I think we’re in this watershed moment. I
think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling
empowered to tell their stories, and it’s totally necessary … I do
believe that there’s a spectrum of behavior, right? And we’re going to
have to figure — you know, there’s a difference between, you know,
patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation,
right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated
without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right? You know, we
see somebody like Al Franken,
right? — I personally would have preferred if they had an Ethics
Committee investigation, you know what I mean? It’s like at what point —
you know, we’re so energized to kind of get retribution, I think.
And we live in this culture of outrage and injury, and, you know, that
we’re going to have to correct enough to kind of go, “Wait a minute.
None of us came here perfect.” You know what I mean? … The Louis C.K.
thing, I don’t know all the details. I don’t do deep dives on this, but
I did see his statement, which kind of, which [was] arresting to me.
When he came out and said, “I did this. I did these things. These women
are all telling the truth.” And I just remember thinking, “Well, that’s
the sign of somebody who — well, we can work with that” … Like, when I’m
raising my kids, this constant personal responsibility is as important
as anything else they learn before they go off in the world.
And the fear for me is that right now, we’re in this moment where at the
moment — and I hope it doesn’t stay this way — the clearer signal to
men and to younger people is, deny it. Because if you take
responsibility for what you did, your life’s going to get ruined …
I mean, look, as I said, all of that behavior needs to be confronted,
but there is a continuum. And on this end of the continuum where you
have rape and child molestation or whatever, you know, that’s prison.
Right? And that’s what needs to happen. OK? And then we can talk about
rehabilitation and everything else. That’s criminal behavior, and it
needs to be dealt with that way. The other stuff is just kind of
shameful and gross, and I just think … I don’t know Louis C.K.. I’ve
never met him. I’m a fan of his, but I don’t imagine he’s going to do
those things again. You know what I mean? I imagine the price that he’s
paid at this point is so beyond anything that he — I just think that we
have to kind of start delineating between what these behaviors are.
Damon has been taking a hit in social media concerning these comments with his former Good Will Hunting co-star Minnie Driver taking the lead. She tweeted, "God God, SERIOUSLY. There are so many men I love who do NOT frame the differentiation
between sexual misconduct assault and rape as an excuse or worse- our
problem. Such bollocks."
Actually, it's Minnie Driver's comments that are bollocks.
As it stands now in Massachusetts, an individual who is convicted of aggravated rape and forcible rape of a child under 16 could get life imprisonment. Does Driver honestly believe an individual who slaps a woman's buttocks should also spend the rest of his life in prison?
If she does then what tells me is that Driver and others who object to Damon's comments are interested in revenge, not justice.
This isn't to say that our laws cannot be amended with regard to sexual assault whether it's the implementation of minimum sentencing or increasing the duration of the statute of limitations for reporting such crimes. Those are discussions worth having. Pillorying Matt Damon for trying to inject some sobriety into the discussion is not worthy of public discourse.
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