided as proponents of gay marriage banning Chic-fil-A over same-sex marriage; unless you’re really that passionate about the issue.

Should any of us feel guilt over enjoying Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyrie” or “Siegfried’s Funeral March”? Does this mean I should also ban Excalibur from my video library?

Is it okay for me to still laugh at this scene from Naked Gun:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2_tJIgfnDA[/youtube]

As much as I want to enjoy the clip, I have trouble separating the character of Nordberg from the man who plays him. I still enjoy it. But not like I used to.

I’m not a fan of Woody Allen’s movies (I’ve actually never seen one). But many are. How do they go on supporting the man’s body of work?

I was a fan of Chris Benoit, the WWE wrestler who killed his wife and kid; then hung himself. Does the severity of his crime mean I should erase from memory the legacy of his professional career? The brilliant matches and storylines he participated in?

Is Bill Cosby’s message to blacks any less important, even if the allegations leveled at him are true? Does it resonate with any less truth?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGqlrVmVULc[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ggrIbX0TE[/youtube]

Certainly not.

This was kind of a random find:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPHLueEFfz0[/youtube]

I know none of the allegations have proven to be true. They remain allegations, at the moment. But the allegations alone are already damaging him.

And if it turns out that he had raped these women, possibly others…rapists rank extremely low on my totem pole of human character.

Bill Cosby’s professional career, his personal political beliefs, his moral character…they are all intertwined. Can one be a role model in one area; and a despicable villain in another? Or does something like this taint the entire man from being regarded as anything but being defined by his worst aspect?

We are all mixed bags, imperfect in our humanness. Cosby can still have positive messages and hold views that resonate; but he will have become less effective at being a messenger.

And when it comes to his comedy, I already am having trouble laughing like I used to.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
27 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

What’s the big deal?
Has everyone forgotten Ray Charles? His backup girls had a standard test for employment: yes, you guessed it. They had to please Ray.
What about 20,000 women? [written by some basketball player]
How about the Bimbo Eruption with Bill Clinton?
How about the many mistresses of JFK?
I could go on for pages. I don’t know of many violators before David and Bathsheba, but I am sure there were some.
Hypocrisy of the highest order.
How about early Hollywood, where starlets slept their way up?
This is all so much b..s.. How come no reports were made at the time?
There is no statute of limitation on murder. I’m just not so sure about rape, especially with the colossal failure of recovered memory syndrome.

Cosby is esteemed. It would be devestating to learn these accusations are true. While they are just accusations, when they pile up, if the person is not some leader to be deposed, there very well could be fire where there is smoke. I certainly hope not.

Take Herman Cain for instance; he had these sorts of accusations leveled at him, but they were just accusations settled out of court, expeditiously. Then take Clinton. Or Edwards. Ted Kennedy. Smoke. Fire.

But, if so, the punishment should be severe.

I still enjoy his work.
The work is not the man.
How many artists’ creations have I enjoyed where I knew nothing of the artist?
He may or may not be a rapist. I lean towards “probably is”.
But I will not deny myself the pleasure of his work because the man is probably an unrepentant (publicly, at least) rapist.
Yes, I also enjoy Wagner. And Cat Stevens. And others who’s choices I find morally or ethically repugnant. Their art is good.
And again, the work is not the man.

We’ll have to wait for the evidence to present itself. It just seems strange to me that whenever a black man with conservative values comes along and derides the Party’s “welfare is great” line and preaches individual responsibility, some female(s) comes along with allegations of sexual whatever. Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, and now Bill Cosby. I’m surprised they haven’t gone after Denzel Washington yet. One can only imagine what Ben Carson is going to have to endure should he become a prominent political force in 2016.

The gossip tabloid (‘Obama’s in trouble, let’s change the subject to something completely different so we wont have to cover Democratic scandals’) MSM continually ignores base tenets of the law of the land which holds that a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

No don’t look at Gruber! Don’t try to justify Obama’s unconstitutional Executive Actions.

“SQUIRREL!”

If you believe the allegations are true then you must believe Anita Hill’s words about Chief Justice Clarence Thomas. Me, I don’t believe any of them. Cosby is the victim till proven guilty.

Maybe Gruber is just another distraction. Basically the story that has captured the nation’s full attention comes down to Hey, this guy says you’re stupid.

And Bill Cosby? What’s the deal with that? No such tales were told in public for over 30 years. It wasn’t like Bill Cosby would have had you whacked for making a report.

@Greg:

Maybe Gruber is just another distraction. Basically the story that has captured the nation’s full attention comes down to Hey, this guy says you’re stupid.

To clarify, no it isn’t. The story is that the fact that Obamacare was sold to the public on a pack of lies, which many already know. Those who did NOT know, Gruber calls stupid, which is precisely accurate.

What is the curious side effect of these revelations is that it has drawn out even MORE lies from Democrats; lies trying to cover the original lies. It is a pattern this administration cannot seem to break away from.

Fast and Furious is exposed and denied, then lies are told to cover the false denials. Benghazi kills four Americans and the administration lies to hike their culpability and exposure. Those lies have to be covered with other lies. IRS targets conservatives and conservatives only and the administration lies about what happened; then, all they can think to do is more lying (stonewalling is lying). And now this; never heard of the guy, he didn’t advise, who’s he?

