What I would add to that thought process is that what I find telling is whether someone is able to recognise and acknowledge their own flaws, be they past or present. It’s notable how often the response from men during the much of the #metoo thing was simply “I never knew you felt like that” or “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong” - they were still projecting their own thoughts onto the situation rather than taking a step back and looking at it from the other perspective. That Arrested Development press interview was really telling from that aspect; most of the cast were falling over themselves to explain away Tambor’s behaviour away as somehow normal rather than really reflecting on what happened and how they responded to it.
Again, I know little about MJ, so can’t really talk about him, but while being super woke or whatever it is that he projected publicly, I’d be surprised if he ever acknowledged those times when he behaved inappropriately as a teenager, or looked the other way when he saw something happening backstage, or whatever - and I struggle to believe that any guy who grew up in the last few decades in the UK doesn’t have a past littered with small everyday things that they should be ashamed of.
If you can’t acknowledge that, I don’t see how you can ever expect to be treated as an ally.
(Also stream of consciousness btw…)
