Questions About the Cosby Verdict

On April 26th, 2018, a jury convicted actor and comedian Bill Cosby on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. He faces 10 years and a potential $25,000 fine for each count.

The media and #Metoo activists have hailed the conviction as the first “win” for the #MeToo movement. That is a fair assessment. While the allegations against Cosby predate the Weinstein scandal, many people have associated his situation with the scandal. They argue that this is another example of powerful men exploiting women.

Cosby’s situation is different not only in his alleged method of assault — drugging the women — but also in that most of the women accusing him claim the acts occurred decades ago. This leaves little to no physical evidence for most of the case, and little circumstantial evidence short of the women telling someone the claim over the years.

That said, I do not have a problem with the conviction per se. If the evidence were convincing beyond a reasonable doubt, then a jury should convict.

The problems I have with the case lie in the way it was prosecuted and handled. Let me start with the most bizarre element of the case:

The Depths of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

I thought I would start 2018 with something positive. I watched a Razorfist video a few days ago about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

I watched DS9 many years ago. I found the series very entertaining, particularly once it got to the Dominion War. The series is a turn in the Star Trek franchise. Rather than the utopia typically seen in the original series or the Next Generation, DS9 showed how the rest of the galaxy worked. While the Federation may be perfect, they live in a world where everyone else is not, and that has long-term ramifications. The series also chipped away at the utopian Federation concept, showing that they could be as shady as any other culture.

What I enjoy about Razrofist’s video series is his rapid-fire analysis. It is funny and engaging, but more importantly, it makes me want to rewatch the series. Benjamin Sisko is one of my favorite Star Trek characters, and I hold him as equal with Picard as my favorite captain.

Charlie Sheen accused of raping 13-year-old Corey Haim

There continues to be more fallout over the Kevin Spacey allegations. Now other actors are being accused of sexually assaulting young actors. The latest to face an accusation is actor Charlie Sheen.

In an Enquirer interview, former actor Dominick Brascia stated that Sheen, then 19-years-old, raped Haim while the pair were filming the movie Lucas:

“Haim told me he had sex with Sheen when they filmed ‘Lucas,’” Dominick Brascia, a former actor and a close friend of the “Lost Boys” legend, exclusively told The ENQUIRER. “He told me they smoked pot and had sex. He said they had anal sex. Haim said after it happened Sheen became very cold and rejected him. When Corey wanted to fool around again, Charlie was not interested.”

But Brascia said Haim claimed he hooked up with the “Wall Street” star another time — when he was in his mid-to-late 20s. “Haim told me he had sex with Sheen again,” Brascia told The ENQUIRER. “He claimed he didn’t like it and was finally over Sheen. He said Charlie was a loser.”

The Enquirer claims that dozens of other people they contacted verified the accusation. The claim is similar to one made by Cory Feldman, Haim’s close friend, in his memoir:

Kevin Spacey allegations bring out strange defenders

As more allegations against Kevin Spacey mount, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to defend him.

In my prior post about the Anthony Rapp’s allegation, I noted that we would need to see what would happen to Spacey given how forgiving Hollywood can be. Within 24 hours of that post, several young men came forward accusing Spacey of attempting or succeeding in sexually assaulting them. Their ages vary, however, based on what I read, all the young men were either teenagers, in their early twenties, or appeared younger than their age.

This demonstrates a consistent pattern, i.e. Spacey allegedly preferring younger males who either are or can pass as teen boys.

The word to describe a person with such as sexual interest is typically pederast. However, the average person uses pedophile. While this is technically incorrect, as it implies an interest in boys who have not reached puberty, the distinction ultimately does not matter. The key point is that Spacey appears, based on the allegations, to target underage boys, many of whom cannot legally consent to sex in their respective states.

Given the severity of the accusations against Spacey — enough to make Netflix end his popular show House of Cards — one would think the focus would be on Spacey’s victims.

Instead, the left-leaning media fell in part for Spacey’s deflection.

Yes, Joss Whedon is still a feminist

The no true Scotsman fallacy is defined as:

[…] a kind of informal fallacy in which one attempts to protect a universal generalization from counterexamples by changing the definition in an ad hoc fashion to exclude the counterexample. Rather than denying the counterexample or rejecting the original claim, this fallacy modifies the subject of the assertion to exclude the specific case or others like it by rhetoric, without reference to any specific objective rule (“no true Scotsman would do such a thing”; i.e., those who perform that action are not part of our group and thus criticism of that action is not criticism of the group).

People use the fallacy most often in situations in which a member of their group commits an act that makes the person, and by proxy the group, look bad. The more prominent the figure in question, the more likely the group will resort to the fallacy.

This is particularly common among groups that hold themselves as morally and ethically superior to others. It becomes imperative that nothing tarnish that claim, especially when the claim itself is constantly in question. Again, the more prominent the figure in question, the more necessary it becomes to cast that person out of the group. The fallacy shifts from merely being that the no “true” member of the group would ever behave in such a manner to said person was never “truly” a member at all.

Such is the feminist response to a blog post from Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole. She posted a scathing commentary on Whedon’s “faux” feminist on the Wrap, claiming that Whedon admitted to a number of affairs with women over the years. She wrote:

Music That Inspires: One More Light

It has been a week since Linkin Park’s Chester Bennignton committed suicide. I figured now would be a good time to review the last Linkin Park album One More Light.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been a fan of Linkin Park, especially Chester, since the group debuted. One of the things I appreciate about the band is their combination of styles. They merge alternative rock, metal, rap, EDM, electronica, and ambient music. This style was later categorized as nu metal. I think this is what made Linkin Park so popular. There is a little bit of something for everyone. However, they are artists, and as such they like to experiment. After the first two albums, they began to change their style on each album.

This angered some fans who preferred the nu metal sound. The latest album, One More Light, brought that anger to its zenith. The album received a ton of hate from fans and lackluster reviews from critics. I heard the first single Heavy, and liked it. However, the sound was completely different from the typical Linkin Park fare. After reading some of the reviews, I held off on getting the album.

Now that I have it, I must say that it is not as bad as people suggested. It is a good album. It just is not a Linkin Park album. The album is pure pop. It is not even pop rock. There is very little guitar work on the album, and most of the bass and drums are played with in post production. It does not make the album bad, yet it does remove that signature Linkin Park sound.

Riri Williams: Marvel’s Precious Little Sociopath

Marvel debuted the character Riri Williams in July 2016. The character replaced Tony Stark as Iron Man, adopting the name Iron Heart (which ironically turns out to be the name used in a porn parody of Iron Man). Riri’s claim to fame is that she is a 15-year-old black female super-genius supposedly smarter and better than Stark.

Brian Michael Bendis, the character’s creator, faced a backlash from progressives because Bendis is a straight, white, Jewish man writing a black female character. His critics ignored at Bendis and his wife adopted two black girls. They also ignored his reason for creating Riri Williams, as explained in the Time article. His critcis felt much more content to attack the man rather than give him a chance.

However, things have not been that great for Riri. The Invincible Iron Man series that Riri leads has seen its numbers drop dramatically since its November 2016 debut: