Through the mid-1960s, Hollywood stars were famous for engaging in what was considered immoral behavior at the time, e.g., divorcing a spouse so as to have sex with someone richer or better-looking, having sex with a lot of different people without being married to any of them, abusing drugs or alcohol, etc. Nonetheless, people flocked to the movies and watched TV avidly, even those who strongly disapproved of this behavior.
Then we went through a period where the rest of America caught up to Hollywood in terms of discarding old ideas regarding morality. Ordinary Americans began living the divorced and drug-assisted lives that formerly had been the exclusive province of the immoral Hollywood elite. Certainly there was no moral issue then about going to the movies and watching people who shared one’s amoral outlook.
Now we’re back to perceiving at least certain people in Hollywood as engaging in immoral behavior, notably sexual harassment or “sexual misconduct.” Unlike in, say, the 1950s, however, we’ve decided that we cannot implicitly condone this behavior by watching movies or TV shows in which these comparatively immoral people appear. Studios and TV networks are killing movies and shows after allegations of misconduct become public.
I’m wondering if it is time for a virtue committee for Hollywood. Instead of individual studios or TV networks having to make decisions about who gets blacklisted and whose works must go into the memory hole, a society-wide decision can be made by trained committee members. Without the virtue committee it will be tough for a studio to rehabilitate someone without risking a boycott by a Facebook mob. The virtue committee can shield businesses from having to make and defend their (subjective) decisions. The virtue committee can serve as a central place for a disgraced accused harasser to figure out what penance will be required before rehabilitation. This will be a lot better for investors. Right now they lose everything that they put into a movie if, for example, the director is accused of doing something with an actor.
This can be like the MPAA rating system. Instead of rating completed films, however, the virtue committee will rate the off-camera behavior of people in Hollywood.
Readers: What about this idea? Most important: who has such exemplary virtue that he or she should be nominated to serve on this committee?
It should be modeled after whatever system they had for blacklisting Communists. That worked pretty well.
It must adapt to changing morals. Currently the stars should denounce Trump, and push for more Oscars to people of color. In the future, maybe they should be vegan. Having a Mexican gardener would probably be a negative, but that could be canceled out by adopting a Third World baby and raising it transgendered. To be safe, the committee should be all biracial and LGBT.
Colleges are teaching students to work as inquisitors in college sex crime tribunals. That’s good educational preparation for working on the Hollywood Virtue Committee.
The directors and producers are mainly white, they should be thrown to the wolves.
https://www.rt.com/usa/411217-indiana-nurse-fired-racist-tweet/
In retrospect, that is already ongoing!
Great idea, but i think it’s lacking in scope. I think the only reasonable course for such a virtue committee would be to wipe out any media produced by the morally impugned. Rehabilitation may or may not be effective, however, erasing the historic record of such an individual is a surefire way to stop further contamination. On the bonus side movie burning rallies can become a thing!
I know I’m probably not virtuous enough. It’ll definitely have to be those who have never sinned. Interesting how some women in the “arts” in Russia have deemed this sort of behaviour par for the course – they have something I want, I have something he wants – meh!
When Jeff Bezos eventually buys all of Hollywood, he will put Alexa spybots in all casting offices and production sets. Virtue will be controlled by an artificial intelligence running in Amazon computing cloud.
@billg
I, for one, welcome the return of digital Jesus.
Dingus, agree. I usually do not watch TV but yesterday got stock in front of one for an hour, I think it was on television series / sitcom. I have had my yearly amount of trash and stupidity in 1 hour. Do not stop on known sex abusers in Hollywood, sex assaults are sublime.
I already miss my Charlie Rose interviews, after already losing Don Imus years ago. Soon all that will be left is government-approved pussy-grabbers like Trump and various Clintons.
“Most important: who has such exemplary virtue that he or she should be nominated to serve on this committee?”
I don’t know, even Matt Lauer got caught… pretty soon we’ll find out everyone is a hypocrite.
Oh the irony: