@engineer,
Engineer, your justification of vigilante justice is hard to fathom.
1. Vigilante Justice is an oxymoron, not a way to do anything productive. Outrage is one-sided and emotional. People stop questioning or being rational. People being accused have no real chance to defend themselves. And people who question the vigilantes, even women with feminist credentials are being attacked for daring to question the angry mob.
This is not the first time that a public outrage spurred by mass media has caused vigilante justice. Can you name a time in our history where in hindsight vigilante justice has led to anything good?
2. I do not accept any suggestion that we weaken a core human right,
the presumption of innocence, based on a what you see as a temporary political necessity. This will not help the most vulnerable in society.
3. You are arguing that the present circumstance represent a national crisis to the point that we should weaken our democratic ideals. I don't agree that this is anywhere near the case.
Your analysis of the problem is one-sided and based on confirmation bias. Read the posts on this thread, as an engineer, about the "thousands of stories". Any dissenting stories, any talk of men who have been victims of sexual violence.
This is a political moment, not a national crisis. Even if your one-sided assertions were factually certain, it still would not justify vigilante justice or changing our legal system to weaken the rights of the accused.
4. My biggest criticism of your posts, Engineer, is how one-sided your arguments are.
You are unwilling to look at the evidence that brings into question (if not outright refutes) you position on the severity of the problem. You don't look at the men and women who are opposing the political driven changes to policy... such as the due process rights for college students. You don't consider the damage done to someone who has been accused wrongly or admit that you don't really know how common this is.
I am willing to consider each point to the MeToo movement, to agree where the facts warrant and to disagree where they have gone too far. I wish you could do the same.
5. You asked what I would do, well I will tell you.
- I think that workplace culture should be changed so that the abuse of power is clearly unacceptable and that there is less stigma for people who report this behavior.
- I think that there should realistic sexual standards that acknowledge that people like sex, that anyone should be able to clearly say "stop" and be immediately respected, and understands that sexual encounters in the real world can be messy when there isn't clear conversation. Men and women as adults should be able figuring this out and
men and women should be equally responsible for their own behavior.
- I think that presumption of innocence and due process should be inviolate as a human right. Period.
- I think that sexual crimes should be fully prosecuted under our legal system. I certainly think steps like processing rape kits should be taken in all cases.
It is possible to look at more than one side of the political moment.
The absolutism is the problem.
6. The absolutism of the political ideology behind this movement will be its downfall. The Aziz story, and stories like it, will turn people against the movement.
The shame will be if the reasonable points where progress could be made is sacrificed on the altar of political outrage.
