bill cosby

Dear Famous People,

| cheriarmour

Hi, my famous friends.  Good to chat.

Can I speak with you candidly here?

I am an active consumer of what you have to offer.  Instead of being highly critical, I’ve embraced pop culture wholeheartedly, respectfully remembering that despite the fact that you put every aspect of your lives on display, that you too are a human being deserving of the benefit of the doubt as well as privacy where it’s clear that you desire it.  (I’m talking they way that the Carter-Knowles’ keep Blue under wraps and Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel keep it quiet for the most part).  I can respect that.

However, there’s some advice I feel like I need to bestow upon you, simply based on the foolish behavior I’ve seen the past few years.  And for your convenience, let’s break it down so you can reference this later, should you find yourself confused on any of the following.

via telegraph.co.uk
via telegraph.co.uk

Making blanket statements about different races.

Don’t.  Additionally, please don’t insist that you’re not racist because you once dated a person of color.  You’re making it worse.

Blackface. Brownface.

Do not.  It NEVER goes over well.

Racial Slurs. 

No. You may not.

duggar-family

Covering up sexual abuse.

Also a really terrible idea.  That is a horrible way to handle abuse within your family.  And I get it.  You’re a parent, you don’t want to throw your kids to the wolves, but there are better ways of handling it than hiding it, THEN inviting cameras into your home for the better part of a decade.  It’s your job to keep ALL of your kids safe.  And you’re not doing it when you pretend this stuff doesn’t/hasn’t happened.

via Wikipedia.org
via Wikipedia.org

Rape/Sexual Assault/Joking about Rape and Sexual Assault

Guess what.  What’s done in the dark will come to light.  We will find out what you’ve done, and drag your ass.  ADDITIONALLY, (and I’m talking DIRECTLY to you, Bill Cosby), you have some nerve touting yourself as some sort of moral lighthouse for the black community when you know good and damned well you preyed on women who were looking to get into the industry.  People trusted you, looked to you, and you shat all over that.  Rot.

Defending any of the aforementioned behavior. 

Please just don’t.  It’s okay to recognize when someone has behaved badly.  You don’t even have to comment on it at all!   But certainly, can we avoid defending deplorable behavior?

Now I recognize in today’s world, it can be really hard to avoid saying and doing offensive things simply because of the way that things have changed rapidly over the past 100 years or so.  Racism used to be ok.  Intolerance of gay people, the trans community?  Joking that something ugly or stupid was “gay” has only recently become unacceptable.  Dressing in blackface used to be a hurtful, yet accepted form of entertainment.  If you’ve never done any study on sociology, you may not realize that certain groups – poor people, overweight people, women, or gay people (this list is not exhaustive btws) face a greater likelihood of being discriminated against or may be subject to systematic oppression – policies and procedures that are either inadvertently or purposefully meant to keep them from being successful.

And that’s fine.  You’re not a social worker.  You’re not a human rights activist.  You might not have even finished high school.  And your job is not to know everything about everything.  However it IS your job to maintain some sense of decorum, class, and the respect for others that would prevent you from doing any of the aforementioned.  And if you do?  How about you own up to it, apologize, and educate yourself for your future.

Got it?

Love,

Cheri ❤

Bill Cosby

| cheriarmour

I try not to get into politics and anything that’s going to alienate folks too much on the blog.  I try to keep it fun.  But I feel really uncomfortable not addressing the big, old, disgusting elephant in the room that is Bill Cosby.

via Jezebel - Jessica Chastain's reaction to a shot fired at Bill Cosby at the Golden Globes.
via Jezebel – Jessica Chastain’s reaction to a shot fired at Bill Cosby at the Golden Globes.

At this point, over 30 women have publicly alleged that Bill Cosby committed acts of sexual assault against them. Many of the women tell similar stories – that they believed that Cosby would help them with their careers, they were drugged, and later assaulted.

Over 30 women.

Over. 30. Women.

I’m like everyone else.  I grew up watching the Cosby show, which was so cool.  The show centered around a family, a black family, who was successful – Dad (Cosby) was a doctor, and his wife, a black woman, was a successful lawyer!  It was so cool to see!  Additionally, he ushered in the era of the Cosby sweater, Ghost Dad, Little Bill, and actively criticized black folks throughout the last decade, most famously in his Pound Cake Speech, where he criticized single-parents families among other things.

So I found myself extremely confused when these accusations came to light.

One, no.

Two, no.

Three women….

Four, five, six, ten, fifteen, twenty?

I had to look at myself.  Why was I so willing to dismiss the one or two women?  Why did it take three, more for me to turn and look at someone that I’d looked at as something of a voice of reason for black people?

And here’s what it boils down to.  

Bill Cosby did some cool things.  He did some revolutionary things.  However, that does not mean he is not/was not an alleged rapist.  The two are not mutually exclusive.  And to call these women, 30 women with consistent stories “liars,” women trying to get their 15 minutes of fame (what a joke), or “bitches,” as someone stated yesterday, is a slap in the face to not only these women, but to women who currently face or deal with sexual assault.  Cosby was in a position of power, on top of the world, and (allegedly) wielded this power over women who thought he could help their careers.  And he joked about the allegations last weekend.  I wish I could believe that he’s innocent, but it’s just impossible at this point.

At any rate, I’m disappointed in him, and I hope he understands that he let a lot of people down.