We are Monsters and Angels, often as one

When a film maker I admire and who has been a great influence on me for most of my life is accused an absolutely abhorrent act, well I've spent years, not really in denial, possibly an apologist for him.

If I could go back in time to try Woody Allen, I'd rather see that than all the vitriol that goes around now whenever he has a new film out.

It seems like a formula now. Allen releases a film. Ronan Farrow makes a snarky tweet. Mia defends her brave son. People rush to judgement all over again. Heaven help us if he gets an Oscar nomination.

Hollywood and the press are fickle, and always in denial about their acceptance of, well a standing ovation for man who fled from sentencing in Roman Polanski says it all.

The real victim here will always be Dylan Farrow, whether or not her mother Mia coached her (very unlikely) or if Allen did rape her (more likely than not), she has definitely suffered serious trauma.

And all the open letters, creepy Woody Allen interviews and Ronan Farrow teases that he may be Frank Sinatra's son do not make a case.

Trial by internet does not help. I do not believe it ever will.

De mortuis nil nisi bonum

It's easy to pile on a dead guy. No matter what he or she did they're no longer capable of speaking for themselves in an admission of guilt or defense.

Never met Joe Paterno, or had any real stake in Penn State University or its sports programs. He'd been coaching at Penn State for most of my life.

Reading the hate attacks on Joe Paterno over various social media today has been rather dismaying. All I can say is that a distinguished career ended with a horrible series of events and that my respect for him is noticeably diminished but not eliminated.

Can you convict a dead man? Focus on the living, and bring the guilty to justice. Or is it easier to focus on a the dead legacy of Joe Paterno than the living hypocrisy and crimes of Jerry Sandusky and the Penn State Athletic Department?