From the Guardian's story on Buruma's dismissal:
Quote:
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The publication of the essay, which was hotly debated within the NYRB’s small team of editors, provoked a storm of debate about the extent to which men who had been the subject of #MeToo accusations of inappropriate or abusive sexual conduct should be allowed to rehabilitate themselves into society.
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Should we treat sexual allegations and crimes different from other allegations and crimes when it comes to rehabilitation? If Ghomeshi had instead been charged and acquitted of aggravated assault for jumping out of his career and beating up a cyclist, would it be wrong for the NYT to print a column by him about it? Would there be as much outrage if they did?
The quarters where we typically hear rehabilitation and forgiveness for crime - including violent crime - promoted as civilized behaviour, we hear the opposite when it comes to sexual allegations and crimes. Why the dramatically different stances?