George Takei accused of sexual assault.

This is very, very disappointing. The alleged incident apparently took place in 1981. Given his outspoken criticisms of the people who have recently been accused, one just has to wonder who can you trust?


http://comicbook.com/startrek/2017/11/11/george-takei-accused-of-sexual-assault/

 

Seems strange how all these allegations ae rearing their heads all at the same time! Maybe it's true, maybe it's not but it will get the accuser a lot of attention and the reverse for the accused!
JB

 

Maybe they’re all "rearing their heads all at the same time" because there’s a US nationwide #MeToo campaign about victims stepping up and speaking against sexual harassment and assault? If not now when?

 

Yeah, exactly.

However, I'll give George the benefit of the doubt at this point until more is known or further allegations come to light.

Depressingly, in the other instances I've taken this view, lots of other stuff has come to light...

 

There's another Trek figure who sexually harassed crew on a set as I've heard from someone who was there, so don't be surprised if one or more come to light.

 

Hollywood's in a mudslide seems like...

 

How about right after the assault happened? Not decades later when there's no proof other than a "memory."

 

"Speak now or forever hold your peace?" It doesn’t work that way. Some of the victims were ashamed or afraid to speak about it 40, or 30, or 20 years ago. Some of the victims were children or under age back then. Heck, even now when we’re approaching 2018 some of the victims are still intimidated or hesitant to come forward.

 

Yes but who do you believe? Who are the real victims and who are the ones making it up just to pile on? That's one of the problems when you don't have proof. Now non-victims have a powerful weapon to destroy someone's career without having to present a shred of evidence.

At the very least, maybe this "movement" will encourage real victims to speak out immediately, instead of keeping it bottled up for years.

 

Agreed. That’s what this movement is/should be all about I believe. If victims feel that they have society’s support and acceptance maybe they will be encouraged to speak up immediately from now on. And maybe this current outcry will make potential sexual assailants with economic and social power think twice about attempting it again.

 

This is exactly where I'm at.

Something I would say is -- the accusations against Weinstein, Spacey, Toback, Ratner, Piven, CK (I'm forgetting other examples) all did immediately fit. It was consistent with what we already knew, or had long been rumored, about who they were.

George Takei, this is very inconsistent with what we know of him. Of course, you never really know who the actor truly is beneath their public facade, and I have been skeptical of a single allegation before, only to have the floodgates of additional accusers immediately open.

But Takei's statement has the ring of truth to it. I hope it is actually true, and not just persuasively written.

 

The problem I have with accusations like this is the time element involved, and the imperfection of memory. I know for a fact that some things I was CERTAIN I remembered accurately turned out not to be the case. I hope and pray that my fate never rests on being convicted (in a court of law or in the court of public opinion) of something based only on what someone says I did.

 

I read the OP's link and the followup --> http://comicbook.com/startrek/2017/11/11/george-takei-sexual-assault/

Okay, one goes to a bar. Having been in the GLBT community in the past, those bars exist mainly for one thing - to find hookups, since there are no other venues available. The old cliché of buying drinks aside, what's the guy doing going to Takei's place afterward? In most cases, the answer is "sexual release". Not always but often enough that it becomes a cliché.

Did the guy ask what the drinks were? I'd bet real money that they were not ice cool lemonade, but were alcoholic beverages. Like, "DUH!!!". (Everyone knows what alcohol does, even straight people into casual sex go through similar motions to loosen inhibitions to make life easier with a total stranger who might spread who-knows-what disease and/or offspring onto them. So why would Takei need to spike it with anything to begin with if the goal was to chum up to him and have some mindless fun? Takei's a big name, like a rock star. Most people would want to go all the way just for the association. None of this is new or staggering.)

If what the guy was saying is true, Takei was taking no chances if the psychological manipulation alone was ineffective?

Doesn't mean he should have spiked the drink, if he had. No justification for that.

If nothing else,

Though there can be women who will do it to, just as consciously and with equal intent. George was unintentionally being racist by flagging only men.

 

And it all begins with one.

The court of "popular public opinion" should have little relevance; we just don't know all the facts and neither do the media outlets, even I have to concede that. And like that recent Orville episode went, "Majority Rule", it follows in the line of numerous sci-fi stories that rely on mob rule a little too much, there's a time and a place. Check out Doctor Who's more vicious entry, "Vengeance on Varos" for a more extreme and pure 80s dystopian cliché example.

Many people said the same thing for Bill Cosby at the time. And on stand he did admit to using drugs - for one occasion, which isn't proof he was doing it all the time.

It's possible, but noting gay stereotypes it seems highly improbable that drugs were needed to force any issue - I'll agree.

 

Hollywood be Hollywoodin'.