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The danger in all this is that today's popular moral action is tomorrow's reprehensible mistake. Ask John Cleese. Or Harvey Weinstein. Or any one of a thousa

The danger in all this is that today's popular moral action is tomorrow's reprehensible mistake. Ask John Cleese. Or Harvey Weinstein. Or any one of a thousand people who became drunk on the nectar of pop approval, only to find they didn't go far enough, or chose a decision that didn't align with the way things turned out. I don't care what your politics are, nobody is going to take a position on controversial issues and be 100 percent correct. You're going to alienate a lot of people today, and significantly alient some more later. It's smarter to avoid it.

jrochkind1 6y ago
Harvey Weinstein's alleged reprehensible mistake was allegedly sexually assaulting people. I don't think you're saying that was at one time a popular moral action, so I'm not sure what you mean about Weinstein learning that one day's popular moral action is the next's reprehensible mistake. Is there some position on controversial issues he took that I'm not thinking of, that at one point was popular but no longer is? Or what do you mean about Weinstein making a mistake by taking a controversial political stand?
- newbie789 6y ago
  I'm sorry, I'm genuinely confused here. Harvey Weinstein is a convicted rapist that has been sentenced to 23 years in prison. As far as I understand it, that's not a political talking point on account of it being a quickly-verifiable fact. Is the distinction between "alleged" and "convicted" a political one? Again, not trying to start an argument or troll, but how would someone talk about this topic in a way that's "apolitical"?
  - jrochkind1 6y ago
    oh i honestly wasn't paying attention and forgot he had been convicted already. I should not have said "alleged". But yes, I share your confusion. I don't understand how Weinstein is an example of someone who "learned that one days' popular moral action is the next's reprehensible mistake" and thus should "avoid politics". What was his "popular moral action" that became considered as a "reprehensible mistake"? I'm confused too, thus my question. Including Weinstein as an example here is extremely strange and rather disturbing.
- RickJWagner 6y ago
  I didn't articulate well on that one. (Also, the thought was half-baked.) John Cleese was honestly a good man with good intentions, quite progressive a short while back. But time progressed in a way a little different than his ideas, and today he's sometimes blasted by those to the left of him. Weinstein was a different kind of change story. He was running in circles that purported (at least publicly) to be 'pro women', even providing strong backing for a female US politician. Of course his private actions were 100% out of alignment with the spin being thrown to the viewing audience, something that caused collateral damage to some others in his one-time sphere. Sorry for the mishandling of that response on my part. I have no excuse, not my best contributions to HN conversation.
newbie789 6y ago
Wait what? Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape. How is that politics?

jrochkind1 6y ago

Harvey Weinstein's alleged reprehensible mistake was allegedly sexually assaulting people. I don't think you're saying that was at one time a popular moral action, so I'm not sure what you mean about Weinstein learning that one day's popular moral action is the next's reprehensible mistake. Is there some position on controversial issues he took that I'm not thinking of, that at one point was popular but no longer is? Or what do you mean about Weinstein making a mistake by taking a controversial political stand?

newbie789 6y ago
I'm sorry, I'm genuinely confused here. Harvey Weinstein is a convicted rapist that has been sentenced to 23 years in prison. As far as I understand it, that's not a political talking point on account of it being a quickly-verifiable fact. Is the distinction between "alleged" and "convicted" a political one? Again, not trying to start an argument or troll, but how would someone talk about this topic in a way that's "apolitical"?
- jrochkind1 6y ago
  oh i honestly wasn't paying attention and forgot he had been convicted already. I should not have said "alleged". But yes, I share your confusion. I don't understand how Weinstein is an example of someone who "learned that one days' popular moral action is the next's reprehensible mistake" and thus should "avoid politics". What was his "popular moral action" that became considered as a "reprehensible mistake"? I'm confused too, thus my question. Including Weinstein as an example here is extremely strange and rather disturbing.
RickJWagner 6y ago
I didn't articulate well on that one. (Also, the thought was half-baked.) John Cleese was honestly a good man with good intentions, quite progressive a short while back. But time progressed in a way a little different than his ideas, and today he's sometimes blasted by those to the left of him. Weinstein was a different kind of change story. He was running in circles that purported (at least publicly) to be 'pro women', even providing strong backing for a female US politician. Of course his private actions were 100% out of alignment with the spin being thrown to the viewing audience, something that caused collateral damage to some others in his one-time sphere. Sorry for the mishandling of that response on my part. I have no excuse, not my best contributions to HN conversation.

newbie789 6y ago

Wait what? Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape. How is that politics?