Weinstein reckoning: a much-needed moment of national agreement
Every sentient American feels the current national divide. It’s been deepening for a decade or more. Barack Obama promised to unite red and blue states in a common purpose, but his tenure was acrimonious. In the Trump era, the division is even more pronounced. Through it all, elephants and donkeys mud wrestle in Congress. Self-serving politicians won’t bring us together.
Tech leaders imagined that new products allowing large-scale connectivity would invite mutual understanding and an uplifting exchange of perspectives. While some of that came true, the internet and social media channels can be a brackish backwater of barbarity. New technology will not cover over the country’s widening crevasse.
Scientists bicker, religions fragment, and even family members squabble over the mundane and the momentous. Societal consensus seems like a curiosity from a distant past.
Yet, this week in New York City, a notable event offers a fleeting moment of national agreement — the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault trial. As you read this, the jurors are now sequestered from news coverage and commentary. While they are rightfully required to presume his innocence, the rest of us have no such legal burden. Which is why I propose that — despite all our differences — Americans can concur on one modest premise: no matter what the verdict, Harvey Weinstein is the worst of us.
Yes, murderers are worse, but pay heed to the particulars of how and why the Weinstein case is emblematic of the most critical fault lines in our justice system. Predatory sexual assault ranks as among the most serious of felonies. As a prosecutor, I’ve seen the lasting damage done to women victimized in cases like these. Adding to the severity of the matter are the well-reported accounts of Weinstein using every lever of prosperity, power and influence available to him to discredit and disgrace his accusers.
In pathetic defense of himself, Weinstein denies culpability but admits lechery and multiple violations of his marital oath. His chosen defense goes something like this: “I’m no criminal, just a creep.” A national poll would likely indicate Americans think he’s both.
This case is a worthy opportunity for us all to — finally — take the same side on a matter of national discussion. Let’s survey the common ground.
Americans struggling financially correctly lament that Weinstein is using his massive wealth to retain a pack of gilded attorneys for a strong defense and an assault force of private detectives and PR operatives for an aggressive offense. At the other end of the economic teeter-totter, the wealthy wince, since many in the public incorrectly assume all people of means use their funds to escape legal accountability a la Weinstein.
Most women are particularly interested in this trial, since many have experienced some form of sexual abuse and long to see a villain of this sort vanquished. Their male counterparts, in turn, know that most men respect and cherish the opposite sex and thus want to see some rough justice brought to those overgrown boys who so flagrantly cross the line of respect to prey on women.
Those of us who worry that Hollywood operates unmoored from character and the true north moral law inherent in every civilized society clamor to see the film industry’s excesses exposed and the Weinstein trial brings such a consequence. Yet many responsible leaders in the movie business also cheer this prosecution, recognizing that the dishonored producer’s infamous bullying was the open secret that injured the vulnerable and corroded the veneer of Hollywood’s claimed progressivism.
And, in the oddest of partnerships, Republicans, knowing that Weinstein is a committed liberal Democrat, will be content to see his comeuppance while Democrats will be glad to purge him from their ranks.
Harvey Weinstein undoubtedly has a handful of defenders. Even the most heinous criminals — some of whom I’ve prosecuted — do. And it’s no small matter that he, like all of us, is made in the image of God and susceptible to repentance and rehabilitation. Yet his actions, combined with his manifold attempts to avoid accountability for them, should unite nearly everyone into a brief, clarion moment of agreement.
Let the jurors review the evidence for the legal verdict. But, before we all report back to our usual battle stations in the cultural crusades, let’s make a finding of our own: The underpinning lessons of the Harvey Weinstein saga are clear and worthy of unanimity. Decency matters. Men have a special responsibility to protect women. And the powerful must be called to account — irrespective of the amount of dollars in their bank account, limousines in their fleet or Academy Awards on their shelf.
Mark R. Weaver is a former deputy attorney general of Ohio, who, as a prosecutor has sent murderers, rapists and child molesters to prison. He is the author of the book “A Wordsmith’s Work.” Twitter: @MarkRWeaver
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Originally published by the Columbus Dispatch.