A longtime friend asked that I post the excerpt below from a recent message he sent me, that I respond to it here, and that I leave his name out of it. Okay, longtime friend. This is about my most recent post on Harvey Weinstein…
You had me 100% with your Weinstein remarks until I got to the part about "it's always a little sad when those people find out the rules do apply." There is nothing the slightest bit sad about what's happened to that asshole. It's a cause for celebration and there's nothing the least bit sad about it. We should all be cheering like we're in Times Square and they just dropped the New Year ball. Please explain to me, as I'm sure you can, why I should find anything sad in that prick's downfall.
Humans are capable of emotional multi-tasking. When my dear Carolyn finally stopped breathing, I was as sad as anyone could be about losing her but simultaneously relieved that her ordeal was over…and mine as well. In the altogether different case of Harvey Weinstein, I am absolutely pleased that he was nailed for his sicko misdeeds and even more pleased that he's now a big, bold example for others who'd been doing (or might have started doing) the kinds of things for which he was arrested and is now being sued the proverbial eight ways to Sunday.
But I'm also capable of being sad — and that's the right word for it: sad — that any human being could descend down the food chain to that level. When you are blessed enough to attain great wealth and/or great power, I think you have a responsibility to mankind and to yourself (in that order) to use them properly. This is only the subtext of, like, 97% of all the super-hero comic books ever written. And it's sad to me when anyone makes the wrong choice. That man could have had a really good rest-of-his-life if he'd hadn't treated others the way he did.