Bill Cosby Meme Generator Backfires

PeterG

PeterG

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https://ca.celebrity.yahoo.com/blog...cosby-meme-generator-backfires-140739724.html

From the article:

Either Bill Cosby or a member of his team came up with a pretty terrible idea on Monday. A #CosbyMeme generator was unveiled on the 77-year-old actor's website, which asked fans to create memes using a variety of classic Bill pictures. The happy-go-lucky link was originally tweeted out from Cosby's handle.

Well, people certainly had a field day with it… but we're guessing not in the way that Team Cosby anticipated. Hundreds of memes were created with the majority of them calling out The Cosby Show alum's alleged sexual assault.
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The memes people created include "14 Allegations Of Rape?!", "Define 'Drugged'" and "How You Feel When She Deposit The Hush Money". :eek:

I vaguely remember accusations of assault, but that seemed to disappear pretty quickly and I forgot about it. Guess everybody else did as well. Until Cosby asked for people for input to apparently publicize his website... :shuffle:

The article ends with a quote from a part of comedian Hannibal Buress' stand-up routine which is very much :eek: Tough to look at him as the 80's primetime Dad anymore...
 
I think that Twitter's been going after Cosby for a while because an article was recently published by one of his alleged victims. But yeah, talk about flushing image down the toilet and then making it worse.

If he is guilty he deserves much more awfulness than bad memes.
 
This whole thing just breaks my heart. I grew up on Bill Cosby. I had my dad's old Cosby standup records practically memorized by the time I was 10, I loved his TV show, and I once took Dad to see him for his birthday. We've both always been crazy about the guy. To think that he might have done these things . . . :fragile:

I guess now I know how Woody Allen fans feel.
 
It all got drudged back up because a few weeks ago Hannibal Buress said some pretty scathing remarks.

I remember reading the victims' article, but that was several years ago, IIRC. And the case was settled also several years ago.
 
It was also brought up during the time when Dylan Farrow called out Woody Allen when he was nominated for something. That's the first time I really heard about it in detail though I had heard something vague before that.
 
Some of Cosby's team need serious social media training. :shuffle: I really can't believe they didn't see it coming.

But hey, I think the guy deserves that and so much more, if the allegations are true.
 
Bill Cosby Alleged Rape Victim Speaks Out in New Op-Ed For The Washington Post

Barbara Bowman asks why it took 30 years for people to believe her story. She describes the rape that took place in 1985 in this article. A quote from the above article:

“While I am grateful for the new attention to Cosby’s crimes, I must ask my own questions: Why wasn’t I believed? Why didn’t I get the same reaction of shock and revulsion when I originally reported it? Why was I, a victim of sexual assault, further wronged by victim blaming when I came forward? The women victimized by Bill Cosby have been talking about his crimes for more than a decade. Why didn’t our stories go viral?” Bowman wrote in her essay.
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'I was so ashamed' says latest woman to make rape allegations against Bill Cosby

[quoteJoan Tarshis, an American music industry professional and former actress, is the latest woman to come forward with allegations of rape against famed actor and comedian Bill Cosby.[/quote]

"It took me about 20 years to admit this to anyone," wrote Tarshis. "And though I knew I should say something, I still felt ashamed. Ashamed that I didn’t earlier."
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The article also mentions that in 2006, Cosby settled a civil lawsuit with a Canadian woman. And the article also has a quote from Cosby's lawyer:

"The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true," wrote lawyer John P. Schmitt. "Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment."
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Upcoming appearances of Cosboy on David Letterman and Queen Latifah have been cancelled/postponed.
 
I had a bit of an argument with a woman at work who is about 15 yrs. younger than myself. The 60's & 70's were not like today. She was saying "why didn't she just quit her job" "why didn't she go to to the police at the time?" She doesn't see or get it that women were not believed or were "asking for it" I know from my own circumstances with regular men - a high profile man - a woman doesn't stand a chance. Heck, even today, women aren't believed. It's disgusting!
 
This is all very sad for me. I get why a young woman would not go to police. Bill Cosby was not just high profile, he was beloved. He represented so much - a great comedian but also much of his material was about family. His show, one of the most popular in it's day, portrayed him as a wonderful husband and father and all around great guy. For me growing up in Canada, he was the first African American male that I became really aware of. My cousin and I as teenagers used to sit in his bedroom at family get togethers and laugh ourselves silly at Bill Cosby.
 
PeterG said:
Model-TV host Janice Dickinson accuses Bill Cosby of sexual assault

Looking for a silver lining...are we almost to the point where women no longer feel shame about the wrongdoing done to them and can now come forward and be honest and not fear judgement and blame?
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No, we're not. I'm 25. Several of my close friends were raped in college. Only one of them felt comfortable going to the police, and they told her she was asking for it, didn't do a follow-up, and completely messed up the report (she's 5'10" and they wrote her as 5'0", among other things). Many of our fellow friends did not believe her and told her she deserved it because she was drinking and is a slut anyway. That same man, afterwards, raped several more girls. Several of them filed similar reports that were never connected and they were all roundly dismissed until the latest one. He is now under arrest facing trial next month, but if they had believed my friend when she came forward, the other girls wouldn't have had to go through this.

