You don't have to be one of the usual self-appointed, self-righteous Daily Mail brigade to be stirred by the Jimmy Saville paedophilia case.
Janet Street-Porter (along with others) has put it very well in revealing that in the 70's music and broadcasting industries celebs had a sort of droit de seigneur - or perhaps more accurately a benefit of clergy - that turned a blind eye to everything from casual misogyny to rape.
I suspect that forty year later. things have got worse rather than better. I've heard it argued that such a conspiracy of silence as surrounded Sir Jimmy OBE would simply not be possible in this inter-web twittering age. But the antics of Premiership footballers would suggest quite otherwise.
However, there has also been a very dangerous argument being advanced in the wake of Saville-gate: A surprise that nobody had realised sooner he was a nonce - because it was so obvious.
The shell suit. The jingle-jangle jewellery. The hairstyle. The fact that he was unmarried and lived with his mum. Or even more sinisterly, that he was a wealthy celeb who chose to do voluntary work. It all adds up to very disturbing a charter for vigilantes and bigots - and it evokes the memory of Stefan Kiszko the tragic misfit falsely imprisoned for 16years and hounded to an early death. And many other easy scapegoats similarly the victims of a lynch-mob mentality.
Saville - and more controversially I'd add Roman Polanski too - deserve to be exposed for what they are - paedophiles. And not just oddballs.
1 comment:
Good post, it's this warped & all round bitter Daily Mail worldview that says living with your mum and never having married are now things that make you a suspected peado, rather than just an oddball.
Hey, I'm a self confessed oddball!! :)
No, what makes Jimmy Saville a suspected peado is the fact that numerous women have made allegations about his behaviour towards them. Like I always say, innocent until proven guilty, but the allegations seem pretty overwhelming now.
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