Louis CK

You're not listening to them.

 

It's only central to the story from a very tone deaf place.

 

I never said otherwise. I just took one for the team so we could get a real female perspective onto this thread.

 

I'd like to, if the reporter would ask them the damn question.

 

The reporter may have, and may have gotten a direct answer to the question, and written the story to say that, and the editor(s) may have scrubbed it because who cares.

We don't really know how the original story emerged after the sausage was made.

 

My conversation with Mrs. Whitman about this is buried somewhere in the morass, too.

 

The answer is very clear if you're listening

 

Who cares if they consented?

 

Does the person have to have actual authority or does the person giving consent just have to think they have power? I'm not sure he even thought he had power in some of these situations. It is not clear, which is why Dickie is questioning the story. It is particularly important to be clear in reporting something like this because the definitions of authority and consent can be unclear.

I'm not defending the accused here. It is possible for him to be guilty of doing something wrong and for the story to be badly reported and written. There can be more than one person who screwed up in all this.

Also, part of making an argument is working with your audience. Every time you drag the Bible into a discussion, you lose people. That is your guide, not mine. Just something to keep in mind.

 

This is actually something I was thinking about earlier and a really good point: This is someone who has based a lot of his comedic shtick on his awkwardness and lack of confidence with women. If we take that at his word, it's not at all clear to me that he would process these situations as him being in the power position, particularly a decade or more ago when he wasn't cross-over famous yet.

 

It's perfectly plausible that he didn't realize his behavior was harassment.

 

Let me ask it this way: What reason is there for the reporter not to go ahead and close the loop and ask whether the women gave consent? I feel like what should have been the single most important exchange of the story has just been completely brushed off.