Obama, Holder, Reid and Pelosi are who my wife’s grandmother used to describe; she would say “he’d rather climb up on the roof and tell a lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth.”. They simply know no other way.

That’s your take on the story, perhaps. The reality, however, is that the Affordable Care Act actually has become law, and will ultimately be judged entirely on its merits and shortcomings. The backstory concerning the legislation’s history and the personal opinions of Jonathan Gruber aren’t actually relevant to that judgement.

@Ditto: #5
While I agree with your reasoning about the MSM’s motivation, “base tenets of the law of the land which holds that a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law” is a limitation on government, not on the citizen. While the government may not consider a person guilty until proven, we are free to do so.
Unless someone in government wants your assets, of course, then they can do whatever they want without proving guilt. :/

@Greg:

That’s your take on the story, perhaps. The reality, however, is that the Affordable Care Act actually has become law, and will ultimately be judged entirely on its merits and shortcomings. The backstory concerning the legislation’s history and the personal opinions of Jonathan Gruber aren’t actually relevant to that judgement.

You’re missing the big, bold letter title of the story; the law HAS been judged on its merits and shortcomings…. it stinks, it fails and it is terrible for America.

Now, the part you want to claim is the entire story is merely a description of how we got such a terrible piece of legislation INTO law. By lying, by lack of transparency and, as you feel is THE story, taking advantage of people who are either stupid or too lazy to become more informed.

We all know that there were enormous lies told to move this policy along; I thing even you would admit that. At some point, Greg, you HAVE to ask yourself, why do they have to lie about this to get into law? If it is SO good, why is it necessary to lie about it to stem opposition and encourage support?

You’re missing the big, bold letter title of the story; the law HAS been judged on its merits and shortcomings…. it stinks, it fails and it is terrible for America.

I don’t see where any of the dire consequences that ACA opponents have predicted have actually materialized. All I see are negative poll numbers reflecting little more than a 6-year-long negative propaganda campaign—one into which the GOP and special interests have directed enormous amounts of time, energy, and money.

Against that, there are millions of Americans now insured who weren’t previously, and new standards that have eliminated serious faults which previously existed with the health insurance system (lifetime payment limits, denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, cancellation of coverage on obscure technicalities, etc.) Take all that away, and millions of Americans will directly experience real world negative consequences.

Such changes have likely inconvenienced some people who were previously sitting in the catbird seat with respect to health insurance costs. Some people who were fully able to pay more likely will do so. The burden of healthcare insurance costs has been spread more widely so that more people have access to coverage. Perhaps that central truth is the bitter pill that was sugar coated to sell the entire program. If so, I have no problem with it.

@Bill#8 Thank you. Not sure what Greg’s ‘problem’ is…maybe it has to do with a forest and trees…

@Greg:

I don’t see where any of the dire consequences that ACA opponents have predicted have actually materialized.

You can keep parroting that mantra until the cows come home. It shows you are either a) a liar b) blind to the truth or c) both.

Obama said if I liked my insurance, I could keep it; period. I couldn’t. I lost it and had to find another provider. He also said costs would decrease. Perhaps he was using some of that Cloward and Piven math because in my book, when you go from zero cost to over $300.00 a month, that’s an increase in cost.

Again, do you get paid for your blatherings or are you really stupid enough to think people buy the snake oil you are trying to sell?

Obama doesn’t control your former union or the corporation that formerly employed you. You’ve got a fixation on Obama.

@Greg: Actually, that is Gruber’s story. Haven’t you seen his videos? He seems quite proud of the way he pulled the wool over you stupid voters.

@Petercat:

… “base tenets of the law of the land which holds that a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law” is a limitation on government, not on the citizen. While the government may not consider a person guilty until proven, we are free to do so.

I didn’t mention the public on purpose. You are free to state your opinions on guilt or innocence certainly, but without being the judge or jury the news media should be damn careful with it’s cheer-leading for one side or the other, else they be sued for slander, libel or defamation of character.

@Greg:

The backstory concerning the legislation’s history and the personal opinions of Jonathan Gruber aren’t actually relevant to that judgement.

You are awful proud of the Democrat leadership pulling one over on the voters aren’t you? It’s very relevant to the voters who were scammed into accepting the lies, as well as the courts who still have to make rulings on the law. If a justice determines that a law was written in a convoluted manner and that it was done purposely to deceive the public and legislature, that judge can indeed take the public forum recorded admissions of the architect of said law as evidence and throw the law out on the strength of said evidence.

On Gruber: The word Gruber became a part of the American lexicon at the speed of an old flashlight. Consequently, those Democrats who continue to believe the altruistic vision of the Progressives will forever be considered useful idiots. Listening to their naive talking points will be avoided, lest the listener be considered dense as well. There will be indirect consequences from the vain glorious Gruber; he who desperately sought recognition, but sacrificed his name to forever be synomous with loudmouths and idiots.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Blacks who wander off the Democratic plantation will be vulnerable to relentless attacks by the Democrats who believe all blacks should know their place and not be uppity. These attacks are not necessarily based in fact or legitimacy; their purpose is to ruin or make miserable the life of the errant black until they quit standing up for their own personal principles. Defections from the black demographic, who speak out against the drone-like mindless loyalty to the party, are a clear and present danger to the unity demanded from the Democrat Party.

