Hi, folks -
Lots of sexual predation allegations flying around right now, most of them involving men in powerful positions and their supposed abusive mistreatment of women.
It's important to remember that these are allegations, not convictions. At least some of them may be orchestrated attempts to 'take down' one person or another, for reasons you and I know not of.
Were O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby actually guilty of the misdeeds they were alleged to have committed? There's reason enough to at least suspect that they were not.
Some have always held, for example, that OJ's wife was killed by someone else and that he was framed for that murder. But most are carrying in their minds today the sense that, "Of course he was guilty, even though the jury found him 'not guilty'." Wait - what happened to the very American idea, "Presumed innocent until proven guilty"...?
A day or two ago I came across a tune by Dave Grusin I hadn't known before, from a movie I didn't know, "The Cure". Reading up on it, I found that Brad Renfro had starred in that film.
I knew Renfro had been the lead in the film of the John Grisham story, "The Client", at age eleven - and that he had died way too soon, at age 25, apparently of a heroin overdose. Wikipedia says he actually appeared in 21 films in those 14 years.
So many young actors (Renfro, Corey Haim, Jonathan Brandis to name just a few) had tragic deaths, often preceded by periods of depression and alcohol and/or drug use. I've always found that both tragic and puzzling.
In the current atmosphere regarding inappropriate sexual behaviors, I find some are alleging that certain 'names' in Hollywood are rumored child predators, though there's very little public turmoil surrounding their names, so far. I see that two of those were involved in films Brad Renfro appeared in.
Innocent till proven guilty. But I gotta wonder if specific instances of molestation are what led to Renfro's early demise. The Wikipedia write-up on him asserts that his career "faded rapidly" due to alcohol and drug abuse. That's quite possibly true, but what led to that behavior?
The current flood of charges mostly by women against men is probably genuine but also distracting. I think most long-time RMN Readers are at least subconsciously waiting for one or more, perhaps very large, shoes to drop, things that would be about pedophilia and child trafficking rings. We're hearing that related arrests are indeed occurring at this time in countries around the world - but, so far, none of the truly "big names" we suspect to have been involved have come to the fore of public awareness and attention.
Worthy of note in this context is the petition for the White House to get involved in a push for "Corey's Law".
Named for Corey Feldman, who has come forward in recent months with his fans and followers urging him, pressuring him even, to reveal the names of those in the industry who abused him along the way. A few of the six names have been revealed, chiefly with the help of Dr.Oz, but there are some Corey feels he cannot publicly name for reasons of possible litigation against him and concerns for his family's safety.
The proposed Corey's Law would do away with a current statute of limitations on child sex abuse. With no statute of limitation, police today could launch official investigations based on Corey's statements about things that had occurred decades ago. As it stands now, Corey has revealed the names to the LAPD but they have had to let the matter drop.
Especially in the current near witch-hunt atmosphere, I'm not sure what I think about removing that statute; but I'm also wondering if Renfro's life (and the lives of unnamed others) might have gone differently if circumstances had been such that reporting on abuse one had suffered would have been easier to accomplish in meaningful ways.
Part of the answer to that question would have to be, "It would depend on the integrity and honesty of the police receiving the report." (Was Michael Jackson guilty or just the target of a relentless vendetta?)
Here's the petition for Corey's Law; another 92,000 signatures are needed by December 12 for the White House to have to respond to it:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/coreys-law
Blessings.
--hobie
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