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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Why Cosby spells the end of the pop culture role model

Stars are not role models.

If you didn’t know that before this week, the news that Bill Cosby is an alleged serial rapist should finally put to rest the notion that we can expect celebrities to be good influences on our children. If you can’t even depend on “America’s dad,” then there’s no public figure you can trust.

That doesn’t mean you and your kids can’t watch “The Cosby Show” in reruns. TV Land may have cancelled them, but don’t feel guilty about ordering them on Amazon. With all of the bad reality TV and unfunny, inappropriate comedies on primetime television these days, “Cosby” stands out as one of the best, most wholesome bits of pop culture left. I, for one, will be happy to let my kids watch the Huxtables till they are ready for college.

It’s not because I don’t believe Bill Cosby is guilty of multiple felonies. The evidence on that front looks pretty damning. It’s just that Hollywood and professional sports are filled with jerks, narcissists and criminals. Maybe among celebrities the proportion of rapists and child abusers is the same as in the rest of the population. But it certainly seems a lot higher. We must separate what happens on the field or in fiction from real life, otherwise we’d need to boycott popular entertainment all together.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

All of the accusations against Mr. Cosby are no more true or false then all of them leveled at President Clinton. Is it "Racist" to believe them more about him then President BJ ???

Anonymous said...

I am 60 YOA. To believe that raped women since 1965 are in any way unable to register their complaints is ludicrous. I was there. I lived it. These people are out for retirement money as they have found out they hadn't saved enough for retirement, and want to sap off Mr. Cosby's money to affect a comfy retirement.

Anonymous said...

Actually 8:49 no one was going to believe some star struck actress over Cosby. Back then a lot of rapes did not get reported.

He is actually guilty and there is more to the story, including a payoff.

Anonymous said...

Condemning young blacks for their actions brought this on.Somehow this has been manufactured to discredit him.The numbers don't fool me a bit,because those numbers are suppose to convince us that "something" did happen.The truth is he attacked an entire culture and is now paying the price for doing the right thing.