On handling sexual (or other assault) claims in civil society.
(Coincidentally, Facebook has recently released a hug emoji.)
We have to encourage people to make accusations without fear of being derided as makers of baseless accusations. We also have to encourage people to continue engaging with society despite any number of accusations (based, or unbased) which stand against them. What we are working here is merely a traditional system of of distributed claims, and what we traditionally aim for is a set of eventually consistent outcomes.
At the end of the day, it may be possible that not every victim will see justice. And it is quite likely that not everyone who is punished will have actually been an abuser. I expect it means we will get into a norm of seeing public figures shrug off accusations, and some public figures will simply find their entire careers besieged with complaints. And that is to be expected, and embraced.
I think, if I wanted to become a leader in society, I would have to do so given this sort of expectation in mind. Any less tolerance for dissent would result in too much silence.
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