On October 5, 2017, Jodi Kantor and Meg Twohey broke the story of Harvey Weinstein as a sexual predator in The New York Times. Just days later, Ronan Farrow (Woody Allen’s son) expanded that story in The New Yorker.
Those two pieces sparked a revolution in how men should behave with women
at the office and on the shop floor. It was just months before the #MeToo movement swept dozens of men from their jobs and rewrote the rules of engagement between men and women, especially men and women with vastly different degrees of power.
Here in Canada, soon after The Times pieces, The Globe and Mail tried to get the goods on our own business leaders who were thought to act like Weinstein. (All our media had been stung by the CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi, but he was fired eons before in 2014, and then found not guilty at trial two years later).
The Globe wasn’t able to turn up much.
But the general view, certainly now that it’s been seven years since Weinstein, was that extreme bad behaviour against women, carried out on an industrial scale, doesn’t happen any more. There might be the odd case, but like polio and tuberculosis, it was a plague we no longer had to worry about.
Oh, how wrong we were.
This past month, four separate sets of revelations have confirmed that for some men, absolute power corrupts absolutely sexually. Two of these stories involve Canadians, one an American, and one a transplanted Brit.
Let’s start with the Brit (once removed; he was born in Egypt), Mohamed Al Fayed, the late father of Dodi Fayed, who died with Lady Di in that fatal car ride in Paris in 1997.
The British media is afire with stories of how, as owner of Harrods, Al Fayed turned the famed London department store into his personal playpen with its comely young shopgirls. Their coverage was sparked by a BBC documentary broadcast last week that claimed more than 20 women were sexually assaulted or raped by Al Fayed while they worked at Harrods – since 1987.
Next up is the New York rapper Sean Combs who was denied bail after being charged last week not only with sex offenses, but with racketeering, a much more dire set of indictments. It seems Combs had “…abused, threatened, and coerced women and others, and led a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes…” – since 2008.
Closer to home, auto parts billionaire Frank Stronach was arrested in June and charged with 13 counts of sexual assault and attempted rape after 10 alleged victims came forward claiming a pattern of sexual predation – since 1977.
Then two weeks ago fashion mogul Peter Nygard was sentenced to 11 years in prison for a series of sexual assaults –since 1968.
As with all these things: 1. Everyone knew. 2. No one talked. 3. The predators had battalions of enablers from HR people to personal secretaries (all of them women) who not only let this happen via their inaction, but actively intervened in order to make it happen. They pimped for the boss.
But not only had these four men been doing this for many decades, they were (except in the case of Sean Combs who is 54, stopped only by old age (Stronach is 92 and Nygard 83) and death (Al Fayed died last year at 94).
It seems the arc of some rich, powerful men will always bend towards injustice.
Still.
Meanwhile…
1. What we’ll always have: Paris; Alpen Blowers; Demon Cats; and High IQ Raccoons.
2. How bad is Canada’s health-care system? According to a Commonwealth Fund report issued last week on quality of care in 10 industrialized countries, it’s pretty good. The top three countries are Australia, Holland and, oddly, Great Britain, where the NHS is on life-support. Canada ranked 7th. Dead last is the U.S. Said the report: “The only clear outlier is the U.S., where health system performance is dramatically lower…unlike the U.S., they all have found a way to meet their residents’ most basic health care needs, including universal coverage.”
3. Another glass ceiling smashed. The all-male world of London’s top tailors now includes a woman. Kathryn Sargent is the first female master tailor in Savile Row’s history. She charges from £5,950 to create a bespoke two-piece suit.
4. On speed. Who runs faster over 100 km? Slow-walking women’s power in Japan. Surviving Tasmania’s big surf.
5. Melania Trump has written a book. Well, not written. Created. Melania covers her days on the fashion runway up to the White House and lands on October 8th. The promos are…out of this world.
6. What happens to spelling bee champions when they grow old? They grow odd. And Hugh Grant, now that he’s old? Sylvester Stallone?
7. Hear here. Two podcasts well worth listening to: one, The Future of Everything,produced by The Wall Street Journal and available on Apple Podcasts. And two, the ReadSmart Podcast, produced by the Baillie Gifford Prize, this week on this year’s Baillie Gifford Longlist.
Oh, and while this isn’t a podcast, you can learn magical storytelling from the greatest magical realist alive, Isabel Allende.
8. Keep it wild. If you’re looking for true adventure travel next summer, Jean and I highly recommend karibu adventures who we went kayaking with off Vancouver Island and then hiking in the Alta Valsesia in the Italian Alps. They also offer trips to Dominica and Newfoundland. Five thumbs up! Jean and I are also hosting an information webinar with karibu’s Andrea Mandel-Campbell on October 30th. Register here to attend the webinar.
9. It’s never too late to learn. How to cook, especially if you never ever have. How to create great street art. And how to climb every mountain.
10. Would these school kids be invited to a pro-Israel demonstration? Last week 7th and 8th graders were taken on a field trip approved by the Toronto Public School Board. They didn’t go to the zoo or a museum. They took part in a pro-Palestinian protest and learned how to chant pro-Palestinian slogans. The School Board later apologized. But it begs the obvious question.
11. We stand on guard for thee. I fell across a documentary about the biggest battle NATO has ever fought. In 2006, Operation Medusa was led by Canadians, in Afghanistan, and includes some people you know today.
What would the Canadian Army know about buying sleeping bags for the Arctic? Not much. Said one defence expert: “I wonder if they should have just gone to Canadian Tire.”
Speaking of beloved institutions, Hydro Quebec is the subject of unnatural love by Quebeckers.
Finally, travel is booming, and travel to Canada is booming even more. But luxury travel to Canada is up by more than 168% over last year.
12. What I’m liking. I’m a latecomer to the joys of Ezra Klein, the American journalist, political analyst political analyst, The New York Times columnist and the host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast. His interviews are legendary for their currency and depth. Here he is with Zadie Smith on Populists, Frauds and Flip Phones.
_________________
ON OCTOBER 15, HEAR MSNBC’S ALI VELSHI
LIVE FROM KOERNER HALL
ON THE U.S. ELECTION.
Every day from his anchor desk in New York, Ali Velshi analyses not just the race, but the consequences of whether Harris or Trump will win on November 5.
So please join us on October 15 as MSNBC’s Chief Correspondent offers his take on the most important election for Canada in decades – and discusses his new book, Small Acts of Courage, his own Indian-Kenyan-Canadian-American family’s story.
Ali will also be interviewed by Susan Ormiston, CBC senior correspondent
and former Washington correspondent. Here he is now about this event.
Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 p.m.) ET
Place: Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. West, Toronto, just west of the ROM.
Tickets: $55, $65, $75, or $90 (Premium*) and includes your copy of Small Acts of Courage. * Limited quantities of Premium tickets include an exclusive pre-event reception with the author and a signed copy of Small Acts of Courage, along with a complimentary drink.
TICKETS HERE
Please pass this invitation on to like-minded friends and family.
Cheers,
Bob Ramsay
In partnership with
