#metoo began as a movement against sexual harassment and sexual abuse by powerful men against women; but it’s also about highlighting the prevalence of sexual abuse and violence in society. I am not sure if I agree, Marie. There are quite a few ‘drops in the ocean’ when it comes to #MeToo. Sexual abuse is a horrible thing and I agree we should all speak out against it, make it a thing of the past. But innocent people should never be dismissed as mere collateral damage. Too many people are quick to dismiss men like Depp and others, famous and non-famous, who are falsely accused… and I feel too many pro-feminist people are quick to gloss over false accusations as a necessary evil. Like the occasional bad is worth the good the movement does. I’m not sure if that’s the correct way to treat this very serious issue. It’s also become a means of unfairly ruining some men’s lives and perpetrating ugly mob “justice”.
The #BelieveWomen accessory to the #MeToo movement is a strange concept in any society that values rational thought. Women can be just as abusive and manipulative as men, the idea that they should ALL be believed, even without any evidence to accompany these serious accusations, is simply a message that many can’t get around, hence the growing weariness of the public towards the movement that was originally meant to do good.
Mob “justice” can do bad just as easily as it can do good, our society would be wise to be cautious with its application.
#metoo has only spread and become stronger as a means of obtaining redress and making sexual abuse and harassment stop as the victims of that abuse speak out against their perpetrators, all over the world. For the movement to be successful, Peter, it will need to be reflective of its flaws. Those who defend it, need to be humble enough to take a few steps back, and critically and honestly analyse the situation. If nothing is done and the mantra “Believe all women” is not dropped, #MeToo will fail. If false accusations aren’t dealt with much more severely and harshly, #MeToo will fail. If the media will not stop running any juicy accusation without getting the bottom of things first and giving all parties equal and fair treatment and a say, #MeToo will fail.
In many ways, the movement has already failed to deliver. Too many of those involved have shown staggering levels of hypocrisy and others, like Asia Argento, have engaged in sexual misconduct of their own… the general sentiment risks morphing into one where the entire movement is seen as nothing more than a low and sensational way of “getting back at men” and “leveling the playing field”, so to speak. This is not a good thing, and not a perception you want to go for. Victims NEED to feel safe to come forward, yes. But allow too many false accusations like Heard’s to muddy the waters and soon, even the legitimate victims will have a hard time being believed. Surely, this is not the outcome #MeToo intended to achieve?
Unless #MeToo comes to terms with its flaws and tries to rectify them, it is doomed. And part of rectifying these flaws should come in the form of a public apology to all those it has wronged. Johnny Depp included. And in the form, too, of disavowing publicly and harshly those who took advantage of the movement. Like Amber Heard.
Have a good look at this face. It’s the face of Amber Heard. This is the face, that killed #MeToo. She didn’t mean to. She didn’t plan to. She was just one of the many actresses who came forward when the movement started. Finally, rich and powerful men in Hollywood were held accountable for their sins. About damn time — this is a subject close to my heart, for personal reasons.[1]
It was a good movement, at first. That’s what I felt. It’s what many other men and women felt. It got greasy, nasty men like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby behind bars. Victims dared to speak up. And come forward. It was empowering!
Amber Heard was one of the many women who came forward.
She accused her husband, Johnny Depp, of domestic abuse. It nearly killed his career, and she was very vicious, but many felt it was justified. In those days, all you needed to kill a man’s career and reputation, was write an article in a newspaper or blog that said: “A young woman has come forward accusing X of inappropriate behavior”. And boom! Career, dead.
It went really too far. By the peak of #MeToo, men like Aziz Ansari damn-near got cancelled over an awkward date.[2]
Johnny Depp was one of the accused men. For a while it seemed like he was over and done for. Amber Heard was the pitiful victim of this abusive, drunk man’s violent rages. And Depp, he was a monster of mythical proportions. From beloved Jack Sparrow, he went to some sort of handsome, drugged-up Frankenstein in the eye of public opinion. Regardless of what the judge rules, I think I’ve seen enough to have made up *my* mind. I do not know enough about the law, or British law in particular, to accurately predict the outcome of this trial. But to me and many others, it does not matter either way… Johnny Depp is a pretty clever dude — he’s collected evidence, meticulously it seems, of his ex-wife’s abuse. She has her own recordings too, many of it set-up, but Johnny Depp is in a rather unique position here of being one of the few famous accused men to actually be in a position to fight fire with fire.
I’m glad he made us of the opportunity to get his side of the story out. Judges rule fairly all the time. They also produce rulings no one in their right mind would call fair, all the time. It all depends on where you stand on the issue. But I know where I stand, personally, and have yet to see anything that changed my mind. And I doubt I will. Well, Jason, while I admit it was hypocritical of the #MeToo folks to not want to burn their fingers on the Tara Reade case in order to protect Joe Biden, lets please not act as if President Trump is a paragon of virtue — he is many things, but certainly not that. The man’s a walking, talking non-disclosure agreement and, like former POTUS Bill Clinton, a close friend of Jeffrey Epstein. So “being a creepy old dude” is a bipartisan issue and certainly not exclusive to Democrats. Although what she did was disgusting, that's a positive outcome that it kind of killed the #Believeallwomen
This hashtag litteraly doesn't make any sense, somebody's gender should not be the reason why their story is believed. That is nonsense and unjust.
Amber Heard is a woman and showed that yes, there are liars and unless you've got solid proofs you cannot increminate someone.
Johnny Depp's career will NEVER be the same. His innocence has been proven but once you've been accused, people won't look at you and treat you the same. People still believe Amber solely because of her sex.
I don't see how her ruining #Believeallwomen is awful, it should have never existed in the first place.
Innocent until proven guilty.
We do not need to politicize sexual misconduct. And we certainly should not act as if being of a certain political persuasion, be it right- or left-wing, makes one more likely to act inappropriately. Plenty of perverts across the aisle.
Until Depp finally had enough, in 2020, two years after the accusations. And told HIS side of the story…
And now it turns out that Amber Heard abused the trust of people within the #MeToo movement. It turns out that she hopped on the bandwagon for financial and personal gain. Used it to destroy her ex-husband, kill his reputation, damage him, for a time it seemed beyond repair.
Now we know she was the one who physically assaulted him. Cut off his finger. Took a dump in their marital bed. Slapped him, hit him, degraded him. Drugged him, teased him, taunted him and when he finally snapped, filmed him. She abused, no better yet… she tortured this man.
So now whenever a young actress comes forward, because of Amber Heard, many people will no longer just take the accusations at face value. Gone are the days when the general public would just take whatever a person was accused of and go: “Well, that’s probably what happened.” Believe all women? Maybe a year ago we would, but not now. Not after Amber Heard.
I’m hoping Johnny Depp will recover from this mess. But while I am sure he will, now that the truth is out… I’m not sure #MeToo will survive this mess. I think it’s dead, and I think Amber Heard is the one who killed it.
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