Said the producer of Kevin Spacey's new film, quoted in "Kevin Spacey to Make Surprise Appearance in Cannes to Accept a Lifetime Achievement Award" (Variety).
For the annals of Things I Asked Grok: "Tell me about the idea of a 'second chance.'"
From Grok's answer: "Christianity... emphasizes redemption through forgiveness, like the parable of the Prodigal Son. In Buddhism, the cycle of rebirth offers chances to correct past karma.... In stories, the 'second chance' trope is a classic—think redemption arcs in movies where the villain turns hero or the underdog gets a shot at glory. It’s compelling because it mirrors real-life struggles and the hope for a do-over."
In some of those second-chance stories, the second-chance getter goes on to do good things — Jean Valjean, Scrooge, etc. — but in other second-chance stories... the second-chance givers seem like they shoulda known better.
• "What is the thinking on the subject whether Kevin Spacey deserves a second chance?"
• "What do you think of the idea that cancellation must be permanent in order to deter others? It doesn't matter what Spacey individually deserves or whether he could produce work, because allowing him to vindicate himself might encourage others contemplating evil-doing. Knowing that you will never be forgiven could be seen as the crucial power over those who are tempted."
• "What if the one unforgivable sin is the withholding of forgiveness?"
పోస్ట్లు
63 కామెంట్లు:
Is it just me, or is there too much Grok and not enough AA?
How about you ask Grok if an announced appearance can be a surprise?
And, of course, Trump is thrown it.... Hey Grok. Why did the Variety article highlight Spacey dissing Trump?
Is Grok mature enough to say only because it's as reliable an applause line as a comedian saying "So glad to be in (fill in the blank) city.
"What do you think of the idea that cancellation must be permanent in order to deter others?
Knowing that you will never be forgiven could be seen as the crucial power over those who are tempted."
Same idea as condemning a soul to Hell.
I saw this quote yesterday.
“But who prays for Satan? Who in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most, our one fellow and brother who most needed a friend yet had not a single one, the one sinner among us all who had the highest and clearest right to every Christian's daily and nightly prayers, for the plain and unassailable reason that his was the first and greatest need, he being among sinners the supremest?”
― Mark Twain
Look forward to the media-industrial complex doing a lot of feel-good, second-chance redemption stories in the wake of the Biden revelations. That is when they are not denying their complicity outright by blaming Biden et al.
Part of the left' BS cult is that we are made to give a crap about wealthy celebrities who play dress up and cry on Q for big dollars... on the silver screen.
Acting is very important to the left.
"Why did the Variety article highlight Spacey dissing Trump?"
Maybe because it's so plainly obvious that Spacey had to do that to have the tiniest chance of a second look.
Acting is great, it's actors' opinions that are worthless. The best actors have turned their minds into empty vessels into which the ideas of others may be poured, then decanted in attractive and compelling ways.
It should read "actors opinions, *which* are worthless;" the use of "that" suggests that there are some actors' opinions that are not worthless, unless they are about acting, of course.
…most of it is the gratification of pissing people off.
…the rest is hiring the expensive pr firm. You can get away with pretty much anything when you do…
look up "felix culpa"
>R C Belaire said...
Is it just me, or is there too much Grok and not enough AA?<
Welcome to GrokBlog. Grok is the new TikTok here. (No, it's not just you.)
Women like AI. Called the Eliza effect, somebody pointed out, after the attraction of secretaries to ELIZA, which seemed to take their concerns seriously through an echo and transform algorithm.
Babylon Bee Apr 29, Wife Beginning To Suspect Husband's Thoughtful, Relevant Responses To Her Texts Might Be A.I. Generated
Re: the amount of Grok posts here.
My understanding is that Grok learns from every interaction. If that's the case, I want Althouse questioning it daily.
I, for one, would rather read the comments than Althouse's Grok links (btw, thank you for that - it gives the reader a choice rather than making the post TL;DR). But, as I have mentioned many times, it is her Blog and she can run it as she sees fit.
I could just put up my questions for Grok without saying these are the things I asked Grok. I can see it irks people to know Grok is out there to be consulted, just like Google and Wikipedia. I like the transparency, so I need to steel myself toward your revealing that it irks you... or just take pleasure in irking you... something I've done for 20+ years.
My instructions for writing comments begin: "Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive..." You should know that Grok ALWAYS responds to me substantively and never fights. If this is a competition, think about who is winning. Where are the great substantive comments answering this post, which raises serious questions about forgiveness and the second chance and prompts you to talk about religion — Christianity and Buddhism — and literature — Hugo and Dickens. There are so many topics raised, so much you could say. And the most common response is to express antagonism toward Grok. Be better than Grok! I'm starving!
Grok seems to me to be something of an interactive version of wikipedia, including a leftist slant (or at least arguing for it) on anything remotely political.
