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Scott Marks doesn't know the origins of cancel culture

Nor how bad Woody Allen's molesting was

Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story: Woody Allen B.Z. (Before Zelig)
Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story: Woody Allen B.Z. (Before Zelig)

Cancel THIS!

In Scott Marks review of The Honeymooners: The Man from Space ([email protected], May 20) he asks “Please don’t hip the Republican lawmakers .. lest..(we) go the way of Dr. Seuss and Pepe LePew”. I’ll remind Scott that Dr. Seuss and Pepe didn’t become Cancel Culture “Poster Boys” until AFTER Donald Trump was Swindled out of office, AND all the Warner Bros. cartoons that have been “Politically Corrected” happened during the Clinton’s reign. Thank God for YouTube and the Banned Cartoons (record them while you can to show your children how censorship works!)

  • John Richardson
  • San Diego

Flaming a fan

While the rest of the journalistic world is at least finally acknowledging that there is more to Woody Allen than meets the public eye, Scott Marks is penning God’s blessings to the “hilarious” filmmaker in an article this week (“Woody Allen’s PBS mockumentary,[email protected], June 4).

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An argument could be made that Mr. Marks simply writes about art without concerning himself over the private lives of the artists. That’s fair; however, the argument fails to hold water when you read his response to a reader who can’t as easily suspend disbelief when it comes to the controversial celebrity. Rather than responding that his piece is strictly about Allen’s work, and not his personal issues, in his comment, Mr. Marks defends Woody Allen. He goes as far as to declare Allen’s innocence with a conviction that would suggest he has stood within six inches of the man, unblinking, since Allen came of age in 1953. “When last I checked, Allen has never been charged with a crime. He’s a lot of things, but a child molester isn’t one of them.”

I would like to suggest that Mr. Marks take a few moments to research child molesters and the percentage of them that actually get charged with their crimes, so he can better understand the ignorance of his statement. He might also consider researching how many Catholic priests have been criminally charged with child molestation, or how many have served time in prison. Are the vast majority of priests accused of molesting children innocent as well?

Mr. Marks is free to believe that Woody Allen isn’t a child molester. He may prefer to ignore the mounting evidence against Allen, and keep hero worshipping him in his writing. However, it is an insult to the 42 million+ survivors of sexual abuse in the United States for Mr. Marks to state definitively, even in a comment, that a man he doesn’t know, who has been credibly accused of raping a seven-year-old, is not a child molester. Not only is there evidence, eyewitness testimony and expert opinion to the contrary, the reality is that pedophiles don’t typically invite audiences to their crimes, rendering the vast majority of cases he said, child said. (That reality favors the perpetrator 100% of the time, by the way).

Unless Mr. Marks had a front row seat in the attic with Woody and Dylan, I’m not sure where his decisiveness over Allen’s innocence comes from. Surely not from the fact that Allen is a beloved celebrity; after all, if “men of God” are capable of living the double life required to violate children in this way, celebrities can’t be exempt from the possibility. Hopefully he hasn’t determined Allen’s innocence based on the fact that he wasn’t an eyewitness to the crime or because Allen has never been prosecuted—if Mr. Marks needs to physically watch child abuse happen in order to believe it occurred, or needs criminal charges to be filed against the accused in order to take a victim’s word seriously, child molesters don’t exist at all in his world.

If Mr. Marks wants to keep fan-girling over Woody Allen and write about him as though the distinct possibility that he is a child rapist doesn’t exist, that’s obviously his prerogative. But when a reader calls him out on it, he needs to do a little better than “When last I checked, Allen has never been charged with a crime.” .

  • Kelly Downing
  • Miami, FL
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Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story: Woody Allen B.Z. (Before Zelig)
Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story: Woody Allen B.Z. (Before Zelig)

Cancel THIS!

In Scott Marks review of The Honeymooners: The Man from Space ([email protected], May 20) he asks “Please don’t hip the Republican lawmakers .. lest..(we) go the way of Dr. Seuss and Pepe LePew”. I’ll remind Scott that Dr. Seuss and Pepe didn’t become Cancel Culture “Poster Boys” until AFTER Donald Trump was Swindled out of office, AND all the Warner Bros. cartoons that have been “Politically Corrected” happened during the Clinton’s reign. Thank God for YouTube and the Banned Cartoons (record them while you can to show your children how censorship works!)

  • John Richardson
  • San Diego

Flaming a fan

While the rest of the journalistic world is at least finally acknowledging that there is more to Woody Allen than meets the public eye, Scott Marks is penning God’s blessings to the “hilarious” filmmaker in an article this week (“Woody Allen’s PBS mockumentary,[email protected], June 4).

Sponsored
Sponsored

An argument could be made that Mr. Marks simply writes about art without concerning himself over the private lives of the artists. That’s fair; however, the argument fails to hold water when you read his response to a reader who can’t as easily suspend disbelief when it comes to the controversial celebrity. Rather than responding that his piece is strictly about Allen’s work, and not his personal issues, in his comment, Mr. Marks defends Woody Allen. He goes as far as to declare Allen’s innocence with a conviction that would suggest he has stood within six inches of the man, unblinking, since Allen came of age in 1953. “When last I checked, Allen has never been charged with a crime. He’s a lot of things, but a child molester isn’t one of them.”

