RE: The Biggest Problem with Public Mob Judgement
Kinda hard to know what to do with these things, anymore.
Seems like there's a lot of retroactive witch hunting going on, these days. I don't say that as ANY type of kindness towards sexual misconduct, but to reflect on a greater social movement trend in which people become "angry villagers with pitchforks" at a much greater rate than ever... and I wonder what it will mean for the future of society.
I am seeing some of this show up in one of the fields my wife works with: Self-development and consciousness. Again, a field where a certain amount of "guru worship" happens... but now we're seeing (mostly) young women "accuse" their teachers because they actually could NOT "get favors" from the teacher, which is making the whole industry skittish.
Now, if we back out and take a much broader view, what implications will this have for society; for politicians? Will you be "ineligible" unless you are "squeaky clean?" Will me move towards a place where our public "heroes" are almost saintly and monastic in their lifestyles?
Thanks for the striking questions @reddragonfly. These are all tremendously important conversations to have.
First, judgement by anachronism is ethically wrong. Context plays an enormous, if not holistic, impact on a person's decisions. To judge based on 1 or 2 factors taken out of context is the most irresponsible way to condemn any person. By this logic, which unfortunately runs rampant in today's western society, we should tear down the campus of UVA because Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner. Or we should remove all the faces of presidents on our currency because they promoted implicit "patriarchy." I did a recent post on Dr. Seuss as well who drew "offensive" political cartoons of dictators that the free world was at war with at the time. We are undermining historicism and as a result, the acknowledgement of societal development.
On the second point, that's why accusations should hold absolutely no weight without some evidence. Not a single person in this world is "squeaky clean" when the person sitting across from you is wholly dedicated to smearing your name.