BILL COSBY: THE MASK DROPS OFF, AT LONG LAST.........AN UGLY FACE IN THE CROWD.....

               Long, long ago, when we reached adulthood, we'd already figured out the disconnect  between the public persona of our most revered and beloved celebrities and their true selves........

                We realized that the efficient publicity arms of movie studios and TV networks maintained and guarded the assumed lovable personalities of actors.......like armed museum security cops deployed around a precious artifact......

                And who knows how many famous folks lived and died with their pristine reputations still intact....

               Those days are long gone now........washed away in the Age Of Instant Information we spoke of in yesterday's post on "Sneakers".......

               Every celebrity, journalist, politician or athlete now stands naked before us if they're revealed to be rapists, sexual harassers, drunks, pedophiles, homophobes or just overall sons-of-bitches......

              Which brings us to that once-upon-a-time most beloved figure in America's pop culture....American's Dad, Bill Cosby......finally brought to justice for at least one of his many monstrous crimes.....

              Bill didn't much care for justice......didn't sit well with him, snarling ...."you asshole" at the assistant District Attorney who successfully prosecuted him.

               And we were all treated to the rare spectacle of seeing a celebrity's 'lovable' mask ripped off for all the world to see.....

               For us, it instantly reminded us of the climactic scene in Elia Kazan's "A Face In The Crowd", when Andy Griffith's miserable mean-spirited Lonesome Rhodes accidentally rips the facade off his his folksy exterior, startling his adoring audience with the raging bastard underneath.

               No, Cosby won't be the last public figure whose false front gets ripped away.......not in this day and age.....

               But the long awaited revelation of Cosby as a monster doesn't fill us with triumphant optimism........

               Donald Trump ripped off his mask decades ago.......this particular monster cavorts in public every day......and his supporters don't care.......even the bunch who sing hymns in church every Sunday......

              But there's one bright glimmer of hope.......justice and the rule of law.  It grinds with excruciating slowness, but we can't help thinking that the law did finally clamp down on Bill Cosby...

             So maybe the other monsters in our midst will have a court date in their futures.....

             Who knows?  Anything can happen.......