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Jim Geraghty in National Review:



“Apparently, one of the hardest things to do in politics is denounce a longtime ally when they’re caught engaging in unforgivable misconduct.”

Many on the right have used the reports of Mr. Weinstein’s conduct — and the fact that it was an “open secret” among Hollywood insiders — to establish a pervasive hypocrisy among celebrities on the left. Mr. Geraghty says that parties on both sides of the ideological divide are guilty of dragging their feet when it comes to denouncing political allies. Read more »

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Scott Greer in The Daily Caller:



“In spite of the industry rushing to repudiate Weinstein, the moral stain of allowing him to prey on young women for years can’t be wiped away with one press statement calling the movie mogul repulsive.”

Mr. Greer picks up on Mr. Geraghty’s thread and expands upon it when he writes that Hollywood has relinquished the right to lecture the rest of the country on moral issues. He worries about the downturn in traditional arbiters of moral authority, writing, “The decline in religion and community institutions leaves the makers of popular culture in the driver’s seat for determining what is good and what is bad in our society.” Read more »

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Kimberly Ross in RedState:

“Harvey Weinstein was not the embodiment of masculinity; he was the antithesis of it.”

Writers on the left often point to the idea of “toxic masculinity” to explain the ways in which cultural gender norms can degrade the emotional and physical well-being of both men and women. Ms. Ross understands the urge to explain “monstrous acts,” but warns her readers not to tie reports of Mr. Weinstein’s sexual misconduct to his masculinity. “We will never combat the Weinsteins of this world by punishing masculinity,” she writes. Read more »

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From the Left

Rebecca Traister in New York Magazine:



“Something has changed. Sources have gone on the record. It’s worth it to wonder why. Perhaps because of shifts in how we understand these kinds of abuses.”

Ms. Traister worked at Talk magazine with Mr. Smith in 1999, where she experienced firsthand Mr. Weinstein’s belligerence and, subsequently, his power to silence his critics. She reflects on decades of silence in the news media and suggests that the accusations took so long to come to light because of cultural shifts. “Now our consciousness has been raised,” she writes, but that is not the whole story. She also notes that Mr. Weinstein has lost stature in the entertainment industry. Read more »