* After the outing of, among other notables, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, CBS’s Charlie Rose, political journalist Mark Halperin and now NBC’s Matt Lauer, Brian Williams doesn’t look too bad. Imagine, exaggerating and fabricating some news-coverage experiences. What an age of innocence.
To his credit, Williams has forged on from the embarrassment and demotion from NBC anchor. He now hosts the best political talk show on the air, CNBC’s “The 11th Hour.”
* There’s something else we’ve also come to realize–as outed predators range from news, entertainment and political personalities to opera icons. Sexual harassment and worse–and let’s not kid ourselves, we know it when we see it and experience it–is embedded in the culture, if not the human condition. It’s not entirely impossible that there weren’t Fondling Fathers back in the day. It’s as much a bottom-up as it is a top-down issue. It’s as likely in a faculty lounge as it is in a corporate suite.
We need a society-wide, come-to-Jesus conversation about sexual-harassment–and worse. It must underscore this reality: It’s not just sleazy predators, who will, alas, always be with us. No, it must also be about conscience-avoiding enablers who help make it happen. Without them and their unconscionable code of workplace silence, this wouldn’t be so pervasive an issue.
This isn’t about political correctness. Just common-sense, common-good correctness. “If you see something, say something” has myriad applications.