1/ Thread. In spite of numerous requests to comment on the Trudeau groping allegations, I’ve chosen not to. In this article, @kinsellawarren gets it right- “In the #MeToo era, I wrote, the victims decide. Not the media, not political people. The women.”
warrenkinsella.com/2018/07/column…
warrenkinsella.com/2018/07/column…
2/ Warren is right in that the woman who wrote the article has chosen to not come forward and re-litigate what she wrote about years ago. We can only speculate as to why, but it is her choice and one that we must respect.
3/ What I worry about is that if she has chosen not to do so because she knows that her life and her credibility will become open season for media and partisans who have a blind love for her alleged assailant, we have robbed her of justice, and sent a powerful message to...
4/...other women who may have had similar experiences with similarly adored and or powerful men. The commentary that I have most hated, loathed and despised in recent days are the quiet chripings that somehow she lacks courage to come forward.
5/ The fact is, she did come forward. Years ago. I can imagine her doing the calculus on the opportunity cost of making an issue of it now. Nothing came of it then, why would it now? Would her family and life would be subjected to speculations as motives for coming forward?
6/ Does she want to be a standard bearer for an issue when it so obviously threatens to disrupt the quiet success and stability in her life? Does she want every google search on her name to first pop up with this story?
7/ I could go on. Again, I’m just speculating. Perhaps she’s just made her peace with the issue, and that’s something we also need to respect. What bothers me though is that we are all wondering if her assailant being who his is, loved and adored with a reputation staked on....
8/...so called feminism, plays a role in her thought process. I hope it doesn’t. That said, if it did, watching the bulk of the scant media coverage on this issue be focused on explaining why her alleged assailant didn’t fall into the category of the requisite media....
9/ ....shitstorm associated with other high profile #metoo folks, can’t have been encouraging. For me, this, and other stories, has confirmed my own calculus on these sorts of issues. We had piss poor processes to deal with these types of incidences. Ones only recourse seems...
10/...to be litigation in the media, and that route is only available to you if certain criteria are met. This doesn’t help victims, nor does it prevent vexatious complaints. Watching the coverage of this issue unfold makes me realize how little #metoo has actually
11/...accomplished, beyond raising public awareness that there are badly behaved men in our midst. If we truly want to see change with #metoo, our systems need to change and develop to provide blind justice in these situations, and to change the culture in which they occur.
12/ Not remembering negative interactions for someone who has made much of “believing victims” and staking ones political fortunes on feminist bonafides, doesn’t do much to advance either of these points.
- NB to point 7, I should have said “alleged assailant”, as I did in every other tweet. I firmly believe that whoever the parties may be in these situations, there should be fact based diligence applied before pronouncing judgement on someone. This has not happened in this case.
13/ Point being, the onus being on her in this situation, her alleged assailant being who he is and having set the framework that he has in this situation, is wrong. It is he who should be addressing this. Where is the arms length review on this matter for him?
14/ Again though, the decision to proceed with something like that would have to be hers. Someone like her would be in an impossible situation, right now. That’s the tragedy of this situation and so many others like it.
16/ Point in case; there are already responses in this thread calling me weak for refusing to pounce on The alleged assailant. I imagine these folks also argued that women who made allegations against conservative politicians shouldn’t be immediately believed. So yes while the...
17/...msm media coverage on this particular case has been very and notably quiet, we should avoid setting double standards either way. The media failed with this incident, just as they did with the coverage of conservative #metoo moments. The focus should be on....
18/....developing processes that prevent litigation in media, protect the rights of victims, preventing vexatious complaints, and changing a culture so that all of this sort of shit stops, once and for all. That is more difficult that writing a headline that won’t offend...
19/....the party that your readership loves, or one that will sell a newspaper.