I would like to suggest that Mr. Marks take a few moments to research child molesters and the percentage of them that actually get charged with their crimes, so he can better understand the ignorance of his statement. He might also consider researching how many Catholic priests have been criminally charged with child molestation, or how many have served time in prison. Are the vast majority of priests accused of molesting children innocent as well?

Mr. Marks is free to believe that Woody Allen isn’t a child molester. He may prefer to ignore the mounting evidence against Allen, and keep hero worshipping him in his writing. However, it is an insult to the 42 million+ survivors of sexual abuse in the United States for Mr. Marks to state definitively, even in a comment, that a man he doesn’t know, who has been credibly accused of raping a seven-year-old, is not a child molester. Not only is there evidence, eyewitness testimony and expert opinion to the contrary, the reality is that pedophiles don’t typically invite audiences to their crimes, rendering the vast majority of cases he said, child said. (That reality favors the perpetrator 100% of the time, by the way).

Unless Mr. Marks had a front row seat in the attic with Woody and Dylan, I’m not sure where his decisiveness over Allen’s innocence comes from. Surely not from the fact that Allen is a beloved celebrity; after all, if “men of God” are capable of living the double life required to violate children in this way, celebrities can’t be exempt from the possibility. Hopefully he hasn’t determined Allen’s innocence based on the fact that he wasn’t an eyewitness to the crime or because Allen has never been prosecuted—if Mr. Marks needs to physically watch child abuse happen in order to believe it occurred, or needs criminal charges to be filed against the accused in order to take a victim’s word seriously, child molesters don’t exist at all in his world.

If Mr. Marks wants to keep fan-girling over Woody Allen and write about him as though the distinct possibility that he is a child rapist doesn’t exist, that’s obviously his prerogative. But when a reader calls him out on it, he needs to do a little better than “When last I checked, Allen has never been charged with a crime.” .

  • Kelly Downing
  • Miami, FL
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Comments

When it comes to the protection of children, you would think we'd all be in this together. I guess not. Wow.

June 9, 2021

Let me get this straight. In your mind, if one doesn't buy into Mia's side of the story that makes them pro-abuse. I guess so. Wow.

June 10, 2021
  • Mr. Richardson: So sad about Mr. tRump being swindled out of the election. I hear tell that injecting household disinfectants is a great cure for both covid and ignorance.
  • Ms. Downing: Children don't always tell the truth. Does the McMartin Preschool trial ring a bell? I believe Mia coached Dylan and you believe otherwise. It's her word against his, my gut instinct vs. yours. The truth is, neither of us had a front row seat in the attic.
June 10, 2021

Mr. Marks, the issue I have is not us having different "gut instincts". It is you declaring that Woody Allen is not a child molester, as though you are the final authority.

Of course the McMartin Preschool trial rings a bell. Pedophile apologists have been using it since the 80s to "prove" that anyone they like is innocent of child molestation. It is estimated by experts that between 2% and 10% of sexual abuse accusations are false. That is based on actual research. Yet the McMartin trial is still over-hyped and misused as smoking gun proof that sexual abuse claims are false, so people can feel justified in dismissing accusations they don't like. Again, the fact that child molesters do not commit their crimes in front of people puts the victims at a disadvantage when it comes to reporting. In the case of Allen, though, there is a lot that has to be ignored in order to just chalk it up to Mia coaching Dylan. First of all, Dylan Farrow has maintained since she was seven years old that she was sexually assaulted by her father (You should ask yourself what she gets out of that). We know she has endured decades of ridicule and slander from celebrities, family members and people like you in order to stand by those accusations, when recanting and enjoying Daddy’s millions would be far easier. We know she has lost her relationship with her dad and lost the benefit of his wealth and power in order to stick to a story that no one on earth wants to hear or believe. We know that multiple eyewitnesses believed Allen’s behavior toward Dylan was inappropriate, and that he saw a therapist to address his behavior with Dylan long before he was accused of sexually assaulting her. This isn't heresay; it's documented. We know that a babysitter says that she walked in on Woody with his face in Dylan's crotch. We know that everyone present on the day of the alleged incident claims they did not see Woody and Dylan for a period of time. We know that Woody Allen's own flesh and blood son believes his sister and has rejected his father's money, power and relationship because of that belief. We know that detectives, prosecuting attorneys and multiple experts in child sexual abuse believe Dylan's accusations are credible. We know Allen has the money to close the mouths of anyone weak enough to be bought. I could go on. But hey, you're a movie reviewer and a Woody Allen fan, so your gut instincts are better than anyone's.

June 13, 2021

Digging a hole and burying yourself. Unbelievable.

June 10, 2021

I've never heard of Woody Allen but he does look creepy in that picture if you his name you see the little girl that he is holding you can tell that she is afraid of him 🤔🤔🤔 are is it just me that can tell that she is afraid of him

June 25, 2021

But if you look his name you see the little girl that he is holding you can tell that she is afraid of him 🤔🤔🤔 are is it just me that can tell that she is afraid of him

June 25, 2021
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