David Letterman, Modern Hero
Posted on October 2nd, 2009 in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
This David Letterman story is disturbing and astonishing.
(The Post, of course, does a far better job of reporting the story than the Times, which essentially didn’t do any reporting.)
But after watching the YouTube video below, I find myself feeling admiration for and empathy toward him. There may be other feelings later, but I can’t watch a man talk about being blackmailed for his sex life with such honesty and even humor and not respect him for it.
Why?
I couldn’t care less about Letterman’s personal life, and I don’t think anyone else should either. Sex with an employee is problematic, absolutely, and I’m sure there’ll be lots of debate about that issue . But I’d be stunned if there was a culture of sexual harassment under Letterman; he just doesn’t seem the type. (And I expect we’d have heard about it by now if there were.) I reserve the right to qualify my opinion if it turns out that any of these women felt pressured to sleep with Letterman or felt they’d be punished if they didn’t or any variation on the theme of harassment.
That said… to be forced to go on television and talk about your sex life with an audience of millions because some creep wants easy money….
We get the heroes we deserve, it’s true. I think Letterman is even a bit better than that. For decades he’s been making people laugh, which is an enormous gift to the world. Isn’t that enough?
5 Responses
10/2/2024 8:03 am
If Dave hadn’t had affairs and Roman hadn’t raped a child we wouldn’t be talking about any of this. Keep it in your pants, guys! Find a monogamous relationship and move on and stop being such a hound dog!
10/2/2024 9:14 am
How easily the sanctimony rolls off your tongue! I won’t defend what Polanski did, of course. But regarding Letterman…how do you know what goes on in a relationship? Or, more important, his relationship?
The answer is, you don’t—and you shouldn’t. It’s no one’s business except that of the people involved. And given that, maybe you should hold off a bit on the judgments.
10/2/2024 10:01 am
“I find myself feeling admiration for and empathy toward him.”
Empathy?! Have you ever been blackmailed for your sex life?!
I haven’t heard about that.
Do tell, Richard. Do tell.
10/2/2024 10:23 am
And what is Blackmail? Why it is the crime of threatening to reveal substantially true information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand made upon the victim is met. This information is usually of an embarrassing and/or socially damaging nature. As the information is substantially true, the act of revealing the information may not be criminal in its own right nor amount to a civil law defamation; the crime is making demands in exchange for withholding it. - wiki
10/2/2024 4:09 pm
Rich,
You have a strange definition of the word “hero”.