Did anyone else read Jian Ghomeshi's essay in The New York Review of Books ( https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/10/11/reflections-hashtag/ )?
I'm trying to decide what to think about this. Full disclosure, I LOVED Moxy Fruvous back in the day, although admittedly Murray was my crush, never Jian. When I went to grad school at UofT, he had already become a bit of a 'known' entity to the university age women as a player and one to be wary of.
Not sure what I think of the whole mess that has unfolded. I hate that two of the women were dishonest and their claims completely dismissed because of it. Because I do think there was wrongdoing in his actions that probably will never be addressed because they were clearly working together to 'bring him down'.
But this essay doesn't sit well in so many ways. Claiming he should have some sort of credit for the Me Too movement? Trying to sort through my thoughts on this and on Me Too. Complex but interesting topic.
Not being Canadian, I am unfamiliar with Ghomeshi's history. I've had to do supplementary reading, starting with his Wikipedia entry and a couple responses to his essay (notably in Slate and The Cut). I'm kind of surprised to find this essay in NYRB--it doesn't seem quite the place--and according to Slate's article, I'm not alone.. I'm also rather torn--should he get a 'second chance'? Is he sincerely remorseful and self-examining, or is this just more self-involved drivel?
The fact that he opens and closes with anecdotes designed to show that not all women think he's a creep is somewhere between pathetic and disgusting.
Not being Canadian, I am unfamiliar with Ghomeshi's history. I've had to do supplementary reading
Same for me. I had no idea who he is.
I particularly dislike when he says that other men said to him "“What happened to you could have been me"... My, I don't think so... A person can be "acussed" just with words and in the media, but not everyone goes to a trial for that...
Yes, I would say that's a case of not doing due diligence. It's one thing to publish a controversial essay, but you can never, ever not fact check. First rule of journalism. So Ghomeshi shrugging off the number of complaints, and the editor not making sure it was specific, and the nature of the crimes. This wasn't just some guy patting a girl on the butt at work (although that's obviously fairly serious), this was about choking someone or punching her in the face. That's scary shit if you haven't sorted out a safe word and so on.
I, for one, am quite glad he was pressured to resign. But what a schmoozle. Who knew Jian Ghomeshi could cause all this - and I agree, he's not as well known outside of Canada as he'd like to think he is. Note his comments about the woman on the train. In his head, not telling her his name protected him from her thinking "oh that disgusting guy". Meanwhile, I bet that a woman on a train in France would not have had a clue that he was someone 'famous' (or infamous?)