Here lately, I've gotten pretty tired of hearing the phrase #metoo. In the past week, I've been hearing it a whole lot more. Why? because of the Urban Meyer story at Ohio State. Meyer kept someone on staff who (wink wink) may or may not have beaten his wife on a regular basis, and Meyer knew about it. He also lied about it at a press conference. (side note: I could have told you what a piece of cow dung I think Meyer is over a decade ago when he was a Florida, but no one asked).
Naturally, because this is the biggest college football story happening a couple of weeks before the season starts, EVERYONE is talking about it. And make no mistake, that is a good thing. I hope someone somewhere is saying, "wait, I don't have to put up with this? I'm leaving him". What bothers me is the context in which many in the media are using the term #metoo.
- There's heightened sensitivity to the Zach Smith case because of the #metoo movement
- Did Meyer do all he was supposed to? It would seem that in the #metoo age, he could have done more
- You can't bury these types of transgressions, especially in the current #metoo climate
So let me get this straight, we should pay MORE attention to this victim because of the current client? If Harvey Weinstein had never happened, would Courtney Smith be branded a gold-digging money grabber? It's almost as if I could imagine someone saying, "Don't worry, all this #metoo nonsense will pass and we can go back to the good old days of keeping your women in line. But this damn #metoo movement means we actually have to deal with an entire coaching staff (and their wives) knowing that someone is being abused and OK, gosh I guess we should do something about it, but I really need to keep this guy on staff because his grandfather was a legend at the school".
If you're prefacing your dialogue about the Urban Meyer story with "with the #metoo movement", you are still missing the point. You're almost saying it used to be OK, but it's not anymore. Newsflash, it was NEVER OK.