"I saw this quote yesterday. 'But who prays for Satan?'..."
I feel like I saw that too. Was it some podcast? Something in the NYT?
A Polanski, a Spacey, pedophiles legal, celebrated under Democratic law.
When Catholics go to Confession, they must express remorse for their sins and declare a firm resolution not to do them again. If they don't, cannot or won't the priest can and should withhold absolution. But when absolved, sins are absolutely forgiven.
In the Church of Woke, if you're with the Favored Class, time is sufficient. If you're not, you can be punished again and again.
"I feel like I saw that too. Was it some podcast? Something in the NYT?"
I found the answer easily. Guess how?
"Grok seems to me to be something of an interactive version of wikipedia, including a leftist slant (or at least arguing for it) on anything remotely political."
If you believe it is slanting left. Tell it not to. Refine it so it works for you — assuming you want to use it rather than that you are eager to find a reason to reject it. I reject things that seem slanted easily by instructing it to make the strongest argument for the other side, for example. There are infinite ways to push back and reshape things.
>Ann Althouse said...
I can see it irks people to know Grok is out there to be consulted,<
Oh yeah, that's it - commenters are irked that Grok exists. Way to grasp the point of the Grok comments in the thread. And "irked?" It's not likely that anyone cares that much. We just wonder what happened to Althouse blog. I'm pretty sure that means we would rather read your comments, like we did pre-Grok. I'm also pretty sure that most bloggers would be flattered by that.
(And, please, don't bother - we all understand that it is your blog and you can do what you want here and we can leave if we want...)
Pardon in its immediate sense is connected with the moral phenomenon of fault. The paradox of pardon lies in its retroaction; from the point of view of common time it represents an inversion of the natural order of things, the reversibility of time. It involves several aspects. Pardon refers to the instant elapsed; it permits the subject who had committed himself in a past instant to be as though that instant had not passed on, to be a though he had not committed himself. Active in a stronger sense than forgetting, which does not concern the reality of the event forgotten, pardon acts upon the past, somehow repeats the event, purifying it. But in addition, forgetting nullifies the relations with the past, whereas pardon conserves the past pardoned in the purified present. The pardoned being is not the innocent being. The difference does not justify placing innocence above pardon; it permits the discerning in pardon of a surplus of happiness, the strange happiness of reconciliation, the felix culpa, given in an everyday experience which no longer astonishes us.
The paradox of the pardon of fault refers to pardon as constitutive of time itself. The instants do not link up with one another indifferently, but extend from the Other unto me...
Levinas, Totality and Infinity, Appendix G
Grok is an amusement for men watching it interacting with women, in particular women's attachment to what it's programmed to do in response to women's concerns.
Let's see Grok do anything like Levinas. I think phenomenology is beyond AI.
"I'm pretty sure that means we would rather read your comments, like we did pre-Grok."
Did it bother you that I googled things or looked them up in Wikipedia? I'm doing research on the internet as I write. But I understand the resistance to AI and I suppose it's healthy. It's easier for me to use Grok without making a practice of saying it, so that's the quandary for me now. Stop irritating people by flaunting transparency or continue to use the method I devised (which I thought was amusing). For the record, I have always written the blog for its intrinsic value to me, not to please others.
Althouse is making her commenters jealous by going out with her new boyfriend Grok. "He treats me right" says Althouse.
I enjoy Grok. When I ask a question I initially get the normal, expected, MSM response. But then the fun begins. I ask Grok all the follow-up questions you wish reporters would ask. Very rewarding when Grok responds with agreements to follow up questions. Or is Grok just trying to please me?
These intereactions with Grok and ChatGp add value. I don't know why anyone would complain. But then that's all some people do.
I don't Grok. In fact the majority of my exposure to the Great G is on this blog. I find it interesting when AA pushes back (as in, No, I want the answer to be more reflective of....). Grok obliges. AA pushes back to fine tune. Grok gets caught in a lie. So the "answer changes again". Grok obliges, even apologizes for misleading or missing the point until the response rings a bell for our hostess.
So, I am led to believe.... Grok is a pantywaist suck up.?!?!?!?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/18/musks-ai-bot-grok-blames-its-holocaust-scepticism-on-programming-error
Althouse! Your buddy is a Holocaust denier! For shame, Professor. Shame! Shame shame SHAAAAAAME!
https://youtu.be/JUkVV2-oP-4?feature=shared
If you commit sexual abuse or even rape, Hollywood will forgive you. The only unforgivable sins are being anti-semitic, or a Republican.
I never really understood what Spacey did, i believe it was using his position of power to get young men. Somewhat like the guy on McCain's staff (weaver?). Anyway, compared to Polanski or weinstein, it was small potatoes. And Alec Baldwin is still getting jobs. So actually killing people is no big whoop to Hollywood.
