Please tell me i’m not the only one who still finds this ridiculous and believes that only a court of law can determine guilt?
Please tell me i’m not the only one who still finds this ridiculous and believes that only a court of law can determine guilt?
So, if his victim doesn’t feel comfortable undergoing the emotional toil of a legal battle about rape, that means he’s good people?
Have you also lobbied and argued for folks who stepped down etc after the Epstein files as almost none of that has gone to court yet?
If you really internalize the foundational values of our democracy, yes. You do understand that we’re not supposed to punish people without trial, right? If a victim doesn’t want to come forward, I can understand why. But protecting victims is no excuse to dismantle the very foundations of justice.
To my knowledge, none of those accusations were made in an extremely opportune manner that demanded action be immediately taken without proper time to investigate them. And the people who were asked to step down are those who we have clear evidence of making damning emails with Epstein. That’s the key thing - we have the actual damning emails. We have very little contemporary evidence here.
There’s a different between legal punishment and consequences. Typically on the Left, we have this fight with the Right about free speech; yes, the government won’t stop you from saying horrific things but those horrific statements still have consequences. Kanye for example, has committed (as far as I know) no crimes but I would be similarly uncomfortable were he running for Senate.
(I also think it’s pretty funny that in the next paragraph, you’re totally fine with people stepping down without a trial, even though you also claim that punishing people without a trial is a foundational value of American democracy.)
I think at the end of the day, it comes down to what you’re willing to tolerate. Personally, I have many women and girls in my life whom I love and value so, I don’t feel at all comfortable with an accused rapist running for Senate. I’ve known enough victims to have some sense of how horrific those situations are, why not everyone feels comfortable going to trial and why predators should be avoided. I didn’t feel good about Platner after the piece came out a month ago detailing a bunch of disturbing behavior to women but hey, everyone has different values.
To each their own.