Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
I'll share my views
- I don't necessarily mind the NYT running a column by him as I think part of the dying role of the media is to show different perspectives. In this case I also think it allows the public to see more of who he actually is, and it is ugly
- Louis CK never put a hand on someone, in a violent way, that we know of, however he did in some cases prevent someone from leaving when they wanted to? Is this violence in a strict definition? I suppose not. But if you prevent someone from leaving a room so you can perform a sexual act in front of them, it certainly is something close to it
- Hardwick had a single accuser. I don't think we know enough to say what happened when it is a singular he said/she said thing
- I'm not as faimilar with Ansari's case so I wont' offer comment
The social media mob isn't a singular entity and to describe them as such is arrogant in my view. Everyone arrives at their own views and different people spend more or less time to arrive at this views.
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I know that you couched that post in saying that those were just your personal views, but that's sort of the problem, as far as I can see - everyone's deciding what consequences are appropriate based on a sort of gut intuition. For you, Hardwick having a single accuser is an important mitigating factor, and you see Louis CK's behaviour as more egregious than some others might. In that circumstance, as a matter of human psychology and group polarization effects, the more extreme voices will tend to dominate the discussion and shift others towards the poles of the debate. That's what creates the "social justice mob" phenomenon.
I think Ghomeshi's column is pretty tone deaf. It's just not realistic to expect the passage of time to come anywhere close to repairing the harm to his reputation - he could dedicate the next thirty years to charitable work, and this will still be the first line of his obituary. But given how final and severe that penalty is, and how much everyone values prestige and the way others view them, distinguishing in severity between Bill Cosby and Ghomeshi and Louis CK is enormously important... which again, no one seems to be able to do except by intuition. So there's a tension there that's never going to end well.