This is an opinion piece. Ironic isn't it?
What is Going On?
This is the ABC interview with Matt Damon that got everyone up in arms. The social lynch mob is still at it!
I've watched it a couple of times and I am not seeing what all this fuss is about.
You have to remember, Matt Damon has an IQ of 160. He is nobody's fool. However, he is, just like all of us, a human being that has he own code of honor and ethics. I am not here to judge him. I will leave that up to others.
In an interview with ABC News, Damon said that there’s a “spectrum of behavior” where sexual misconduct is concerned.
“Those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?
I believe this is the line that that sparked the petition to get every scene of him in Ocean's 8 eradicated from film history.
You can watch the entire interview here. It is 16:22 minutes long.
“There’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?”
Here is the meaning of the word conflate.
con·flate
[k?n'flat]
VERB
conflated (past tense) · conflated (past participle)
combine (two or more texts, ideas, etc.) into one:
"the urban crisis conflates a number of different economic and social issues"
synonyms: mix · blend · fuse · unite · integrate
Conflation happens when the identities of two or more individuals, concepts, or places, sharing some characteristics of one another, seem to be a single identity, and the differences appear to become lost. In logic, it is the practice of treating two distinct concepts as if they were one, which produces errors or misunderstandings as a fusion of distinct subjects tends to obscure analysis of relationships which are emphasized by contrasts. However, if the distinctions between the two concepts appear to be superficial, intentional conflation may be desirable for the sake of conciseness and recall.
In this context Matt Damon is correct. There is a very real difference between patting someone's bum and violently raping someone and stealing kids for sex and God knows what. Should there be only one punishment?
I understand the victims of these crimes and gross, lewd insensitivities, they have gone through a horrific emotional upheaval. They will live and relive these events for their lifetimes. Hopefully, they will fade with time and age and become less traumatic. In some horrific sex crimes, I can't conceive of what their life must be like with those horrors in their minds. It must be like PTSD or worse.
They thing that gets me is this. He made a comment when asked a question. He gave a very logical answer. He supported women's rights by condemning all forms of sexual misconduct from the minor offenses to the major offenses. He also warned about lumping all sexual contact together and having only one judgement and one verdict. The destruction of someone's life, whether they are guilty or not.
At last count the petition was just over 20,000 but who knows? It could be the SJW's bitcoin!
So now 20,000 people are going to dictate to the rest of us that not only can we not watch this movie as original but someone's life and career must be destroyed as well. Just for having an opinion that a group of people didn't like. Well, wake up! Let's all just stop expressing ourselves. Let's not make music or sing or dance or write...let's just stop creating! Opinions of others have advanced us. If I have an opinion about an article you wrote, whether good or bad, it is just my opinion. Every opinion I have ever written was written with the golden rule in mind. Being other should not be an option
I don't think Matt Damon should lose his career over expressing his opinion, Do You?
The fabric of our civilization is being shredded by social media. I just hope the same fate does not befall the steem community.
Let me know what you think.
All pictures are free to share and use. Video from YouTube.