I\u2019ve struggled with how to write this. In fact, the writer quoted below said she’s been \u201cmore hesitant to speak about this than I\u2019ve been of getting on the wrong side of the mafia, al-Qaeda, or the Kremlin.\u201d Respectful advocates and conversationalists desire to provoke no one. Our desire is to correctly handle the word of truth.<\/p>\n
It is hard, however, in the current court of public opinion and in a judicial system that has seemingly now absorbed an additional social media branch. Angles and perspective may be omitted. Some emotion may feel only callously addressed. And sometimes we each also project individual experience onto everyone else \u2014 forgetting that varied, valid perspectives exist.<\/p>\n
We affirm the brave and the boldly articulate. We care deeply for the still silent, who are working through the hard stuff. We also affirm the advocates who\u2019ve worked tirelessly to root out the misogynistic aspects of current culture that exist. No one should be despised nor harassed because of their gender. That truth should be handled well.<\/p>\n
The unsettled question this day rests with how we discern what\u2019s true. The concern that accompanies the question is if public opinion and social media \u2014 which at this point seem exponentially quicker in determining both verdict and consequence \u2014 is what are the ramifications of the current way we are discerning sexual misconduct?<\/p>\n
Is an allegation enough? Does it matter if one person remembers an incident differently? What makes a perspective true? And what should the consequence then be?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m struck by the response of both Al Franken and Dustin Hoffman this week. Both have been accused of misconduct, yet both also were very clear that they don\u2019t share the perspective of each of their accusers. Are the men automatically wrong? Does it matter?<\/p>\n
The sincere, tough, awkward, elephant-in-the-room question is if a woman is uncomfortable \u2014 or uncomfortable now<\/em> \u2014 is the man automatically wrong?<\/p>\n Claire Berlinski wrote a bold piece in \u201cThe American Interest\u201d last week; it\u2019s tough to read. Note that she\u2019s a seemingly fair-minded person who believes former president Bill Clinton and current Senate candidate Roy Moore are both sexual predators; she also is quick to acknowledge that even though she is personally convinced, she may also be mistaken. Correctly discerning the truth means we acknowledge we might<\/strong> be mistaken.<\/em><\/p>\n More excerpts from Berlinski: \u201c#Metoo, of course. Women are not going nuts for no reason\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u2026 Yet something is troubling me. Recently I saw a friend\u2014a man\u2014pilloried on Facebook for asking if #metoo is going too far. \u2018No,\u2019 said his female interlocutors. \u2018Women have endured far too many years of harassment, humiliation, and injustice. We\u2019ll tell you when it\u2019s gone too far.\u2019<\/strong> But I\u2019m part of that \u2018we,\u2019 and I say it is going too far. Mass hysteria has set in. It has become a classic moral panic, one that is ultimately as dangerous to women as to men.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2026 It now takes only one accusation to destroy a man\u2019s life. Just one for him to be tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion, overnight costing him his livelihood and social respectability. We are on a frenzied extrajudicial warlock hunt that does not pause to parse the difference between rape and stupidity. The punishment for sexual harassment is so grave that clearly this crime\u2014like any other serious crime\u2014requires an unambiguous definition. We have nothing of the sort.<\/em><\/p>\n In recent weeks, one after another prominent voice, many of them political voices, have been silenced by sexual harassment charges. Not one of these cases has yet been adjudicated in a court of law. Leon Wiesenthal, David Corn, Mark Halperin, Michael Oreskes, Al Franken, Ken Baker, Rick Najera, Andy Signore, Jeff Hoover, Matt Lauer, even Garrison Keillor\u2014all have received the professional death sentence. Some of the charges sound deadly serious. But others\u2014as reported anyway\u2014make no sense. I can\u2019t say whether the charges against these men are true; I wasn\u2019t under the bed. But even if<\/strong> true, some have been accused of offenses that aren\u2019t offensive, or offenses that are only mildly so\u2014and do not warrant total professional and personal destruction.<\/em><\/p>\n The things men and women naturally do\u2014flirt, play, lewdly joke, desire, seduce, tease\u2014now become harassment only by virtue of the words that follow the description of the act, one of the generic form: \u2018I froze. I was terrified.\u2019 It doesn\u2019t matter how the man felt about it. The onus to understand the interaction and its emotional subtleties falls entirely on him\u2026 Do not mistake me for a rape apologist\u2026 No civilized society tolerates rape\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In Berlinski\u2019s search for a wise way to discern what\u2019s true, she goes on to discuss how our culture has historically been disposed to moral panics and sexual hysterias\u2026 how we\u2019ve become prone to replacing complex thought with shallow slogans\u2026 how prominent and damaging our increasing extremism and black-and-white thinking has become\u2026 and the likelihood of men no longer enjoying the company of women in the workplace if unproven allegations are equated with truth.<\/p>\n We have to find a wise way to discern what is true, friends\u2026 a way through that is honoring of both women and men \u2014 of women and men whose integrity has not been compromised\u2026 a way, admittedly, thanks to public opinion and social media, that is currently hard.<\/p>\n Respectfully\u2026 I\u2019ve struggled with how to write this. In fact, the writer quoted below said she’s been \u201cmore hesitant to speak about this than I\u2019ve been of getting on the wrong side of the mafia, al-Qaeda, or the Kremlin.\u201d Respectful advocates and conversationalists desire to provoke no one. Our desire is to correctly handle the word … <\/p>\n
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"