From Diane Keaton:
I have no idea if Allen is guilty or not. He denies the allegations and would if he were guilty. Keaton believes him because he is "my friend." I admire this. In today's climate, it may be heroic for her to defend him.
I also know that, despite the epidemic of revealed sexual abuse and harassment, about which there should be little argument, at times like this, with the media exploiting every accusation, the truth can suffer. Victims can get carried away and exaggerate, or they can believe a false memory.
False memory! The entire field of memory is far more complex than many understand, which came out clearly during another avalanche of accusations, against the child care workers some years ago, only in this instance the child memories proved to be false, many encouraged by investigators. The belated truth didn't help the workers much, whose lives were already ruined. (Most cases now, however, involve adults sharing relatively recent experience.)
Guilty until proven innocent. That's the new paradigm, driven by a media hungry for juicy stories. It is shameful, with regard to the search for truth.
So it is good and necessary that there now is a movement of women coming out to share what happened to them but this does not assure that the innocent won't get swept along in the rush for justice, particularly when childhood memories are concerned.
This issue is dramatized in my novel, Kerouac's Scroll.
Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him. It might be of interest to take a look at the 60 Minute interview from 1992 and see what you think. youtube.com/watch?v=KPs5TA…
I have no idea if Allen is guilty or not. He denies the allegations and would if he were guilty. Keaton believes him because he is "my friend." I admire this. In today's climate, it may be heroic for her to defend him.
I also know that, despite the epidemic of revealed sexual abuse and harassment, about which there should be little argument, at times like this, with the media exploiting every accusation, the truth can suffer. Victims can get carried away and exaggerate, or they can believe a false memory.
False memory! The entire field of memory is far more complex than many understand, which came out clearly during another avalanche of accusations, against the child care workers some years ago, only in this instance the child memories proved to be false, many encouraged by investigators. The belated truth didn't help the workers much, whose lives were already ruined. (Most cases now, however, involve adults sharing relatively recent experience.)
Guilty until proven innocent. That's the new paradigm, driven by a media hungry for juicy stories. It is shameful, with regard to the search for truth.
So it is good and necessary that there now is a movement of women coming out to share what happened to them but this does not assure that the innocent won't get swept along in the rush for justice, particularly when childhood memories are concerned.
This issue is dramatized in my novel, Kerouac's Scroll.
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