When Harvey Weinstein threatened to sue me, it was like the scene in 'Harry Potter' where an invitation to Hogwarts is coming in through every window and fireplace and every opening in the house.
I spent a long time reporting on trans issues, and I know in the course of that reporting I saw how deeply adversity runs.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Adversity can profoundly affect individuals, especially in the context of marginalized identities.
Ronan Farrow's quote reflects his experiences while reporting on transgender issues, emphasizing the deep and pervasive nature of adversity faced by those in the transgender community. His insight suggests that the challenges and struggles encountered by marginalized individuals are often more profound than they may appear, highlighting the importance of understanding and addressing these issues with sensitivity and compassion.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a talk on social issues, one might use this quote to underscore the importance of understanding the challenges faced by transgender individuals.
More from Ronan Farrow
All quotes βPurchasing a story in order to bury it is a practice that many in the tabloid industry call 'catch and kill.'
I don't think most people are aware of the exotic and extreme tools at the disposal of the most powerful and wealthy men of America when they are bent at silencing accusations against them.
LGBT people are some of the bravest and most potent change agents and leaders I have encountered, and the most forceful defenders of the vulnerable and voiceless, because they know what it's like to be there.
When you're under a microscope from an early age, you realize that people aren't always going to like you. And that's OK. And you're going to fail publicly, and that's OK, too.
Ninety percent of all people under 30 are in developing countries, and that means that this new access to tech, which is such a positive thing... is also a ticking time bomb of frustration... You get this clear mismatch of opportunity and expectation.
Similar quotes
I don't think jealousy has much of a connection with real, objective conditions. Like if you're fortunate you're not jealous, but if life hasn't blessed you, you are jealous. Jealousy doesn't work that way. It's more like a tumor secretly growing inside us that gets bigger and bigger, beyond all reason. Even if you find out it's there, there's nothing you can do to stop it.
What holds the world together, as I have learned from bitter experience, is sexual intercourse.
You can give words, but you can't take them. And when words are given, that is when they are shared. We remember what that was like. Words so real they were almost tangible. There are conversations you remember, for certain. But more than that, there is the sensation of conversation. You will remember that, even when the precise words begin to blur.
The next step is to learn to communicate with the people that you feel are causing your pain and misery- not to learn how to prove them wrong and yourself right but how to communicate from the heart.
To feel physically comfortable with someone else's body is not a decision you make. It has very little thing to do with how two people think or act or talk or even look. The mysterious magnet is either there, buried somewhere deep behind the sternum, or it is not.
You couldn't make yourself stop feeling a certain way, no matter what the other person did. You had to just wait. Eventually the feeling went away because others came along. Or sometimes it didn't go away but got squeezed into something tiny, and hung like a piece of tinsel in the back of your mind.