Cosby’s accusers are repeating the same story: are we to assume this creative man has no imagination in his love life or are we to be slightly skeptical of a modus operand that is so similar that authenticity can logically be called into question? Especially, when the accusers are drunks and addicts, desperate to rekindle the sputtering flames of failed and forgotten careers.

On Hanging: The guilty and sometimes the innocent are always hanged by the neck, until dead. They are never hung by the neck, until dead; however, I doubt it is of much significance to the condemned, when the hangman’s noose is placed around his neck.
http://skooksjournal.com/?p=854

@Greg:

I don’t see where any of the dire consequences that ACA opponents have predicted have actually materialized. All I see are negative poll numbers reflecting little more than a 6-year-long negative propaganda campaign—one into which the GOP and special interests have directed enormous amounts of time, energy, and money.

No, doubtless you don’t. You never will, probably. However, not just some have come true, but ALL have. You want to tout that 7 million people signed up, yet 6 million were kicked off. You want to tout lower premiums but that comes at the cost of taxpayer subsidies and exorbitant deductibles. You deny the existence of “death panels”, yet we saw them in action in the case of Sarah Murnaghan and have heard Zeke Emmanuel speak of how people 75 or older really should just die already. We have see people lose coverage they desperately needed and die for want of the treatments they had. We have seen doctors retire or bail out of networks. We have seen costs rise. We have seen taxes that were promised not to be there.

We have seen all the “scare tactics” and “horror stories” come true. All. Completely. We have, but you didn’t.

But, all the negative impressions came from “negative propaganda”. Really. You are aware that there would be but one source that would be reporting on the bad aspects of this law while all the rest were doing exactly what they are still done; covering up all negative details and exaggerating anything positive that could be found or created. And, again, all the negative reports were true.

Such changes have likely inconvenienced some people who were previously sitting in the catbird seat with respect to health insurance costs.

There you have it. It doesn’t matter that millions that had responsibly insured themselves had their coverage and treatments torn asunder (or, “inconvenienced” as you like to term it). It does not matter that as a net change, nothing as far as the uninsured has been improved.

The liberals wanted total control and power desperately. They got it and, due to that, have NO ONE they can blame for their failure. Not Republicans (for they were shut out unless they parroted the left wing desires), not the media (for 90% of the media is left wing) and not Bush. Democrats had the helm and they screwed the pooch. Thanks to the stupid people Gruber relied on.

Greg, what your tiny, twisted mind fails to grasp is that they lied to YOU. YOU, GREG. Not to me, not to Nan, nor Skookum or Dr John. We knew they were lying, because we knew they were liars.

They. Lied. To. You.

And, like the idiot you have proven yourself to be, you swallowed those lies, said “Yummy” and asked for seconds.

Gruber was right; you are a stupid, boneheaded moron.

The COZ and Slick Willie should do a Show together?

@another+vet:

We’ll have to wait for the evidence to present itself. It just seems strange to me that whenever a black man with conservative values comes along and derides the Party’s “welfare is great” line and preaches individual responsibility, some female(s) comes along with allegations of sexual whatever. Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, and now Bill Cosby. I’m surprised they haven’t gone after Denzel Washington yet. One can only imagine what Ben Carson is going to have to endure should he become a prominent political force in 2016.

Before canonizing Cosby as a conservative hero, I suggest you recognize the subtle, but important distinction between a black man with conservative values and a “black conservative” as recognized by the American conservative establishment. The former is a man whose beliefs, not necessarily his perception of objective history, are informed by his values. The latter are individuals who tell white conservatives that racism no longer exists and thus are granted a particular standing on the Right. One doesn’t have to believe racism doesn’t exist to preach the gospel of self reliance, but your audience will necessarily change.

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”

That’s not the correct saying, according to John F Kennedy it is Where there’s smoke, there’s a smoke making machine. Wonder if that’s what we have here?

Word–You’ve never seen a Woody Allen movie? You’ve missed some great comedy–Start with Zelig. I guarantee you’ll love it. There are Many more.
The Cosby story sounds a lot like the guy from Hogan’s Heros. Too often men of power and influence wield it over women. It’s the way of the world.

@Richard Wheeler:

Too often men of power and influence wield it over women. It’s the way of the world.

Have you ever seen a situation where a woman got the power and influence over men? Can be disasterous.

Was in a manufacturing plant once where a female got promoted to dept head of one of the manufacturing depts. She was a pure tyrant. They tranferred her to a different mill, same job. Within a short time they had to promote her to a job in headquarters that DID NOT involve supervising anyone. She left the company soon after.

Melendez and the teenage Dominican hookers???? Definitely guilty of being a democrat
Coz a conservative ??? A media lynch mob
Partisan views ???? Blinded by hate ???