Bill Cosby: Sexually Violent Predator

Bill Cosby:  Sexually Violent Predator

I grant you that Bill Cosby is a “dirty old man” and deserves punishment.  BUT calling him a sexually violent predator is really an exaggeration.  His reputation has been (self) destroyed.  His life is close to being over....  he is clearly not a danger to anyone.

I am bothered by this designation because it diminishes the importance of using it for men who are predators – who seek out young girls and boys to rape.

We need to be careful that we don’t become “the boy who cried wolf” when we call someone names.

Bill Cosby is a creep – but a danger to others?  I doubt it.

Why do I care?   

Because I don’t want to see #METOO become a laughing stock or ignored because it has lumped all levels of harassment and abuse into one giant category. 

Recently, I was at a meeting where they were condemning someone for having used foul language, told dirty jokes and touched a woman on her knee.  There were a series of speakers – and each one said something stronger about this man than the one before her.  He went from being a creep, to a harasser, to a rapist, to a pervert to a pedophile.    The behaviors didn’t change – just the name-calling.

Although his behavior was inappropriate and he deserved to be admonished for it – and maybe even suspended, I don’t think he deserved this gross exaggeration of titltes.

Let us not make light of people who are pedophiles or rapists.