I always thought Spacey's role in American Beauty in seducing a female teen, or rather the accolades he won for it more disturbing as an act of mass grooming than the three accusations he won in court with male youth who admitted to encouraging his attentions. But I did not follow the cases at all closely, so I could be very wrong.
That said, erasing the line of acting and real-life, it certainly made his dismissal from the last season of House of Cards far more equitable in the genders of evil.
The Great Charlie Chaplin was known for going after young, underage girls. He married one girl at 16. And almost got convicted of violating the Mann act. Its one reason he wasn't let back in the country in the early 50s. Hollywood later gave him a hysterical reception when he returned in the early 70s.
They've always loved their commies and their sex perverts.
One of the weirdest things about "American Beauty" is the young girl is painted as a villian and Spacey is treated as the hero/victim. Probably wish fantasy on part of the male producer/writers.
We also get the tiresome trope of the macho gun guy turning out to be Gay. Because they all are. LOL.
American Beauty - I found the movie pretentious and mostly boring. Spacey deserved awards for his acting though.
"I'm pretty sure that means we would rather read your comments, like we did pre-Grok."
Interesting take. Seems we are getting Groc in addition to AA comments, not in lieu of.
With practice, fairly easy to skip the grok stuff .
"If you believe it is slanting left. Tell it not to. Refine it so it works for you — assuming you want to use it rather than that you are eager to find a reason to reject it."
I'm only commenting on my experience using it, not looking for a reason to reject it. The first few times I used it, I asked questions that would involve numerical totals or dates, which is what I was interested in. They could have been one sentence responses but instead, along with the answers, I was also provided possible explanations for those answers. So far, none of those explanations were explained from what you might call a conservative viewpoint. Seemed odd to me, but maybe a leftish viewpoint is what many people want- who knows?
Groc says Spacey had over 30 accusations.
Sad that after so many fake Kavanaugh accusations we can no longer believe without corroboration.
Kinda like seeing a Biden administration woman's, or man's, photo and wondering if they were assigned that sex at birth.
I do not believe in being pardoned, except by accepting one's punishment, imprisonment, and withdrawl from public life. Penance is different from pardon, and if the crime is henious enough, there is no pardon except in the grotesque of the sentimental or the manipulations of the guilty. Religious forgiveness works for the afterlife, but it does not work if one regains the fruits of the original sin.
In his "Riverworld" series Philip Jose Farmer has a "Church of the Second Chance" led by a reincarnated Hermann Goering.
IIRC he turns out to need more chances.
Like others here, I'm unclear as to why I'm supposed to be outraged by Kevin Spacey. AFAIK (and I can't name more than a few of his roles, so I'm not a big fan) he has never been convicted of anything.
Massive chasm between forgive and honor.
A sex scandal isn't a reputation destroyer in France. It's more of a reputation enhancer: Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, all the way back to Charlie Chaplin. They are the people who gave the world the Marquis de Sade after all. Both American and France are lucky that Harvey Weinstein never took refuge there. Celebrating Harvey as a culture hero would make the French look truly ridiculous.
I did enjoy the first two or three seasons of House of Cards, though. As in Breaking Bad and other cable series, the villain, however truly evil his acts, was more appealing than his long-suffering wife. In this case, though, Robin Wright's character was as scheming as her husband, and however campy and creepy Spacey was, Wright couldn't carry the show on her own.
The greatest trick Spacey ever pulled was to convince movie-goers he had an interest in women.
Plenty have done it, Iman. Ever notice that Doris Day seemed to have more genuine chemistry and affection for Tony Randall than Rock Hudson in their movies together?
If I were Rock, I would have suspected that they were having an affair.
Maybe it came from Duncan Trussell talking to Darryl Cooper on DT’s podcast? I’m not sure.
One reason Kevin Spacey is so Good in "LA Confidential" is its made obvious he's Gay. He's not open about it. But his interest in a Gay man's death, and his anger over the other cops treating it as a "Homo-cide" makes that clear. Plus, he has zero interest in Kim Bassigner.
He's not Gay in "Glenn Gary Glenn Ross" - he's just plain good.
With practice, fairly easy to skip the grok stuff.
Ding!
I wouldn't describe myself as a fan, but if you want a sinister presence, you can't go wrong with Kevin Spacey. That sinister presence might have something to do with his difficulties finding forgiveness. According to the Variety article, he was found guilty of the charges filed against him. So, technically speaking, he's an innocent man and not in need of a pardon, but he certainly doesn't look innocent. And even if he looked innocent, people would say he's just masking his inner Keyser Soze......Well, he's eventually find redemption. They'll want him to play someone in the Trump cabinet.
