[thread] I just read a heartbreaking private Facebook post by a dear friend who was "violently sexually and physically assaulted" for years by an editor of a prominent publication who freelances for other prominent publications.
I'm not sharing their identity because they don't want to get dragged through the ringer of being a #metoo accuser, but over the years, my friend has shared their story with editors at the various publications this person writes for, and it doesn't seem to have cost him any gigs.
This writer/editor has a populist leftist voice, and my friend suspects that that's one of the reasons their story is dismissed — the suspicion that anyone talking about having been assaulted by a prominent leftist must be a "saboteur running interference on this Woke Man."
This story breaks my heart, not just because of what happened to my friend, but what happens to discourse because of this fault line.
There is no reliable mechanism for holding men on the left accountable because of the fear that if such a mechanism existed, it would be abused.
There is no reliable mechanism for holding men on the left accountable because of the fear that if such a mechanism existed, it would be abused.
I don't know the answer, but I know that this conundrum perfectly illustrates the trust issues that plague the left's ability to build a broad-base multi-racial, multi-gender, and multi-class coalition, i.e. 'why we can't have nice things.'
In my friend's FB post, they asked people who were comfortable doing so to email a publication that just published this author's work.
If I do that, probably all that will happen is that I'll be added to the list of problem women who just want to make trouble for leftist men.
If I do that, probably all that will happen is that I'll be added to the list of problem women who just want to make trouble for leftist men.
By far, the saddest thing about all the hysteria around "cancel culture" is that there actually is no consistently effective mechanism for removing violent individuals from positions of power and influence. If you try to remove them, you are more likely to be cancelled yourself.
So now I'm sitting here wondering if I should jeopardize my future ability to ever be able to write for this platform if I wanted to, out of love for my friend and a sense of justice, knowing that no matter what I say, it is almost certain that nothing will change.
(What I think I am going to do is DM a link to this thread to all the men I know who write for this publication and put the ball in their court.)
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