Even The Wolf likely can't clean up Harvey Weinstein's pending troubles

But here's the thing about the Ansari story: I don't think it has been treated as an accusation/allegation, by most of the think pieces that I have read. It's the story of a bad date. That's how this has been teed up. He doesn't really have an accusation of assaultive/abusive behavior to live down, despite the fact that Grace's story, on its face, describes an act of third-degree criminal sexual abuse under New York law.

"Aziz Ansari didn't do anything illegal."

Aziz Ansari Didn’t Do Anything Illegal but That’s Not the Point

"Bad date."

Author of Aziz Ansari bad date article clashes with news anchor

"Bad date."

HLN host Ashleigh Banfield reads insulting email sent by Aziz Ansari 'bad date' reporter

"Bad date or sexual harassment"?

A bad date or sexual harassment? Babe's Aziz Ansari piece harms #MeToo movement

"Bad date."



"The lurid details of one woman's bad date."

The Aziz Ansari takedown is a setback for the #MeToo movement

"Not criminal."

On Aziz Ansari And Sex That Feels Violating Even When It’s Not Criminal | HuffPost

 

Well, I still have one important question that remains unsettled ... if I’m hoping to spur MommaQuant into a bout of the nasty tonight, is The Claw an option, or should I stick with my usual strategy (unloading and loading the dishwasher)?

 

I can tell you what not to do: Don't get the flu. Mrs. Whitman so much as hears a bag of chips rippling this week on my account, she's on the scene to put a stop to it.

 

As re: 3, I think it might be fairer to say that DW’s arguing that a reading of the think pieces suggests that Ansari appears to be trending toward emerging “pretty much completely unscathed” ... but I don’t know. The dishwasher’s full and I can’t think straight.

 

But I am with @typefitter et al. here in saying, we shall see.

 

There are think pieces that proceed from the assumed premise that he didn't do anything illegal.

But he did!*

* Assuming the truth of the allegations.

 

Single shaming, are we? lol

 

Not at all. I just couldn't imagine it. It's a terrifying idea to me. In life, there was almost nothing worse to me than The Chase. I am completely incapable of crossing the relationship rubicon to a dating situation. Can't do it. Some people are color blind. Some people lack a sense of, say, balance. I couldn't date. Can't read signals. None of it. I'm awful at it. The idea of doing that at 40 makes me break into a cold sweat.

 

Don’t the Ansari think pieces generally represent the kind of whataboutism this board typically denounces?

 

So if I read your arguments correctly (the dishwasher's empty now), your sense is that these pieces reflect an emerging consensus that, largely, leaves Ansari "unscathed".

 

I don't know. If you're a C-list actor in Hollywood, why bother getting married? Some think-tank released a study a couple of years ago saying that the divorce rate among celebrities over the medium term was something like 50 percent.

 

Yes. And, in particular, unscathed relative to what I would have expected to be the reaction, based upon the ground rules that have emerged since September.