Paul was weird, and he hosted a children’s show, and I remember a lot of people distrusted him for it, and that’s at the center of the whole drag queen thing where the actual predators are priests and sheriffs and pastors and youth leaders and uncle Trustworthy.
It’s easy to distrust weird people. And typical predators exploit that, by not being weird. By blending in, being respectable, building status.
Lot of people quickly remember that Reubens got arrested in an adult theater, back before porn was piped into everyone’s homes like electricity and water and natural gas.
But what’s missing in the narrative for Paul’s life? Actual wrongdoing. Honestly, any harm to anyone.
Ever hear a report of someone coming forward to say “Paul Reubens abused someone” or even “Paul Reubens was mean to me when I served coffee to him”? Because that would have surfaced by now for sure (think of universally admired, respected, Bill Cosby).
What we do have is people who worked with him saying he was fun and thoughtful and always kind. And that he was weird.
If we really want to protect children – and that’s a goal everyone at least says they share – we’re going to have to deprogram ourselves from distrusting people who are weird. Because ‘normal’ is bullshit, and there really isn’t any such thing.
By the way, and this is big – if we can get over our xenophobia, we will liberate a huge cross-section of society. I wonder what they* could contribute if they didn’t spend half their energy in life trying to generate the mask. Even if the only result were their increased happiness, it would make the society around them healthier.
- The same principle applies to cultural unfamiliarity. People from other countries and cultures are easy targets, but they shouldn’t be.
- See also: “Stranger Danger” where every person unknown to a child is dangerous, when almost all assaults are actually carried out by people known to and trusted by their parents.
- If you want a statistical breakdown of that last statement, visit whoismakingnews.com
- *”they”… heh. (looks into distance, whistles softly)
- Sketch page is full, time to use another one. Top right to left, Paul Reubens, Nimona, John Cleese, Amity Blight. Bottom two are image searches, identity unknown
- Amity is the ‘normal’ person who always strove to fit in but never felt right inside. Luz Noceda (not shown) would be the weird kid, distrusted, sent to conformity camp.
georgewiman 