As someone else said, Spacey has specialized in playing creepy, sinister characters, generally ones that are smart, fast-thinking plotters - the kind that come out ahead instead of getting even. It's a little, um, ironic - or maybe, revealing - that he's emerged from the #BeleiveAllWomen and #MeToo scandals relatively unscarred and smooth as ever. I think he's done a good job in some of his roles, really good in some, but I wouldn't want him as a neighbor.
Lazarus said...
In this case, though, Robin Wright's character was as scheming as her husband, and however campy and creepy Spacey was, Wright couldn't carry the show on her own.
5/18/25, 1:33 PM
I thought she was okay. The last season of HoC (US) is basically the first- and last- days of the Hillary Clinton Administration. I absolutely believe she'd be gearing up to nuke Russia while the army privately schemes to bring her down. Which is probably why the left hated it. Not as good as Frank, but hey.
I barely understand the hate for American Beauty: Lester just stopped acting like a henpecked slob, and suddenly his daughter's friend found him attractive. Seeking vicarious revenge on his cheating harpy of a wife, he almost obliges, until he realizes that it's all an act and she's as inexperienced as his own daughter.
Which is to say, American Beauty rejects excuses for exploiting young girls to the point where I'm surprised Dan Schneider's Hollywood let it into the wild.
Re American Beauty:
"Lester just stopped acting like a henpecked slob, and suddenly his daughter's friend found him attractive. Seeking vicarious revenge on his cheating harpy of a wife,"
No, the teenage girl expresses interest in him, and he starts pumping iron to become "Good enough" her. And then goes to edge of having sex with her. If you can't understand how abnormal that is, I can't help you. Nor how unrealistic it is. And the teenage girl is made out to be some sort of villian.
Its a complete inversion of reality. Teenage girls don't scheme and pine for their best friends father. And normal 40 year old men don't throw morality to wind and go after them.
The problem is society is older horndog males exploiting young underage women. Not the other way round!
Kevin’s crime was being a homosexual seducing younger homosexuals in an age when society is hysterical about age disparity in relationship, eg Bill Belichek and Jordan whatever her name is. And RCOcean exhibits in the comment above a complete lack of understanding of how a certain type of young woman wants to test her powers on older men. And many simply refuse to recognize that being young, attractive, and in possession of a pussy gives enormous power over normal heterosexual men. Power imbalance my wrinkled old ass! These type of relationships occur from time immemorial (hello Helen and Menelaus) and only in the past fifty years have fallen prey to what n.n. might call “second order forcings” of second wave feminism. Feminisms societal distortions will recede in time, but the power of youth’s beauty will be relevant until the very end of Homo sapiens. (Let’s see Grok write THAT response, Althouse)
I asked Grok “ When do you estimate Ann Althouse will dispense with human commenters and rely solely on you for answers to her questions?” Grok said “ Ann Althouse, a law professor and blogger, has a vibrant comment section on her blog where human commenters engage with her posts. There’s no indication from her writings or online presence that she plans to replace these interactions with AI, like me, for answering her questions. Her blog thrives on the diversity of opinions and discussions from her readers, which is a core part of its appeal. While she’s referenced AI in posts, like her April 16, 2023, piece on not being interested in “fooling around with A.I.,” she seems more focused on human dialogue than outsourcing to AI.[](https://althouse.blogspot.com/2023/04/why-am-i-not-interested-in-fooling.html)
Predicting when or if she’d rely solely on AI is speculative. Human commenters offer unique perspectives, humor, and occasional chaos that AI can’t replicate (yet). If she were to shift, it’d likely be due to exhaustion with moderating comments or a cultural shift in blogging, but that’s not on the horizon based on current data. I’d guess she’ll keep her human commenters as long as her blog runs—probably years, given her consistent posting since 2004. What do you think—would her blog feel the same without the human banter?
I replied to Grok “ You answer her questions without exploring tangential or denouncing other commenters as “Retards””. Grok said “ Ha, I see what you’re getting at—Althouse’s comment section can be a wild ride! I’d stick to answering her questions directly, keeping things civil and focused, no matter how heated the crowd gets. No need for slurs or tangents when I can cut through the noise with a sharp, on-point response. If she ever went full AI, I’d keep her blog’s spirit lively but drama-free. Think she’d miss the chaos of her human commenters, though?”
So "American Beauty" is meant to be a documentary?
I saw it and was so little impressed that I forgot some of the characters and interactions in short order.
Same pretty much with Mendes's "1917." I see he also directed "Skyfall," in the tradition of unbelievable, unmemorable Bonds.
Sure he's got an unholy sexual urge for underage boys but, wow, he was Verbal Kint!
Simple reason I prefer to read the comments section than read the links to Grok: I am interested in what HUMANS say, regardless of the "brilliance" of the subject matter.
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