The end of a career

With the sexual misconduct stories surrounding people like Louis CK, Kevin Spacey, and Harvey Weinstein in high gear I am seeing all kinds of takes on what to do about it.  Most people seem in agreement that this is horrible but some of them think we should destroy these men's ability to work in their chosen field forevermore and some think that is too much and that they should be let off with a scolding.

I don't know if it comes from simply admiring the work of these moguls of entertainment or if it is more about misogyny (at least in the cases of Weinstein and Lous CK) but there is something that causes people to speak out about how we ought not to ruin the careers of people revealed to be serial abusers.  There are so many people out there saying that oh yes, the things that Weinstein and Louis CK and Kevin Spacey did were bad, but should we really ruin a person's career over them sexually abusing people?

Yes.  Burn it to the fucking ground.

Make no mistake.  This isn't me saying "It is acceptable to ruin their career to send a message."  It isn't me saying "I can live with their careers being ruined in order to protect people."  It is much more than that.  It is me saying "We MUST destroy their careers completely and utterly."

Imagine a person who over the course of decades repeatedly hit people with their car.  Over and over and over they ran people over inflicting horrible pain and suffering.  We would naturally insist that this criminal lose their licence forever because they clearly cannot be trusted in a car.

The same applies here.  All three of these men used their career success as a weapon to hurt others.  They used their influence and fame and connections to assault people on a regular basis.  They leveraged their fortunes and friends to cover up their misconduct.  Their careers were not separable from the evil they inflicted; they were the vehicle by which these men caused harm.

All three of these men, and many others, used their careers as weapons to injure people.  They clearly cannot be trusted with power, influence, or recognition.  We know that when they are put in positions of authority and respect they immediately and repeatedly leverage those things to harm others.

So yes, we should ruin the careers of people who are guilty of repeated and continuous sexual misconduct.  Not by accident, and not because we can't find any other way, but because this is exactly what these people deserve and because they have proved themselves unworthy of respect, influence, and adoration.

None of these men are going to starve.  They have lots of money as it is, and they will be able to find more.  They absolutely deserve ignominy, and they deserve to find out what it is like to have people refuse to let them be part of show business, just the way they threatened to do to others who might have outed them for their reprehensible behaviour.

That strikes me as the thing that is as close to justice as we are likely to get, barring prosecution, and while if they are prosecuted that would be a fine thing as far as I am concerned I am not holding my breath.

You don't have to hate The Usual Suspects or throw out your DVDs of Louis CK comedy specials.  But you should do your damndest to make sure they can't get work making anything more.  They are plenty of other people in the world who will step up to fill those roles, and perhaps these consequences will prevent others from trying the same thing.  We can only hope it is so.