Kevin Spacey’s Backwards Ethics
It seems these days that an accurate twist on a popular adage might be, another day, another celebrity accused of being a sex offender. From Donald Trump to Harvey Weinstein and now Kevin Spacey, it seems that famous men carry a proclivity for malevolent sexual behaviors.
Kevin Spacey is the most recent celebrity to be caught up in this. Now, before I go on, I want to clarify that I am not taking a position on whether Spacey actually engaged in unbecoming sexual behaviors or not. There has been one accusation. That said, I acknowledge that in the court of public opinion, Spacey is being condemned. And his response thus far illuminates a disturbing trend of our intersectional victimhood culture.
In his apology to Anthony Rapp, his accuser, Spacey came out as gay. This is a tactic to mitigate, minimize, and deflect condemnation. Logically, it’s no excuse. Homosexual pederasty is no less vile and harmful than heterosexual pedophilia. However, in our age of intersectionality, the perceived privilege of a the person committing the offense can either compound or reduce the condemnation they receive for their wrongdoing. Spacey understood that as a white male in a position of power his actions would be viewed incredibly harshly by society. Adding an oppressed aspect to his identity, in this case homosexuality, could have softened the blows. This is clearly a morally questionable, logically invalid defense. However, Kevin Spacey is not all that dumb for thinking it might work.
Donna Hylton is a woman of color, a prominent activist, and was a speaker at the Women’s March in January. She’s also a sadistic monster. Harvey Weinstein’s vile allegations pale in comparison to her kidnapping, rape, and murder of gay man Thomas Vigilarolo in 1985. There is yet to be widespread condemnation of her on the left. Her position as a social activist, along with her ethnicity and womanhood, have largely shielded her. When the Women’s March tweeted #MeToo, someone replied “#MeToo is what the man that Donna Hylton (who you had speak at the women’s march) and friends raped with a pipe would say, but he’s dead.” I think this exposes some pretty major hypocrisy.
Activists are disgusted that a person’s social capital, when it comes in the form of whiteness, wealth, powerful positions or maleness, shields them from condemnation. Yet, these same activists allow other aspects of a person’s identity, in this case blackness, womanhood, and again, powerful positions, to do the exact same. If these activists want to bring sex offenders to justice, they have to be consistent. If not, they will lose their credibility in some Intersectionality Olympics that ultimately serves nobody.
Clearly, society has shifted from judging people for their actions to judging people for their identities, and this is unacceptable. Once we allow for any aspect of a person’s identity to acquit them, we lose our credibility in condemning anybody.
