Quote:
Originally Posted by Bownesian
There is a certain Star Chamber quality to this to be sure, but doing nothing isn't right either. Jian Ghomeshi shouldn't have been left in his position while he fought his accusers, nor should Patrick Brown, nor should Kent Hehr. They are in positions of power over potential victims.
The right thing would be for them to go on paid leave and to fight the accusations if they wish and to be accepted back if they are proven innocent. I get that this is not necessarily fair to the accused, especially if they are innocent, but that's what libel laws are for.
In the case of Ghomeshi and Brown, folk in the media had heard rumours for a while from a lot of areas (according to their twitter feeds last night), but didn't have enough to publish until they got to a certain point.
The Kent Hehr accusation came late last night on twitter from a named account (and is reminiscent of what came up when the Veterans groups and Thalidomide survivor's groups accusations were swirling), but there were immediate nods from other women with history with him. Maybe Hehr's innocent, but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence (including from a woman in my personal life of a creepy "flirty" vibe) and that's enough for me.
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I agree with all this and i want to make it clear that in this particular case, I am not defending Hehr and claiming he didnt do anything, but moreso i am not convicting him either.
I am smart enough to know what I don't know...and i dont know what happened here. I dont have that kind of information.
With all the different allegations the last few months though, it appears there is something amiss and his resignation was inevitable from a purely political stand point, so even that doesn't point me any more towards being guilty.
I haven't heard if there will be a criminal investigation or not, but I do hope there is. That's how this should be handled in all cases and then let the chips fall where they may.
Oh...and love the Star Chamber reference...a GREAT 80's movie.