I also know of several friends-of-friends with similar experiences. I know, or know of, probably a half dozen or more women who have been raped, and more who were sexually assaulted. None who came forward were believed, and all of them have lasting issues from it, and all of them faced serious recrimination from friends, particularly male friends.
 
Unfortunately sexual assault, abuse, or rape have always held a stigma for the victim/survivor. My own experience was at the hands of someone who was a prominent member of local society with influence and power in the largest church in town. I was told in no uncertain terms by the police that pressing charges would be a waste of time and an even more traumatic experience. Despite the evidence, I wouldn't be believed and he had the power to make my life a living hell. To this day I have guilt that I did not follow through with the charges and that I wasn't stronger. It has taken years to get to the point I'm at now (and I can't say that I'm fully over it).

As talented of a writer and performer that Bill Cosby is, I have little doubt that he had or has the influence to make such charges and allegations disappear during that time period. So the idea that he could have done it is horrifying both on what he is accused of and what anyone could have gone through with him. But I also believe in the concepts of due process and innocent until proven guilty. Therefore I can only say that I hope there is a resolution that is just and fair.
 
I know of at least 8 women raped including:
one by her about to be ex-husband police officer in a small town and was a) he is a police officer and would not break the law and b) they were still married, he was just exercising his martial rights
two nieces in college. One of those nieces just turned 21. The other one was at a frat party and told she was consenting just by being present at a frat party, what did she expect would happen.
 
I agree with Peter it is creating awareness - here in Canada we are still reeling from the Jian Gomeshi situation and the silver lining is everybody is talking about it - and people are saying 'why' don't women go to the Police and even the Police are saying - they tell family members not to bother etc., but it is making people talk about this subject and realize that it is rare for women to claim false rape and how common it is for women in domestic violence situations to be raped etc., so by starting the conversation I think it will lead to more awareness and changes.. I'm from the generation where nobody said anything - let's hope this generation is going to learn from us .. in our workplace we are at 60% (women who have been assaulted)..
 
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PeterG said:
Looking for a silver lining...are we almost to the point where women no longer feel shame about the wrongdoing done to them and can now come forward and be honest and not fear judgement and blame?
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As others have said, unfortunately not.

It seems to me that 'something' has to happen in the case of powerful men like Gomeshi and Crosby for allegations of assault or rape against them are taken seriously. I'm not sure what that 'something' is precisely, but it causes the media and/or legal authorities to take the allegations seriously.

Most alleged victims who charge powerful men with rape are torn to pieces in court and made to feel like it is they who are on trial. This is even true for the alleged victims of less powerful men.

So many rape charges are based to some extent on 'he said, she said', which leaves even more room for bias. I think that society at large is uncomfortable with the notion that many powerful men abuse their power by committing violations against women. It that truth is accepted, then we need to view men in power - men we vest authority in or construe as heroes - differently. And that shift in perspective would be difficult to accomplish in light of the status quo.
 
I think that men in power are more likely to be charged or accused. How many rape stories are posted here with "average" guys? How many average guys are accused years later? I bet few because no one would pay attention in the way they would for a man in an esteemed position.

Anecdotally, I have heard the most rape stories regarding fraternity guys/fraternity parties. Way back during the Central Park jogger case, there was a concept called wilding. Groups of young men can behave badly based on some psychological component. I think there is merit to that argument. I'd advise my daughter against hanging out with groups of young men unsupervised.
 
Why would someone post a rape story on an international forum about an average guy?

Do you have any evidence that men in power are more likely to be charged or accused? Or that they are more likely to be accused years later?
 
It could also be because some powerful men have tons of money to use to cover up, pay off, hire best lawyers,etc. If a man is unbalanced and has all these things he may feel he can do as he pleases and never be punished. And they are usually right.
 
I understand saying you were slipped something in a drink and then assaulted but to claim you were given two pills and willingly took them not knowing what they were or why they were being given to you?

I don't doubt the original accusers were telling the truth but now some of the stories seem too strange.
 
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Because the woman did not say she took pills to relax/sleep or whatever. She said she went to Bill Cosby's dressing room, he handed her two pills and told her to take them. I find it strange that someone would accept and take pills from a person who was basically a stranger to them and they only knew from television. Did Bill Cosby have that much influence on people??
 
Eh, the rest of the events are odd IMO - she essentially dated him afterwards quite willingly.
 
Are you really equating Bill Cosby with "some stranger?" He was Bill Cosby! If someone you hero-worshiped wanted to date you and offered you pills, that's way different than some random guy off the street.

Now, I wouldn't take them without asking what they were. But I'm a middle-aged woman. Plus I never really hero-worshipped Cosby. But when I was much younger, I was (a) much more trusting and (b) less willing to make a fuss about things.

I probably still wouldn't have taken the pills because I also was very straight-laced about drugs. But if I was at a Paul Simon concert and he invited me backstage and gave me something to drink, I would totally drink it without saying Boo! And if he gave me pills, I would ask what that were, but if he said Aspirin -- it will help you not get a hangover -- I'd take them with no problem even if they didn't really look like aspirin. I mean it was freaking Paul Simon! Who I did have a major crush on at the time.
 
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