The Reaction is Out of Control
If Salman Khan is found guilty and convicted, we expect producers of his ongoing films to suffer. But nobody asks for his already released or completed films to be taken off the stores or TV channels or the Internet, right? But that’s India. Contrast that with what happens in Hollywood these days, laments Lionel Shriver: “Artists’ misbehavior now contaminates the fruits of their labors, like the sins of the father being visited upon the sons. So it’s not enough to punish transgressors merely by cutting off the source of their livelihoods, turning them into social outcasts, and truncating their professional futures. You have to destroy their pasts. Having discovered the worst about your fallen idols, you’re dutybound to demolish the best about them as well.” Worse, this happens without even waiting for a court verdict. Just an accusation can set this chain off: “In numerous instances during the #MeToo scandals, accusation has stood in for due process, and criminal offe...