The crimes of which Mr Weinstein is accused are commonplace in circumstances where priapic men have something approaching absolute power. So far, so awful. And so banal.
The fallout really is interesting however. Actress after actress has come forward to accuse Mr Weinstein if not of rape, then of sexual assault; if not harassment, then threats to their career. Where have they been until now? Weinstein did not begin his behaviour last week.
Pressed on this point, a generous number of women have stressed that they feared their career prospects might have been in jeopardy if they reported Weinstein. But although no doubt true (and unattractively tawdry) as far as it goes, it is not quite the whole story. For they all must have known that their silence would expose other young women to auditions the Harvey Weinstein way.
Their calculation went like this. A - Expose Harvey = career jeopardy, but also the chance to stop Harvey doing it to anyone else. B - Don't expose Harvey = career advancement, but also other actresses suffering the same fate.
As we know, none of the people bleating about Weinstein now took option A when they had the chance. They chose their own career prospects over the chance to protect others. Few of us can truthfully claim we would have done differently, but it isn't very edifying. The victims are now spotless. On the other hand Weinstein has been condemned without trial.
Weinstein has claimed that mores used to be different, and that's true. But what's really different is that Hollywood is a place where women whose USP is their looks are so desperate for money and fame that they're willing to ignore their moral compass to make it there. And for every actress who walked out on Weinstein or fought him off there will be dozens more who thought, "Oh well, it's worth half an hour's misery for the sake of getting the part".
The Weinstein affair tells us a lot about Mr Weinstein, and a lot about his accusers.
